Painting a tank, stand, and canopy suggestions?

[ck_503]

I am getting back into this hobby after a 4 to 5 year hiatus. When I was in college, I had a 42 hex tank which was tough to upkeep because of the size but it was all I could afford both money and space wise at the time. My local fish store owner told me that if I could keep a 42 hex tank going strong for a few years, then upgrading to a larger one would be a piece of cake. I studied up and learned a heck of a lot those 4 years I had the tank. I lost it all when I moved across country back home after school but I'm ready to start again.
I'm getting a 90 gallon setup for a steal as it's in fantastic shape and only needs some custom lighting. My question is, this is an oak covered setup. Only the canopy and the stand are oak as the tank is all glass of course. Does anyone have any specific paint suggestions? I want it to look nice and not like a cheap paint job. I'm going with black as it will match better with the room it's going in. Also, anyone have any suggestion on what kind of grain I should use when sanding it? This is the only part I need help with as getting it up and running is something I'm very knowledgable with. Thanks guys.

 

[mrdc]

Mine was oak but I later built a custom canopy so I had to paint everything so it all would be the same color. I used killz primer since I was painting over a finished surface. I used a semi-gloss fast drying paint from Lowes.

 

[al&burke]

make sure you sand the oak finish before you prime as well. Nothing to coarse just to roughen up the surface a bit. Wipe it down with a damp cloth before you prime as well. Good luck and as mrdc said semi-gloss latex will work fine.