Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

For all out there that has experience in painting there IBCs, what type of paint did you use on the steel and plastic? Was it plastic paint and if not does it come off or get scratched off easily?

I must be the first to paint an IBC

I've painted some IBCs and their frames... the frames came up nice, but painting HDPE which bends and flexes as the water level changes is challenging; mine came up ok for my purposes but certainly not a professional job.

Start by washing the IBC with soap and water to remove all oil -- it must be immaculately clean.
Sand the plastic with 80grit sandpaper to roughen the surface -- don't miss any spots else that entire section of paint will simply peel off.
Find a good plastic primer -- I got mine from an auto store.
Use an enamel spray paint for the top coat, in a very thin application.

I used KillRust for painting the frame, it's self priming and has a rust inhibitor. The frame was always below water level so there was never any concern for run-off or leaching.

When you insert the plastic bottle back into the frame, it will scratch, so keep some topcoat paint for a touch up job.

If you're doing it to keep light out and the algae down, you'll get better results with some sort of cladding.

It can be done...

Any roofing paint will be fine for the steel frame. My personal preferance is a non toxic water based roofing paint.

Painting the HDPE plastic IBC is more of a pain as you will first need to scuff it up with an angle grinder to create micro abrasions for the paint to adhere to (as HDPE is reknown for its chemical resistance). If you skip this step your paintwork will flake or scratch off very easily. You could try an epoxy etch primer spray as first coat, then any paint on top.

Only paint the outside of the IBC or there will be fish dying

An alternative is to 'dress up' the IBC by tech screwing corrugated iron sheets into the IBC frame which I find quicker suprisingly

Here's an example of a IBC wicking bed where I did this:

hehe you beat me to it bunson as I was typing up a reply

I've painted my IBCs. Didn't bother scuffing with sandpaper, but it makes sense. One coat primer and two coats of outdoor uv-resistant paint. It does come off if scratched, but nothing touch up paint doesn't fix.

I painted the cages with a primer first as well.

Check out my builds in my sig.

There are a few clips on you tube about this,

But personally, I wouldn’t use pain anywhere near my system!

If you knew what toxins it contains, just don’t plan on having kids till the smell has gone!

Thanks all for the info I think i may just get some of that fence cladding from bunnings to pretty it all up and keep the light off the sides.

Some 2x2's at the corners and around the top as a frame then attach 1/4" ply (2 sheets cut into 4x4 squares, so 4 panels total, 2 of which you will need to cut down to fit unless your IBC is 4x4, most aren't). Build some kind of lid and you're in business.