Painting/varnish on Inside of Hood

Hi Guys

I am new to the forum and have been keeping fish for a year or so. I am busy building a hood for my 200l community tank and have all the cut peices in my car at the moment. I wanted to know what is the best to finish off the wood on the interiour of the hood ? i was think painting it white to increase reflection form the lights. Can anyone advise ?

Thanks a lot

Adrian

 

Yup. Paint it with high gloss super sheen white enamel. Make sure you seal all the cut edges/holes/etc before you paint.

 

Oh yes, Hi, please introduce yourself in the beginners thread :blink1:

 

Thanks for the fast reply, i have some polvin exteriour paint that i had in mind. Would that be allright or rather go enamel from the get go ?

 

I used enamel on the inside and Matt Acrylic on the outside. Does polvin come in high gloss?

 

I dont think so , just a matt acrylic. Just introduced myself and look forward to getting back into my fish tanks :smile1:

 

Polvin is an acryllic matt (used to work for Plascon), and although water resistant, is no good with the amount of moisture from evapouration. Even a gloss paint (solvent based) may be problematic over time.

Personally, either get glass between the tank and the wood, or use something designed for waterproofing (unfortunately the latter is normally grey, black or brown). If you wanted something reflective, you can also use bitumin aluminium paint (that they use for roofing) - like solvent based paint it stinks up the garage, but once it dries it is there for a long time and should offer good water resistance.

 

Hi Adriaan, welcome dude. Most of us use white wood primer a few coats of that. Afterwards you seal the internal corners with marine silicone and then you can finish it of with woodoc Exterior marine sealer.

This normally does the job.

Good luck.

 

I think it would be better to use glossy paint to reflect the light. Matt paint will probably act like a diffuser.

If you have time, take a look at my cabinet/canopy build. You might get some ideas and avoid my mistakes

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?13593-Old-desk-to-new-cabinet/page16