DIY Cave - Silicone Question

[drdud]

I am trying to make an inexpensive cave out of PVC pipe. I cut the pipe in half and have glued gravel to the cut pipe using 100% silicone (GE Silicone 1 - clear). I read that silicone is OK for my fish as long as it is not treated for mildew resistance. I plan to let this cure for about a week, then soak it in water for several days before introducing it into my tank. The label says it contains methytriacetoxysilane. Any experiences with something like this? The gravel is sticking well and the shape looks great.

 

[kveeti]

The Mastercraft Silicone that I currently have on hand specifically states “ideal for use in aquariums” and it says it contains methyltriacetoxysilane.

The CL Lawrence Aquarium silicone, Material Safely Sheet, lists it as one of the ingredients also. http://www.crlaurence.com/DataSheets/MSDS/HTML/169.htm

The gravel is sticking well now, but long term - I hope you roughed up the tube first either with rough sandpaper or some other way.

 

[drdud]

Thank you for verifying the chemicals against a known silicone. The information you gave makes me feel much better. I do not want to harm my fish. This will go in my 10g, which does not offer much forgiveness. Also, I did rough up the surface with a grinding wheel first to give the silicone a prepped surface to stick.

 

[Roan Art]

Good info to have. This is the same process I want to use for my clown caves once they outgrow the tubing I have in there for them now.

Roan

 

[Watcher74]

I made a cave for my rift lake cichlids using a base from an old UGF, a bag of river rocks from Home Depot (cheap!) and aquarium silicone.

Whenever I had a female that was holding eggs I would fix up a 10 gallon with the cave for them and they loved it. It was like a rock igloo.