Silicone.

[SBee]

Ok. Having frustrations finding a silicone that will work for aquariums.

At our local Home Depot, there is only "kitchen and bathroom" or "windows and doors" silicone......and while one of them does not have the mildew stuff in it, the other says "not for aquarium use"

Could somebody please give me the exact brand, name, number, whatever, of a silicone that I can use!!??

I've used "GE RTV 100 series, General Purpose Black Silicone" for items in my tank (purchased for a rip-off at LFS) but Home Depot doesn't sell anything that's just "general purpose"

 

[slipknottin]

anything that says 100% silicone and doesnt have mildew stuff in it is fine.

 

[SBee]

that's what the "windows and doors" product said...."100% silicone" and it DIDN'T have the warning about the mildew agent thingy (while the other one did)............BUT ......it was also the one that said "not for aquarium use" should I just ignore that?

 

[Slappy*McFish]

Make it easy on yourself and buy silicone that is made for aquarium use...any pet store, aquarium store, or walmart will usually have it.

 

[slipknottin]

Last I heard the 'not for aquarium use' is just a disclaimer. Same thing with most of the sands they sell at home depot too. Most of them say not for aquarium use.

 

[Jinks]

Slappy, the stuff at the LFS is 16 bucks!! Silicone at home depot is only 5$!! No way I'm buying from the LFS...

ok so I figured that the "not for aquarium use" might have been a disclaimer ....so I think I will just buy that stuff.

I looked on the GE silicone website, and the several products that they say are ok for aquariums are only for small aquariums (5 gals and less) but that sounds like a load of balogna too!

 

[slipknottin]

I think there silicones might not have the strength and bonding abilities that aquarium silicone does. At least not to glass anyways. That might explain the 'not for tanks over 5 gallons' disclaimer.

 

[Jinks]

the 'windows and doors' has a rating scale for adhering to various materials...7 being the strongest.

glass = 7

 

[slipknottin]

Yea.... Doesnt mean much. There are silicones out there that will bond to glass much better than the GE stuff will. The best silicones come from Europe.

 

[SBee]

Europe eh......well that doesn't help me much does it!!

We ended up finding some stuff at a different hardware store......"aquarium safe"....

both tanks have now been sealed......so I guess we'll know soon enough whether we did it right or not!!