Glue for decorations besides aquarium sealant?

E

eDavid

AC Members
Jun 20, 2012
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I want to try making a few of my own decorations, and I always read to use aquarium sealant it seems. Is there anything non toxic like at home depot, where I won't have to pay petstore inflation?
 
Super glue for just about anything, even when applied underwater....gel works great.
 
I buy tubes of clear silicone from walmart, they're only a couple bucks. I'm sure you could get a much larger tube from home depot.
 
Hi
Super glue sounds like a good idea eliminate a lot of cure time as with silicones. have used the silicone from walmart
for years with no problems. Walmart 3 GE 1/II 7 . 12 bucks at aquarium store lol
GE I/II at HD Lowes 8/ 10 bucks . gary
 
The question to ask is weather saving a couple of dollars on silicone that quite likely has mold or mildew inhibitors is worth the potential danger to your fish. Aquarium safe silicone is known to be safe for fish. Gel type super glues are known to be safe.
 
Hi
Have used the Walmart brand for many years even in SW An interesting sidenote . have bought tubes of GE I/II that failed to cure has never happened with the Walmat brand. I've saved several hundred bucks at least lol I've tried to find the difference in the formula but with no luck As to the so called "algae mold inhibitors" they don't lol
If your using a small amout would guess it makes little difference and much to be said for giving the business to your LFS. gary
 
dbosman said:
The question to ask is weather saving a couple of dollars on silicone that quite likely has mold or mildew inhibitors is worth the potential danger to your fish. Aquarium safe silicone is known to be safe for fish. Gel type super glues are known to be safe.
Click to expand...

Agreed, if you were just going into any shop and picking up any tube of silicone and hoping for the best. Certainly, if you don't care to take the time to do your homework, aquarium sealant is definitely the way to go.

However, if you do your research on what kinds of silicone are safe, what's the harm in saving money? (I bring this up because GE Silicone II no longer makes the "aquarium safe" claim, as explained below)

I have used both GE Silicone II (the II is very important for avoiding certain leechable chemicals) and Loctite Super Glue gel, both with great results. Both are completely aquarium safe.

@Gary - I've found that GE Silicone II needs to sit and cure in the open air for a great deal longer than it's advertised/labeled cure time to hold up once submerged in the tank. Another thing to consider about it, is that while it's aquarium safe, it should not be used for sealing tanks, per a specific warning from GE. It's not designed to withstand the water pressure on the tank walls. That's why they took "aquarium safe" off the bottle, not because it's toxic. Point being, in the event you want to seal a tank, actual aquarium sealant is the way to go.

What type of Walmart brand silicone are you using instead now? I'm interested to look into it's safety and effectiveness.
 
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