Painting Glass - acrylic or enamel?

[the-obstacle]

So I've got some black paint to paint the back of my big tank which is an acrylic paint. The guy in the shop didn't think it'd stick to the glass. Should it work or should I go back for some water based enamel paint?

[Zayne]

It will work, i painted mine with acrylic paint stuck without a problem! how are you going to paint it on?

[the-obstacle]

Sweet! I've got a foam roller to get a smooth finish. If that fails I'll use a brush.

Thanks for confirming - my confidence is back up

[Zayne]

DONT use a brush! doesnt look good, i would use the roller

[suphew]

Have you seen what water does on glass? It will bead and look ugly. You need to use an oil based paint, the best way is to just by a spray can, you wont need more than one can, get the glass very clean before you start, do it inside or on a day with no wind, do a few very light coats, use masking tape and paper to cover the parts you don't want painted.

[Sunbird73]

I agree with above.... did it on a my old tank for the garage (not display tank) with a brush and acrylic paint. Looks terrible, had a hard time getting it to stick, each brushstroke wiped off the one before.

Next time will definitely use an oil based paint and think the spray paint plan is an excellent one if the tank is empty. If not I would roller on some oil-based paint.

[the-obstacle]

So the roller is the trick. I did find that if you didn't let it dry between coats iit did tend to pull off the previous layer but once I realised that was happening it was all good. It took about 5 coats to get to even nearly fully covered though. Next time it's all enamel all the way.

[Zayne]

latex paint is meant to be good

[the-obstacle]

latex paint is meant to be good

Yeah, that's what I was originally looking for but it turns out when you ask kiwi paint shop guys for latex paint they have no idea what you're talking about.

[jim r]

I have used matt black spray paint from auto cheap and concrete paint ( with a brush) from Guthrie Bowron without any probs.

[Zayne]

concrete paint? whats that llike?

[the-obstacle]

concrete paint? whats that llike?

It's like enamel but with special ingredients to make it stick to/seal concrete. It's damn good stuff.

[smidey]

i used some test pots from resene which is the water based paint & it stuck very well & i used a brush. It looks mint from the tank side, a little rough from the back but it goes up against the wall so who will ever know.

[hovmoller]

Just an alternative to paint:

Just recently I used standard aquarium backing paper/poster (blue/black) but wiped it with canola oil and stuck it on the back of the tank and smoothed it out with a scraper thingy (like you would wallpaper I guess..

It looks amazing.. so black.. and sticks so well to the glass.. and if I ever get tired of it I don't have to worry about how to get paint of the glass..

Just an idea..

BTW I got the idea from a thread of "Japes" on MFK I think

[Caryl]

I have heard oil works well. Does it slowly slide down the glass over time?

[hovmoller]

I have heard oil works well. Does it slowly slide down the glass over time?

Not so far.. the trick is to scrape all oil/air bubbles out really well so the oil layer between glass and poster is extremely thin.. then it will not come off until you peel it off yourself.

[the-obstacle]

That's great info. I have a blue / black sheet on my guppy tank and it looks great where it contacts the glass but where it lifts it looks really horrible. Replacing the bits of selotape with a properly finished oil adhesive sounds like just the trick!

[hovmoller]

I found the thread that explains this:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=236032

[CodKing]

Been a painter for 10 years and found that just about anything will stick to glass, the three factors that affect how well are...

1. How it's applied

2. How clean the glass is

3. Traffic on the painted surface after you've finished.

Brush or roll shouldn't matter as the paint in contact with the glass is what you will be seeing. If the glass is nice and clean and many, thin coats have been applied, the paint film will conform to the surface of the glass.

In any circumstance many thin coats are better than few thick coats. Most people consider a thick paint to be a good paint, most pros will thin every product between 5 and 10% whether it be acrylic or enamel.

Theoretically, enamel is better to use for glass. Acrylic films tend to shrink much more than enamel, sometimes with amazing tension. If you've ever painted a window with nice new putty in acrylic paint, you've more than likely returned the next day to a wrinkled surface which eventually cracks, thats the acrylic shrinking

Once glass has been painted if the surface doesn't get touched then you're generally okay. It will almost always chip or flake if it's enamel and peel or rub if it's acrylic.

All in all, anything will work. a small foam roller is great and remember, lots of thin coats with a good drytime in between. (a fan heater can speed this up but not too close with acrylic or it will shrink too fast)

latex paint is meant to be good

Elastomeric paint is what it is generally known as here. Fairly expensive and usually you can't get test pots appart from Lumbersider (I think they still do them...)

Not strictly elastomeric or latex but these are the brands that fit that type:

Resene: Lumbersider, Sonyx 101, X200, HiGlo

Dulux: X10 Weathershield range

Hope this info helps

Feel free to hit me up for anything paint/industrial coatings related

[Sunbird73]

Elastomeric paint is what it is generally known as here. Fairly expensive and usually you can't get test pots appart from Lumbersider (I think they still do them...)

Not strictly elastomeric or latex but these are the brands that fit that type:

Resene: Lumbersider, Sonyx 101, X200, HiGlo

Dulux: X10 Weathershield range

Hope this info helps

Feel free to hit me up for anything paint/industrial coatings related

ooh have some lumbersider in the gge, might give it a try, thanks!

[CodKing]

Just thought I'd add, there are plenty of ways to paint glass 'properly'. The only issue for us aquarium painters is the wrong side of the paint needs to be visible. This stops us from using the right primers and undercoats. Plus UV radiation degrades these types of paints over time so they wouldn't last as intended anyway. Even if we weren't so concerned about it lasting forever, not many non-etching primers are black or blue as these require a different type of base to obtain such a dark colour.

If you do want a colour you can obtain from a white base I would personally use Dulux Primerlock, they might not recommend tinting but it does work.

[Adrienne]

Hi, just pulled this thread up. For those of you who have painted the back outside of your tanks which worked best? Was it acrylic or enamel? I have the back of my new 5ft tank to paint black and am still not certain which paint I should be using.

All contributions and advice welcomed :thup:

[Sophia]

haven't used enamel, all my tanks except the new one have acrylic paint background, dulux test pots.

Mine husband says enamel might need less coats for good coverage but it will dry hard and might go brittle later. Acrylic seems to peel off in a tidier manner but saying that I managed to move house with mine and none of the paint came off. He says either will work.

[F15hguy]

I hate painted tanks, looks good initially but after 5+ years looks horrible and annoying to clean god enough to do a reasonable new coat.

I just go with aquarium backgrounds nowdays and a bit of tape. haven't tried the oil thing yet.

[David R]

I've painted the back of several tanks with spray cans and also found after a few years it can start to flake and look bad (especially where water gets spilled regularly). On my current tank I tried the background trick that Japes described in that MFK thread and it has worked really well, apart from getting a little disturbed when I moved the tank. If you're planning on setting up the tank and leaving it then I'd recommend it over paint.