I've got some artificial driftwood that is a horrendous shade of orange. It is shaped and sized perfectly though and I could get creative with my painting. Is there any safe way to apply paint to this sort of thing?
Ok, how about some other creative option. People do put silicone in their tank as well as adhesives and spray foam used to create those beautiful realistic looking rock wall backgrounds. All kinds of stuff...so what could I use to change the color of these ugly driftwood pieces. If you could see the ugly....you'd be motivated.
the people on the reef forum were talking about using that fusion paint for plastics... just sand it really REALLY good, use the plastic paint primer, then paint...
they tend to do this but they also say that it starts flaking off after some time... hmm...
i would try air brushing because it's so light, then coating it in a thin layer of fiberglass resign... i've seen them coat normal driftwood in resign to keep it from leaking tannin's...
I would probably use non-toxic, waterproof, acrylic paint as Tmercier stated. Paint an item and let dry for a couple of days then wash, wash, and wash and throw it in a small tank with 1 fish to see how it responds before adding it to the bigger tank.
I got a ceramic hand-painted log at Wal-mart that was over in the lawn and garden area and rinsed it off good before adding it to the tank, and have had no problems with the fish. It has been in there for about 3 weeks.
No, I'm not changing the driftwood in the 37 gallon, that one is really nice. This orange ugly is in a small 6.6 gallon for my Betta. And thanks for the comment on my new pic. :) It's already got 100 or so votes in 2 days and is 18th! Ah, I feel like a proud parent.
Thanks for all of the suggestions, very helpful. I think I'll keep these ideas in mind and check out the kid's section at a local arts and crafts store. Their paints may be a good place to start looking.
Z,
My daughters b/f Serial32..... took aquarium silicon and smeared it all over some pvc pipe fittings and then covered them in playground sand that he bought at lowes {like 6 bucks for a 50 lb bag} he then let them cure for about 3 days and they have been in his tank for months now.....one is a house for his freshwater stone fish and the others have become breeding rooms for his cichlids....look at his profile sometime......they look cool and you could use any sand or artificial substrate you want - I'm thinking about doing the same thing with refugium rubble {small chunks of live rock} in my 65g salt tank to fill in gaps and build coral platforms that look more natural
you could get away by using CLEAR SILICONE I from GE... i found some at walmart for 3 bucks a tube... but at home depot it's also about 3.50 or so... i use it alot, since i'm always either building a tank, or modding a tank...
don't use silicone II or any colored silicone... even though they do come in nice colors now... don't use they... silicone II has some anti-mold stuff that kills fish...
another forum figured out that silicone I is the same silicone that is in aquarium silicone... you just get alot more in silicone I by GE than the aquarium silicone by all glass...
That sounds like a great alternative to painting. My substrate is black so using a different shade of black (are there shades of black?) it could like very striking. Or maybe light grey like the fake driftwood I have in another tank. Silicone and sand...sounds good.
