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I began by painting the outside of the tank with a pretty thin coat of paint, and then I started over again, and laid on a heavier second coat right away, and kept rolling it until the paint felt extremely sticky so that I was sure not to get any runs. |
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You can see that I've used a couple of wood blocks to raise the aquarium up off my work area, not just so that I was able to paint all the way to the edges easily, but also so that the paint didn't make the aquarium stick to the bench. |
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Since I initially mixed up too much paint, I went ahead and put a quick coat on the inside, using the black paint even though I will be using a light blue color on the inside. I let my wife choose the interior color, and also made sure that using black for the outside was going to be OK.... Just a precautionary word of advice...let your wife make some of the decisions regarding the size and color of the aquaruim so that she'll feel more involved, and you'll find that she's also supportive of your project. |
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After allowing the exterior of the aquarium to completely cure, I hit it with a small palm sander with 120 grit paper on it, and found a few areas that I wanted to touch up with bondo because they'll be visible once the aquqrium is set up. I did a great job though, and the seams and screw holes aren't visible at all. So, after sanding my small bondo patches a little bit, and wiping the whole thing down with a wet towel, its time to flip it over, and put a coat of paint on the inside. |
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I started with the corners and a small cheap brush that I don't have to worry about cleaning. I'll just throw it away, and use a new one when I apply another coat. |
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Here's the inside of the aquarium all painted with the blue color that my wife chose. I think it will turn out looking pretty good. I applied a first coat with the excess black that I had mixed before, so this time, I rolled the paint on rather thick, and just kept rolling it until it felt real sticky. Doing it this way causes the paint to pull some of the fibers out of the roller, but just a light sanding removes them, leaving the paint nice and smooth. |
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