Cave Help

[mbjrc]

Hello,

I am building a cave for my tank, out of pvc. hiding the outside is easy, but its the inside I'm concerned about. I don't want the white pvc to be visible if you look inside of it. I tried siliconing black gravel to the inside of the pvc and it looked great, just if you so much as touch the gravel after the silicone set it falls off. does anyone have any ideas on how to cover up the white pvc from the inside to make it look mor natural? Thanks!

 

[jsoong]

Try epoxy, sticks better to PVC, but still not great, but may be good enough.

You can get black PVC, or paint the white with Kryon paint.

 

[mbjrc]

the silicone sticks to the pvc just fine, I'm actually trying to get it off now with little luck. its the gravel that didn't stick. I thought about painting it but i want it to look more natural. Plus now i have alot of silicone on the inside that I'm having a hard time removing.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I don't know what to tell ya expect using the aquarium safe paint to paint the inside. Or you could get a slab of slate and taking the layers apart to get very thing rock slices and then use the silicone to stick the slices on.

 

[jsoong]

Oh it is the rocks .... Are they clean & dry??? If they are used in the aquarium, there might be a biofilm that makes them not stick. Try scrubbing the rock, then wash with vinegar before gluing. Also try smaller rocks (or maybe sand), less weight to support so should stay better.

As for removing the silicone, it should peel off fairly easily once you get a corner started. I actually had the opposite problem using silicone on PVC pipes, they never stick for long, esp. when wet.

 

[onebettanewbie]

I'm going to build a small fin-safe cave for my betta. After reading this thread I've decided not to use PVC. What do you think of cutting up a water bottle for the base? There would be no color to hide and you can pick any size you want. Would there be any issues with it sitting for a long time in 80 degree water? My alternative ideas are to cut up some terra cotta pots or buy a smokey-colored piece of critter trail tubing.

 

[JasonC]

Krylon fusion, or rustoleum regular plastic paint have both been recommended to me from this forum as tank safe paints... I would go that route.

 

[mbjrc]

I actually ended up getting the PVC and gravel to work. What i did was used ALOT of silicone, spread it evenly and the put the gravel on it. I then pressed the gravel down with my hand and shook off the extra. It actually worked pretty well, the gravel sticking nicely.