It has been a number of weeks, but i’ve finally painted the back of the tank my favourite tank background color – BLACK.

I’d looked around a few forums on how to paint the back of a fish tank. I also spoke to some paint suppliers and got some strange looks when I said I wanted to paint on glass, and have it visible from the underside.

So how do you paint on the back of a tank, being glass? Don’t use any kind of etching agent. You do NOT want anything that may alter the structural integrity of the glass. Especially when you have 600 litres of water pushing on it. A slight chip or crack is enough to re-live the ‘dam-busters’ feeling in your living room.

Anyway, this is how I did it.

First step was to remove the hood and move the tank away from the wall so that I could get to the back of it. I’m finding the more add to the tank, the heavier it is becoming for just one person to move. I need to minimise the amount of times I move the tank in and out.

Secondly, make sure it is clean – I cleaned it with water and some paper towels. Wet one and wipe it. Dry one to dry it all off. The glass was a little oily from fingerprints, and I didn’t want any fingerprints or hand impressions visible under the paint.

And here is another angle of the before shot. You might be able to make out the other fish tank with the bird cage on it. You can also see the sump underneath (ahh.. so that is why it was heavier to move).

Once the tank was moved, it was time to get started with painting the back of the tank. So out came the trusty paint roller, tray and a tin of black acrylic paint. You’ll have to excuse the daggy shirt and shorts – they are my ‘painting’ clothes… honest.

Had to be careful here. Black paint on a white cabinet wouldn’t look good.

Interesting camera angle. Looked much better if it was a video. Louise (my wife, and the photographer) was saying that it looked like I was painting on myself.

It can’t be that hard – I mean, it is just like a coloring book – just paint between the lines…

Hmm.. need more paint…

Slow going…

Turns out it is quite hard to paint onto glass, as glass isn’t porous , so it just sits there. As you can see from the next photo. It is quite patchy. But this is just the first coat.

We need to let it dry for about an hour, and apply another coat.. and another.. and another…

This is the result after about 5 coats..

The paint forms a nice acrylic coating. The only downside is that it is easily scratched while it is still curing. But with it being at the back of the wall, and nothing behind it to scratch it – it should last quite a while. My fresh water tank has been painted with this method and it is as hard as a rock now, and very hard to scratch. I’ve read on a forum somewhere, can’t remember where, that it can take up to 30 days for the acrylic to cure properly. At the rate I’m building this tank – that shouldn’t be a problem.

Finally what it looks like after the tank has been positioned back into position to dry/cure, and the hood positioned on top again.

It is starting to look good. I should probably start looking at the electrics next as I want to minimise the amount of times I keep moving the tank as I don’t want to scratch the back while it is curing.

Stay tuned….