silicone

[Jer-]

hi, for the CO2 DIY systems, will any silicone glue be good enough? or does it have to be aquarium silicone glue

thx

 

[Tolak]

It has to be pure silicone, many products have anti-fungals in them. These will poison your fish. GE Silicone I is pure silicone. It's the same product in the All-Glass aquarium sealant tubes.

Tolak

 

[konrad05]

It has to be pure silicone, many products have anti-fungals in them. These will poison your fish. GE Silicone I is pure silicone. It's the same product in the All-Glass aquarium sealant tubes.

Tolak

There is absolutely no point in getting special silicone for sealing a CO2 bottle unit. Once the silicone dries, the chemicals will not diffuse into the air - then water. Also, the point of the silicone is to prevent outwards movement of air, so even if it would release "deadly" gases, they wouldn't make it through the tubes. HTH!

 

[Terrorbyte]

If you have a hot glue gun handy, that will work fine as a sealant. Most chemical sealants are very toxic and can harm/kill your fish once introduced to your tank environment.

 

[Jer-]

i see. well i jus bought some silicone sealant from a hardware store. its a soudal universal silicon.

it says on the back (in polish, after crappy translation) universal elastic silicone sealant based on 100% silicone.

does that sound safe its also transparent so tats a goodie.

 

[Lateral Line]

Silicone suitable for aquarium use usually says so on the packaging. I wouldn't use anything that didn't. The link you provide is an .asp, it does not show which of the many products listed, you have purchased.

 

[nc_nutcase]

"based on 100% silicone" is not the same as "100% silicone". It's a cheesy play on words. Marketing....

GE Silicone I or II Kitchen & Bath are both 100% pure silicone (note: the Doors and Windows line says 'not for prolonged submerging'-paraphrased). GE II has a stronger bonding degree to a wider range of materials. How they improved its bonding capacity without altering the ingredients (100% silicone on both) I have no clue...

I've used GE I & II K & B on aqua projects. One thing to remember with silicone... be sure to allow sufficient curing time. Also remember that the times listed on the bottle are for 3/8 (double check) inch beads. So if you goop it on thick, you may want to double/triple/more that curing time. I made an elaborate shelving system in a 55 Gal converting it into a terrarium. I let it sit empty with a fan blowing in the tank for 48 hours before filling it... but since so much of the silicone was pinched between glass and Plexiglas it didn't complete it's curing. I lose several fish to the contamination. My new rule of thumb is estimate how long I think it will take to dry then double it (stole that rule from the engineers at work, lol).

 

[sammydee]

I got some silicone from the fish shop called "ARBO professional" which is perfectly safe for aquaria.

IMHO if it does not say "fungicides" in the ingredients list then it is safe to use.