Painting Decor?

flamechica

flamechica

New Member
Hey, has anyone here ever given some of their decor a facelift? I have some decor that I wanted to repaint as the paint has mostly come off and some of it was hideous colors to begin with (pink, purple, etc for caves). I looked and looked online and read a bunch of stuff about non-toxic acrylic paints could be used, krylon fusion, etc as long as you let the items properly cure. Then put them in a bucket of water for at least 24hrs and test the water. Well, I gave it a go, tested the water - got ammonia readings and the paint is chipping off, bubbling up on some of the items. I let it cure for 4-5 days...maybe I didn't wait long enough?

So, I was wondering if any of you have had success with this? What did you use? I know there are marine grade paints, but they are quite expensive. I was hoping to do this on the cheaper side, but still safe for the fish, obviously - so I am really glad I ran tests before putting this stuff in a tank!
 
Betty

Betty

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I have painted my aquarium stuff many times and have never noticed any ill effects. Hideous decorations, cichlid stones to match the color of other rocks in the tank, filter intakes, bottoms of floating breeder boxes. I've always used Krylon fusion spray paints. I do very light coats, letting it dry between coats. It dries pretty quickly if you do it very lightly and I haven't seen any bubbling. I redo them once in a while because they start losing color -- I'm pretty sure my plecos are responsible for that!
 
flamechica

flamechica

New Member
Thanks, Betty! That makes me feel a little better. I was starting to think I tried something completely crazy and wasted a ton of time.

So, what I am working with is these 2 ceramic caves and a Med Exo Terra Turtle Cliff Aquatic Terrarium Filter/Rock. The ceramic caves are the ones that bubbled. I am thinking that they bubbled up because I didn't prep them for painting. I left the original paint on them - which was awful colors like pink, yellow, orange - you know tacky petco/petsmart decor colors & painted over it. I just washed them, let them dry and painted them with acrylic paints to achieve the rock type look I wanted, then I let them dry for almost a week, before I had hubby clear coat them. I think he said he only put one coat on them though. Then let them cure for 4-5 days. So, I am thinking we need get ALL the paint off, start over and use more clear coats. The Exo Terra Waterfall Filter, I got used in a big lot of stuff off of CL. The bottom half of the filter had all the paint scraped off of it from being very well used in a Turtle tank (don't worry I sanitized it well!) but the top was still in perfect condition. Hubby removed the paint from the top so I could start from a clean slate and I painted it with the acrylic paint and we clear coated it too. However, it did not bubble. It did test with lower levels of ammonia, but when I removed it from the water, I lightly scraped my nail across it (knowing the caves already had paint issues) and the paint came off fairly easily.

Glad to hear someone in here has had success with the Krylon though. I was starting to think that that was my issue with this whole ammonia reading mess, since the acrylic paints are non-toxic...still not sure why I am getting ammonia readings. They aren't incredibly high .25-.5, but still more than I would like to have in my tank. But, I think I will start over and hopefully the second time around I will have more success. I really have my heart set on these decorations and they looked so nice before they started bubbling and whatnot.
 
Betty

Betty

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I've only used the Krylon Fusion spray and not any other types. I didn't clear coat them or treat them in any way; just soaked them in a bucket for a day or two, changing the water, but I never tested the water so I don't know if there were any ammonia readings. I guess if there were, I didn't have a lot of painted items in the tank, so it probably wasn't enough to mess up the water.

Except for the filter intake tubes which I painted pretty thoroughly, I only did light spraying on the caves and other decorations. I used a couple of different colors and didn't worry about them being completely covered. I figured algae would start showing up on them soon enough and I just wanted to get a close match with rocks or a more natural look instead of pink or whatever other awful colors were on there.
 
flamechica

flamechica

New Member
I didn't really explain it clearly. The clear coat was the Krylon. I used the acrylic paint to get a nice looking rock effect. I sponge painted several colors on to get it more textured. I had read the the non-toxic acrylic paint, although it is ok to use, it chips fairly easy, so I figured the krylon would make the decor hold up a little better. Although tests did not prove that. I talked to my hubby and he said he did a couple heavy coats. So, we are going to start over and do several light coats of the Krylon this time, like you suggested. Hopefully, things work out better this time.
 
C

CMooreCichlids

New Member
I've used some acrylic paints on a DIY stump, but it needs a couple layers of nontoxic epoxy to make it fish safe.

One of the problems I've found with the epoxy is that its glossy, and I cant see glossy working underwater.

 
C

CMooreCichlids

New Member
flamechica said:
I didn't really explain it clearly. The clear coat was the Krylon. I used the acrylic paint to get a nice looking rock effect. I sponge painted several colors on to get it more textured. I had read the the non-toxic acrylic paint, although it is ok to use, it chips fairly easy, so I figured the krylon would make the decor hold up a little better. Although tests did not prove that. I talked to my hubby and he said he did a couple heavy coats. So, we are going to start over and do several light coats of the Krylon this time, like you suggested. Hopefully, things work out better this time.
Click to expand...

Krylon works good if you're versed at spray painting ( I am not)

You'll need several coats of it, or it'll bubble and peal.
 
flamechica

flamechica

New Member
CMooreCichlids said:
I've used some acrylic paints on a DIY stump, but it needs a couple layers of nontoxic epoxy to make it fish safe.

One of the problems I've found with the epoxy is that its glossy, and I cant see glossy working underwater.

Click to expand...
Yeah, I read about epoxy, but I have never worked with epoxy and it seemed like it might be too glossy, which is why I chose the Krylon.
CMooreCichlids said:
flamechica said:
I didn't really explain it clearly. The clear coat was the Krylon. I used the acrylic paint to get a nice looking rock effect. I sponge painted several colors on to get it more textured. I had read the the non-toxic acrylic paint, although it is ok to use, it chips fairly easy, so I figured the krylon would make the decor hold up a little better. Although tests did not prove that. I talked to my hubby and he said he did a couple heavy coats. So, we are going to start over and do several light coats of the Krylon this time, like you suggested. Hopefully, things work out better this time.
Click to expand...

Krylon works good if you're versed at spray painting ( I am not)

You'll need several coats of it, or it'll bubble and peal.
Click to expand...
I do not do well with spray paint, but my husband usually does. I think our mistake was that he did just a couple somewhat heavier coats. We are going to try many lighter coats this time. Fingers crossed it works! I really have my heart set on these decorations. I set the tank up several days ago, because I had picked up red root floaters for free specifically for this tank and didn't have any other tank that had room for them. Today, I decided to go ahead and move the frog and pleco and the decor from their tank over and just deal with the fact that it doesn't look the way I want it to yet.
 
flamechica

flamechica

New Member
No, unfortunately this has been put on hold as I got a job a few weeks ago and still trying to adjust to that life again after being unemployed for so long. Hopefully, I will get to it soon though.
 
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