Permanent Substrate using silicon??

[jjfishy]

Has anyone glued rocks/sand to piece of acrylic using silicon? And how did you do it and how well did it work? I plan on doing for FW tank with just a top layer here and there not glued to fill in the gaps, but most of it glued down once I have it the way I like it. What do you guys think?

 

[woofer00]

It works decently well for creating a rock/sand background. Using it on the substrate is asking for trouble. It ends up creating tons of nooks and crannies for food and fish waste to decompose in. Unless you're a big fan of blowing it out every week or so with a gravel vac or something, it's not worth the trouble imo.

 

[mgamer20o0]

why? i wouldnt do this. is this a fw or sw tank? the waste falls between the cracks and breaks down. if it wasnt it would be on top. it would look really dirty. might as well have a bb tank and paint the bottom.

 

[jjfishy]

It's freshwater,but I need to clarify a little more... I would silicon some gravel and other things to piece of acrylic and put that on the bottom of a glass aquarium ( On top of the glass bottom, it's not the actual bottom of the aquarium)then cover that with more gravel and clean it with a python. Is this still not a good idea? Thanks guys!

 

[jjfishy]

How about using hot glue to attach rocks and such to a back ground. Is it toxic after it dries?

 

[mgamer20o0]

it could work i just dont understand why. if you dont have plants all you need is a thin amount of gravel on the bottom.

 

[jsoong]

I think he is trying to glue bits of stuff down to acrylic sheets so it will stay put. I think it would work. This is no different than placing other artificial ornaments, you are just making a wider base for it.

Silicone or epoxy will work, depending on what you are gluing. <Silicone don't stick well to plexi, but if you use slate for your base, silicone would work well.> I wouldn't use hot glue ... doesn't stick under water.

 

[mkurtzer70]

super glue also works very well i've used it in a couple of my tanks just get the kind that is the gel kind works much better