Is this pain safe to paint my walls around my reef tanks?

[Jake_the_reefer]

My fiance wants to start painting out bedroom today and i want to use paint that won't crash my tanks. Is this stuff okay to use? Anything I should do to prep my tanks for fumes?

 

[andrewey]

You will likely be fine to paint. There's some variability in the biocide that is employed in different mildew resistant paints and it would be hard to predict their exact effect as the paint off gasses, but generally speaking, this is a "probably safe" situation. The volatility of the compounds will continue past when the paint is dry to the touch, so I would try and keep your windows open longer than you would initially believe you would need to.

I would ensure the tank is covered and no paint can enter it if it were to drip/splash. Obviously, open all windows in the room that you can and you can use a fan to help with airflow. I would probably either route my skimmer line outdoors or shut off the skimmer, but an alternative would be to route the line through carbon (I don't know how much effect this will have, but it's cheap enough to try). Additionally, I would be running some fresh carbon in the tank.

Otherwise, many have sucsessfully painted their tank stands or around their tanks without many issues. My guess is that you will most likely be fine, but maybe someone has more experience with that particular paint.

 

[ksanfranfan]

I’ve used that same paint last year to paint walls around my tanks. I didn’t have any issues as far as fumes or changes to water conditions. I did cover the tanks while painting close to them to prevent droplets getting into them.