Wooden Ornament For Betta Tank - Is It Safe!

[nick999]

Hi,
I have a small wooden model of a park bench I want to put in my betta tank (8 gallon, just a male betta in there). It's made of wood and parts of it have been glued together, it's approx size is 5 x 3", I have attached a photo. Obviously I want to make sure this is safe for the tank, I've spent hours searching forums for this and have seen a few ideas for making wood safe, the most common seems to be covering it in clear polyurethane varnish. I bought some of this from a DIY shop today, it's 'Ronseal tough polyurethane gloss varnish', on the back it says it's resistant to chemical spillages and boiling water, but I'm still a bit unsure of using it. Does anyone have any experience of using these sort of varnishes for tank ornaments or any other ideas on how I could make it safe? I think it will look cool and I really want to put it in, but maybe it's just too much hassle and should I forget about it!? Any ideas would be very much appreciated.
Thanks a lot
Nick

 

[Frollickyfish]

Is it a low VOC varnish as this would be less risky? Personally I wouldnt risk it coz the chemicals that will leak out of it may well kill the fish.

 

[nick999]

Is it a low VOC varnish as this would be less risky? Personally I wouldnt risk it coz the chemicals that will leak out of it may well kill the fish.

thanks for the reply, It's actually quite a high voc content 25-50% that's one of the things that was putting me off, I've just seen another varnish online, proaqua varnish, says its voc free, water repellent and can be used on exterior wood http/www.earthbornpaints.co.uk/products/...atinvarnish.htm
,so maybe something like that would be better?

 

[Frollickyfish]

Is it a low VOC varnish as this would be less risky? Personally I wouldnt risk it coz the chemicals that will leak out of it may well kill the fish.

thanks for the reply, It's actually quite a high voc content 25-50% that's one of the things that was putting me off, I've just seen another varnish online, proaqua varnish, says its voc free, water repellent and can be used on exterior wood [URL="http/www.earthbornpaints.co.uk/products/...atinvarnish.htm"]http/www.earthbornpaints.co.uk/products/...atinvarnish.htm[/URL]
,so maybe something like that would be better?

That does sound alot better. Might be worth emailing the company and seeing what they think?

 

[Netty]

I think you have to be careful about the glue that has been used too........really cute little bench though

 

[Frollickyfish]

I think you have to be careful about the glue that has been used too........really cute little bench though

Thats a good point too. Probably not worth the risk which is a shame coz I can just picture a cute little Betta sat on it reading a newspaper.

 

[Netty]

that would be a sight!!!!