Home-made cave!

[mr.waffles1842]

never mind......

 

[Gboy66]

Um ok........ ..

 

[fellfrosch]

I gotta try that! What aquarium safe adhesive glue did you use?

You can use any 100% silicone from home depot or lowes. Just be sure NOT to get any with an anti-mold/bacterial additive as that will kill your fishies.

Like a tube piece? Or a connector? Were do you get the adhesive? Could you glue sand to it? Haha sorry for all the ?'s

Yes you can glue sand to it. If you do, there are 2 things i suggest you do.
1: use the largest grain sand you can. the smaller grain sand shows the pipe too much.
or 2: pour the silicone into a plastic tub/cup. mix in the pre=cleaned sand into it till you get a thick paste, then use something like a popsicle stick to smear it on the sanded pipe. This gives a MUCH thicker and even result than just coating the tube with silicone and then rolling it in sand.

Also, the sand on the tube can, and WILL grow algae like crazy. This can however add character to the tube and provide a feeding place for algae eaters like ottos, shrimps, snails, ect...

2 older examples of what it looks like:

My ghost shrimp love it...

 

[absolutangel04]

Those are awesome pictures! I really like this idea.

 

[Island_Emt]

Looks good...i like it.

 

[Retired_AF]

...I wouldn't know where to get the adhesive, although it would probably be silicon.

You want a Type I silicone, 100% pure. Make sure it doesnt have any mildew inhibitors or anything like that. You can get it at WalMart, Lowe's or Home Depot or most any LFS although it would be more expensive there.

 

[glassbird]

Just as an add on thought here...you can paint PVC with Krylon Fusion in a color that will blend with your sand, let it dry for a few day, then silicone the sand/gravel to the painted pipe. This prevents any white from showing thru (assuming you are using a colored gravel).

 

[AquaRick]

Just as an add on thought here...you can paint PVC with Krylon Fusion in a color that will blend with your sand, let it dry for a few day, then silicone the sand/gravel to the painted pipe. This prevents any white from showing thru (assuming you are using a colored gravel).

Would Krylon fusion be ok in a saltwater tank as well? Can't think of why it wouldn't; just not sure on it's reaction with salt etc.

 

[Metalheadx]

I did this for my puffers a few months ago , they love it ..... It's a great idea , looks really great ! Keep up the great work !

 

[glassbird]

Would Krylon fusion be ok in a saltwater tank as well? Can't think of why it wouldn't; just not sure on it's reaction with salt etc.

I know people do use it in saltwater, but I do not know how well it holds up in that situation because I only have freshwater.

I can say from personal experience that the trick to using Krylon Fusion is to apply 2-3 light coats, with a few hours dry time between each coat...followed by several days of drying time...the longer the better. And the item to be painted must be clean. Krylon Fusion does NOT stick to old dry algea patches. Trust me on this.

 

[AquaRick]

Thanks!

 

[Homer8]

I used krylon fusion in my brackish. Make sure what your painting is extremely clean. Mine has. Been holding up quite well. I used the textured version and i lobe the way it came out.