DIY large rock structure with wood

nano cichlids

nano cichlids

Over ran with EBJD fry
Feb 10, 2008
1,625
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Clarkston MI
Real Name
Kyle
Hey I want to bulid a large wall for my tank with flower pots as the base, then large rocks and small rocks siliconed onto it, then some pieces of wood. And finally a large PVC pipe tunnel. My questions for all of these are,

#1 what types of silicon and glue are safe for aquariums,

#2 what kind of wood can I use? Will sticks and branches work?

#3 how should I go about building all of this?

Thanks all!
 
Silicone-wise I would take a trip to Lowes, Home Depot or somewhere similar and grab a tube of "GE Silicone I". Avoid the Silicone II as it has mold & mildew inhibitors in it that can harm your tank inhabitants. The package for Silicone I may say not to use it on aquariums or food preparation areas, you can basically ignore that.

GE's official support department's opinion on this matter is that "none of their consumer grade silicone products are rated for underwater use". They suggest either GE RTV108 or GE IS808 but will then come right out and tell you that "GE Silicone I" and "GE Door or Window Silicone I" are equivalent products. Only the packaging differs from the commercial product (which we can't readily get).

As far as wood goes, I would find some WELL aged hardwoods (Oak, Maple, Etc), avoid soft woods such as pine. If at all possible take a trip to a beach and go through the drift wood and look for drift wood that still has a somewhat glossy finish even though most of the color is bleached out. If the surface seems soft or looks like it's been slightly shredded and you can see / feel fiber, it's softwood.. leave it on the beach.

You could also take a trip to local pet stores and look through the Mopani wood they keep in their reptile department. This wood is GREAT for aquariums and sinks without soaking it for weeks to get it waterlogged like you'd need to with most wood.

How? That's up to you.. be creative, check out other people's DIY projects here on AC, youtube videos, etc..

Just my $0.02

Ric
 
100% silicon don't use any of that mildew resistant additive ones. You could use anything as a base such as sheets of plastic, foam, or the actual glass. Start with a flat base/sheet and glue pieces of wood/rock on 1 piece at a time and let it dry. Slowly add another set of pieces and then let it dry. Do it it phases so you don't end up wit a gunky mess. and at the end cover the open areas with sand or gravel.
 
Thanks! Sounds good to me I have a lake and creek right in my back yard I'm going to go take a look down there I like the idea of piece everything together on a piece of glass or slate. I'm also going to look at a few LFS and see what I can find.
 
If you're going to use local rock do the vinegar test. Take a piece of the rock and drip a drop of white vinegar on it. If it fizzes, toss the rock. If it doesn't then scrub them real good with water and a clean scrub brush.

Rocks that fizz when exposed to white vinegar (acetic acid) will over time dissolve in the aquarium, skew the water hardness and potentially leach other minerals & contaminants into the water. If it all possible stick with igneous / metamorphic rocks like granite, marble, basalt etc. (If you can see crystal structure in the rock it's metamorphic or igneous.) If the rock is sand or silt-like, and breaks easily like shale then it's probably sedimentary and should be avoided (although some people, myself included use slate).

Ric
 
I thought about doing this a week ago, but I just decided to just put the rocks free standing in my aquarium instead of siliconing them. I love the idea, it's just that my tank's a little too small I feel for it to be practical, so I decided to leave them free-standing. I'd like to see how it looks when you actually silicone them. I think that it will look great. I agree with everything that was said, and a piece of slate is good to use to do it. Good Luck.!
 
I have a 100% silcone but it's silcone II can I still use it? It's from GE
 
Quote from UpstateNYer:
Silicone-wise I would take a trip to Lowes, Home Depot or somewhere similar and grab a tube of "GE Silicone I". Avoid the Silicone II as it has mold & mildew inhibitors in it that can harm your tank inhabitants.
Click to expand...
 
Ok I thought because it said 100% it was fine. It was the only container that said 100% silicone, but that ok I need to reseal the kitchen countertop anyway hahaha
 
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