So I thought I'd update this thread since I found a great solution finally. So my original issue was wanting the black in my overflow box to match the black on the back of my tank. When you're talking about color up against glass and inside a wet area to boot...black can mean many different things and I'm fussy.
My first attempt was to just plaster paint all over the pane of glass with the leftover paint my builder gave me. It matched the back of the tank perfectly and the only thing you could notice if you looked really closely was the black silicone holding the overflow box to the back of the tank. Two different blacks but very close. Too bad the paint peeled after a few days with water in the tank. Also, with water touching the paint it did look just slightly different than the black on the back of the rest of the tank.
My second attempt was to again paint the pane of glass. I had a piece of glass cut to silicone in place OVER the newly painted pane. So the water would flow into the box over this new pane and it would protect my painted pane. I was about to silicone the pane in place and bailed last second. My thought was that the silicone would not adhere to the painted pane and just fall off and waste the last of my black silicone. Luckily it peels off in one nice sheet (it doesn't stick to glass that well!)
Tonight I wrapped up attempt three. This time i laid down painter's tape in a rectangular shape on the perimeter of the overflow interior. I then applied my two coats of black paint and removed the tape. So at this point i have a totally black tank background except for a 1" wide rectangular ring through which I can see into the overflow box. I then cleaned my new pane and the 1" track with acetone and siliconed it in place.
So here are the great things about this final solution:
- the overflow box paint matches the back of the rest of the tank. it never has water directly touching it so it's the same black and i don't need to worry about the paint being reef safe. I doubt it's an issue when cured anyways
- the silicone ring matches the existing silicone holding the box onto the tank. Like I said it's very close to the painted black. Nobody would notice but me =)
- I have a shiny new glass overflow over the paint. I can scrub it and clean it without worrying about scratching the paint.
That was all super long winded but hopefully it helps someone. Being in the tank on my bad knees meant I was in no mood to take pics sorry!
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