Help please! Suggestions on preparing a tank for room painting.

[Kellie in CA]

The joys of renting! We have to have to have the ceiling in our living room painted due to some recent water damage. Of course, my tank just happens to be in this exact room. We offered to roll the ceiling ourselves with low toxicity paint, but the landlord said no. The contractors insist that they must spray the paint, and the entire ceiling must be done. Also a very small area will need to be treated with Kilz.
What is the best way to prepare my tank for this? It's a small area, so the actual painting part shouldn't take long. I thought about wrapping the whole tank in plastic, but I assume it's not good to cut off the air completely. Maybe run an airline in from outside?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[ErikVR]

How long will it take to paint the room and can you ventilate the heck out of it once they are done? Mechanically if possible.

 

[homer1475]

We did our entire ceilings(spray), just simply covered the tank is plastic so nothing could drip in. Nothing special besides that.

 

[Kellie in CA]

We did our entire ceilings(spray), just simply covered the tank is plastic so nothing could drip in. Nothing special besides that.

Well, that makes me feel better. This has been stressing me out.

How long will it take to paint the room and can you ventilate the heck out of it once they are done? Mechanically if possible.

I can't imagine the paint taking more than 15 minutes. The section is not very big. Yes, I can open up everything and get a good cross-breeze going through right after.

 

[workhz]

Surprised landlord lets you keep a tank but perhaps it’s not very big. Agreed on just covering.

 

[Kellie in CA]

Surprised landlord lets you keep a tank but perhaps it’s not very big. Agreed on just covering.

It's only 40 gallons. I've had a tank in all my rentals. The tanks just have to be small, and I have to carry renters insurance to cover possible water damage.

 

[Stephen8169301]

Also turn off skimmer if you have one

 

[ZoWhat]

OVER THINKING IT FOLKS....

I had my entire house painted from toe straps, to walls, to ceilings over the course of a WEEK.

I dropped a vinyl sheet (bought from Home Depot) over my 6ft 180g to keep tiny fragments from dropping in as dust

Today's latex paint is ULTRA LOW VOCs by many state laws. Basically liquefied plastic latex with very low resins.

Worry?

 

[Coinzmans Reef]

Use the lowest VOC paint you can buy and ventilate room with fans blowing out (Minus pressure) cover tank while painting over or near it.

 

[Kellie in CA]

Thanks everyone! I feel a lot better.

 

[EL_Perron]

Surprised landlord lets you keep a tank but perhaps it’s not very big. Agreed on just covering.

Typically most will let you have one if you have a rider on your insurance for it and it is under what most water beds have in terms of gallons.

 

[ErikVR]

If it's only 15/30 minutes I would definitely turn off the skimmer that mixes air and water at a high rate. Last time I spray painted my house there were micro particles of paint everywhere. It was like a thin fog all throughout the place.

I once had a tank completely wiped out because someone sprayed a bug repellant inside the living room for like 3 seconds. It mixed with the water and killed all life within a matter of days. Of course bug spray is much worse but it shows that airborne particles get in the water really easy.

 

[ZoWhat]

If it's only 15/30 minutes I would definitely turn off the skimmer that mixes air and water at a high rate. Last time I spray painted my house there were micro particles of paint everywhere. It was like a thin fog all throughout the place.

I once had a tank completely wiped out because someone sprayed a bug repellant inside the living room for like 3 seconds. It mixed with the water and killed all life within a matter of days. Of course bug spray is much worse but it shows that airborne particles get in the water really easy.

Good to know that one should not paint their ceiling with Raid bug spray. Lololololololololol

 

[doubleshot00]

Drape plastic over the tank and turn the skimmer off until after they leave.

I had granite installed and they used some kind of epoxy that filled the whole house with chemical smell. Draped the tank in plastic and no issues from it.

 

[malacoda]

+3. Try not to worry or over think it.

We had our entire townhouse repainted (brush and roller). Just pick up a large, cheap plastic drop cloth or two from Home Depot or Lowes and drape it over the entire tank/stand.

No need to worry about running an airline unless you plan on leaving it that way for a very long time. (it would need to be an in-tank airstone fed by air pump anyway to get any real circulation through an air line.)

The bigger task is if the tank is up against a wall and they need it moved to paint behind it...

 

[WestMI-Reefer]

Drape the tank with plastic, tape the plastic off so no gas exchange is happening.

The kilz product is likely oil based, so that one will be more VOC packed than the latex top coat. This is pretty standard when dealing with water damage. Oil seals off moisture. But it’s pretty nasty stuff and stinks bad.

Expect them to be around for a whole day. It’s at least 2 coats (one primer, one topcoat) plus the hours of drying. (Usually 4 hours for latex paint, depending on a lot of factors)

keeping the tank sealed off is a must. Keep the windows open and fans blowing to get the gasses dispersed quickly! Make sure they cover the whole room in plastic, when you spray a ceiling, the overspray all falls back down and covers the room.

I have done professional house painting for very high end homes, and I think it’s ridiculous that your apartment won’t let you roll the ceiling with a flat paint of your choice. Aren’t you allowed to paint it whatever color you want? It’s your home lol Is the ceiling textured or flat?

 

[iamacat]

My 75 has gone through multiple construction and painting projects over the past 2 years. I have utilized and had success by

covering the tank with plastic for dusty jobs or potential drips from the ceiling

running an air stone

turning off skimmer

running carbon

placing my fleet of AirDoctor filters next to my tank

I found that even with all my protection, my skimmer would over flow so that’s why it’s off, but also shows how easily substances enter the water column.
Ventilate ASAP

everything will be fine, just might be fussy for a bit

 

[Kellie in CA]

Just an update in case someone else finds themself in this position…
Painting was done today and it was no big deal. I bought a $3 plastic sheet at Home Depot and draped the tank. Opened all the windows after the painters left… and just to be extra safe I did a 15% water change. All is well.

Thanks for the help everyone!