Painting and my tank

I have a question and I remember it being covered somewhere on 3 reef but I cant seem to find it. My family will soon be moving and with that comes the painting that will make the new place ours. My question is do the vapors put off by paints pose a risk to my reef tank. Should I shut off my skimmer until the fumes are gone? Any suggestions would be greatly apprieciated.

 

i would just put a blanket or something over it while your painting

 

If you are using latex paints it should be fine. Just make sure to ventilate the house well while painting. You will also want to make sure you are running fresh carbon. Oil base paints could pose a health risk to your aquarium but as long as you do the above you should be fine. I would turn the skimmer off at least on the day of painting but be sure you still have a good gas exchange going(powerheads pointed at surface). If you are painting directly over the aquarium a drop cloth over it will be needed but it really will not help you with fumes.

P.S. If you really want to be sure you have no disaster a poly pad would be a good addition until the paint dries and the fumes have dissapated.

 

I know lowes has very low fume paint I forget what it was called. Maybe low voc or something?

 

All house paints are low VOC now. Federal restrictions. Although I have used Valspar from Lowe's and it is pretty good. Way better then Behr!!!

 

You are going to be hard pressed to find oil based paint now-a-days. We wanted some when we moved last year. Couldn't find any.

The new VOC paints do not have the same issues as the old paints, where our tanks are concerned. I painted right around my tanks. I used Dunn Edwards and Sherwin Williams. I must say, both were excellent, but the Dunn-Edwards was golden. It was a pleasure to paint with it.

 

While you are correct that oil based paints are being phased out you can still purchase them.(probably not in California though)Benjamin Moore still sells Impervo. Most paint companies are switching over to Alkyd acrylics. The Benjamin Moore version is very good I used it on my last job.Very expensive though.(Just like oil base)

 

last time I bought paint...maybe 6 months ago there was one I bought (all valspar) that specifically said extreme low Voc or something to that effect and had next to no smell to it.