building slate caves

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rhettdepauw

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 1, 2009
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Iowa City
www.rhettdepauw.com
I recently purchased a large amount of slate and i am wanting to construct some intricate rock caves for spawning. I was wondering if anyone has used any sort of epoxy or bonding agent to make sturdy caves. If so, what bonding techniques are aquarium safe, that will provide a strong hold? I have experemented a little bit using simple aquarium sealent to bond two rocks together, it worked but is not as strong as i had hoped.

thanks for the help.
 
epoxy is a little bit expensive and the bond is not as strong as you would expect. Silicone is almost the same story except you can swap out the price issue with anesthetics. My best recommendation would be your regular old super glue in gel form or Zap* gel depending on job size. If its rather large, stick with silicone and be really careful for a clean job.
 
silicone worked great.. just use thick globs... to make it looks a lil better mash some up and then sprinkle it on the wet silicone.. its not perfect be it coveres it up a bit..
 
Do you mean aesthetics, rather than anesthetics, Wee? I just want to make sure I don't end up knocking my fish out instead of building them a hidey house. Some of that stuff does smell pretty wicked.
 
i've used silicone for it before with pretty good results. wherever there was some exposed i just pressed some sand into it while it was still wet.


or you can go with a hammerdrill, and some rebar. :D
 
birmansandbettas;2934747; said:
Do you mean aesthetics, rather than anesthetics, Wee? I just want to make sure I don't end up knocking my fish out instead of building them a hidey house. Some of that stuff does smell pretty wicked.
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you only neet anesthetics if they look horrible. ;)

you can always mash the sand or crushed up rock onto the silicone but it ends up looking like grout sometimes.
 
If you're going to use sillycone a cpl tips
A)wear disposable gloves either vinyl
B)if you get any on yourself use rubbing alcohol to remove it
C) as noted the silicone has a very strong smell do it outside or use plenty of ventilation
D) let it cure for 24 hours -Anne
 
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