Having a Wall Painted Close to the Tank:

M

MartinMan

Premium Member
I’m wondering if anyone has had any experience with this. I suppose this will just be latex wall paint, but the wall that is to be painted is about two feet from the tank.  I understand they spray it on.  Of course I will make sure the tank is covered with a drop cloth and I may turn off the Fluval, although I don’t see how fumes could come from the Canister.  I’m not running any air pumps or powerheads.  Any advice is much appreciated.Thanks
 
Wow that is a good question. I haven't had any experience with that. Following along as that would be some good info to know.
 
In the past my protocol has been as follows when painting entire rooms:1) Leave any closed systems such as canister filters running, they won't pull anything in.2) Cover the entire aquarium with a sheet, or painters plastic, this will provide a mild barrier against big stuff.  Be careful that you don't seal off any cooling air inlets/outlets on lights.3) Take an air pump (the sort you would use with an airstone).  Put it far enough away that it will draw fresh air (outside is good), and run that into the tank.  With a huge or high value tank tank I would consider a box fan and flexible dryer ducting.4) Run carbon if you are nervous.5) While I might point powerheads and return pump outlets away from the surface I advise against killing all flow.  Sure that will cut down on air exchange, but a reef with zero flow for more than a couple hours can be an unhappy place.Not at all scientific, but it has worked for me.  As to how significant the risk is to begin with I'm not sure, but I've never wanted to find out.On a related note, whenever I set up on a hard floor I always put felt feet/pads on my stands before initial setup so that I can slide the tanks a bit to get them away from the wall.  The biggest tank I've done this on is an 8' 300 gallon and it's saved me several times
 
Yep,  All good stuff especially putting an air pump outside, and the Lights fans being covered.  Thanks.  I need to change carbon in the canister anyway. Only one wall is being painted, because of salt creep from previous tanks.  Fumes probably wont be that bad.I'll turn off the lights .  The fish will just think it's an eclipse.
 
My suggestion would be plastic garbage bags.  They won't knock anything over and will block out the flumes.  You can buy pretty cheap (less than $10) plastic drop cloths at Home Depot which are 20 x 20 feet or so and even tape those down/around the edges of the tank.  Battery powered air pumps (within/underneath the plastic) would give you some peace of mind, but professional painters using spray guns won't take very long so I think it will be fine even if there is no movement.  As soon as possible, get the AC running (even if it is cold outside) and turn on a fan so you can help the paint dry faster which will cut back the fumes.  The filter in your AC will help to pull out fumes as well.  Good luck!
 
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