LACQUERING THE FISHROOM TANKS An essential part of the SCALES look is the lacquer finish applied to all of our tank backs. Next to the lighting, it draws the most critical raves. We prototyped the finish on five old tanks, until we found a good mix of lacquers and topcoats… …application of the actual coatings, however, wasn’t quite as easy as painting a few prototypes.
			Here’s Jim working out an efficient means to mask off over 300 tanks. Guess what? There isn’t one, just get down there and do it!
We ended up masking the rims with paper tape, and filling in the horizontal gaps with cardboard tank wrappers. Jamming forty tanks together provided a pretty good seal, keeping drips to a minimum. Andrew lends a hand schlepping glass. This looks like day three, or four, out of six total.
			Shooting the lacquer via HVLP, running up the chiropractor’s bill. A translucent coat of blue was applied on a gradient, and then opaque black was faded in from the bottom rim, ending halfway from the top of the tank. Even with three air circulators, and low-pressure spray, we built up the occasional blue cloud.
Once the lacquer in the cup gets heated, it flows nicely, and dries quickly. It’s tacky in minutes. The black was applied immediately after each was sprayed blue, and cut into the basecoat nicely.
	Nick applies the latex top- coat… …and the old man mugs it up for the camera.
The finish has held up well. The polyurethane coating has protected most of the tanks. On the African cichlid rack however, slight abuse from the plumbing, when the tanks are moved around during cleaning, allows water to get behind the poly, and flake the finish. Elsewhere in the fishroom, the only failures have been due to outright negligence in banging the back of the tank.
We prepped and shot two blocks of tanks each day, averaging over fifty tanks per day…
…and you can’t argue with the results.