Using wood stains in an aquarium?

[legendaryfrog]

hi everyone! i started building my wooden aquarium a few days ago and i was wondering if it would be safe to stain the wood.

and is it possible to bond acrylic with wood?

any help is appreciated

[wackydan]

You are going to have to provide more info.......

Are you making a tank out of wood and looking for a way to construct/seal it?

Or are you taking your acrylic tank and slapping some wood around it to make it look nice?

[legendaryfrog]

no, the back and sides of the aquarium are wood. the front would be acrylic.

im asking if there any "organic" stains and finishes that i could use on the wood, without harming the water quality.

[Rbishop]

This thread has a link to a woodcraft article on tank building...

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90416

[BlueLobster]

Hmm. People actually use wood for their aquarium, as in actually getting the wood to hold water, and everything? Amazing! Won't the wood soakup the water though, I mean even with a sealant won't it soak it up?

[aardvark1]

Boats have been made out of wood for eons; they tend to keep most of the water outside where it belongs! I have a 16 foot pirouge made out of 1/4 plywood; granted it does have fiberglass and epoxy resin covering it, but that mainly for the strength.

Most plywood tanks do have some sort of coating or liner (been reading a lot in the DIY section on Monster Aquarium...)

[legendaryfrog]

grrr.........my question is can i use a stain on the inside of tank wall. NOT THE OUTSIDE

my goal is to have the aquarium's background be burgundy.

[aardvark1]

I would think not...

Water based stains would leech out, oil based would contaminate the water...

[Peanutsweet]

You might experiment with blackberry juice, or beets or use food coloring? you can get a strong paste coloring that is used in frosting ect. a little would go along way in any color imaginable.
I would not think any of those would be poison to fish, but they could leach into the water without a sealant over them.? You might bake it after staining it with these to keep it from molding? These are just some thoughts I had, but I have no experience doing this. Acrylic paints will not work without being coated by epoxy or something, it WILL peel. I do know that from experience!

[Peanutsweet]

http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/home/22

Here's a link I found. Something else I found suggested using coffee or clay as a wood stain. Not sure what that would do to the water. I am unsure if you plan on putting a sealant over it or not?

Also, read somewhere in my search that organic stains would be of course highly compostable, and biodegradable, so probably would not last without sealant over it.

[legendaryfrog]

so if i stained, and i sealed it, it would be okay?

[coupedefleur]

If water leaks, it's going to want to leave the tank, not stay in it. That said:
Most commercial stains are going to be poisonous. Natural ones, like something you might cook up from walnuts, will be poisonous as well. Many stains change color over time, so what looks good today may not in a few years.

You might be able to tint your epoxy, following it up with some clear coats. Or just mix a brown or grey color into the epoxy and forget about the wood grain.

[lazyNode]

In australia we had pond sealant advertised at our only major hardware store.
There were about 5 kinds, for waterproofing rocks and outdoor things.

It was advertised as fish-safe. Too bad I've thrown the catalogue away.

A quick google returned this : http://www.crommelin.com.au/waterproofing.php