Cement and Bamboo

[HarleyK]

Howdy,

. I have a good amount of bamboo, from thin sticks to 5'' thick pipes. I've been looking for DIY on how to decorate, and mostly found advice to fix it on Plexiglas and put substrate over it. The weight of the gravel/sand will keep the buoyant bamboo down. But obviously that only works on new setups.

Thus, I've been thinking about options to weigh down the bamboo. Seems easy to pour it into cement. I'm thinking I may drill a few stainless steel screws through the bamboo to give the cement something to hold onto.
Below are a few sketches on how I hope it'll work.

Now, my question is: can I use any cement from the home improvement store, or is there anything I need to look for?

Thanks, HarleyK

 

[millerkid519]

I have always used quickcrete

 

[fuzzlebug]

I think most building concrete is suitable, as long as there is no additives, like mold or moisture inhibitors. If you want to be really sure you could use pond cement on concrete

 

[boldtogether]

The only thing I have ever heard was it can raise ph when not properly cured....but properly curing on such a small amount would literally be hours.....I would still soak it with some clean circulating water with some sort of water treatment...like Prime.....from my experience, I have never had even a slight issue.
I have an acquaintance who propagates coral and he makes his reef rock out of concrete...then glues the coral to it....
he says concrete is actually safer than say limestone or even sand stone because both can actually release toxins into the water you wouldn't think about. ...like pesticides and other chemicals the stone could have obsorbed decades ago...centuries even...it is stone after all.
Soak the decorations when done, and I believe your drawing/ideas are very sound, just like you would soak wood to water log it in preparation for the tank.

 

[DN328]

Howdy,

. I have a good amount of bamboo, from thin sticks to 5'' thick pipes. I've been looking for DIY on how to decorate, and mostly found advice to fix it on Plexiglas and put substrate over it. The weight of the gravel/sand will keep the buoyant bamboo down. But obviously that only works on new setups.

Thanks, HarleyK
View attachment 1145414 View attachment 1145415 View attachment 1145416 View attachment 1145417

Out of curiosity, why would attaching to acrylic only work for new tanks? IMO, that's a cleaner approach and no hassle with concrete? You could use stainless screws as you suggested, and they make plastic screws to connect the bamboo to acrylic as well. I use superglue to glue an anubia plant to driftwood. This is common as well in reef tanks. That may work to glue bamboo and acrylic too.

 

[HarleyK]

All great advice, thanks, guys!

As for the acrylic: you basically have a sheet of Plexiglas and attach the bottoms of all sticks to it (w/ screws), then put this down in an empty tank, add gravel and water. Very clean, but it requires starting with an empty tank.
I think the concrete is clean as well as long as you can hide it, ie I plan to sink it into my sand.

 

[DN328]

I still dont see why you have to be starting a tank with acrylic approach. Not sure if you understood my question or I wasn't clear.

 

[pelleeklund]

The screws would be more dangerous than the cement with the rust they would produce. I've been using cement from Home Depot in my tanks for years with no problems. It's easy, give it a day to set up then soak it in a bucket for a bit and your good. Just buy the regular concrete patching cement, they sell it in a 7 dollar plastic container. Funny enough I just made a bunch of skulls this week using a few cheap plastic Halloween skulls and pouring concrete into them. Worked great. I'll try to get a pic. 10 bucks total made 4 full skulls.

 

[pelleeklund]

Here it is.

 

[HarleyK]

Awesome.
I think there's a "TANKED" episode coming up with skulls and bones..