Painting Aquarium Stand

[NewTankGuy]

I was thinking of painting my aquarium stand.  But I don’t want to move the actual aquarium, or the fish.  So my question is, how do I do this without hurting or killing my fish.  The stand I have now is clear coated, so I would have to sand it before I was able to paint it.  Any advice?

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

I had to empty my tank and my fish were in a bucket for the day while I painted my stand. it wasnt too bad but my tank is a 15 gallon. I put an airstone in near the filter media so the water would be moving around it. I would move it due to fumes. Without sanding mine took about 5 hours to take the tank down, paint it, let the stand dry, and put the tank back up. 

 

[NewTankGuy]

Thanks! Ya the fumes is what I was most concerned about, its just its a 75 gallon tank with 16 fish and about 10 plants, so i was trying to find a way to avoid breaking everything down....