Coating non-driftwood with fiberglass resin?

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bahamaqt00

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 7, 2009
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kirkland wa
What do you guys think? -

We took a trip to the state park last night and was walking by the waterfront and found these cool pieces of wood. It is not driftwood because they hadn't been in the water for long, or at all, and still had the bark. I figure it wasn't aquarium safe. But we took it anyways lol. Do you guys think that putting a light coat of fiberglass resin over it would make it aquarium safe? I don't want to try unless someone knows for sure! I don't want to take the risk with my fishies!

Thanks everyone! - I included a picture below of our finding
 
I would try soaking it, or boiling it. Then you can always try it in a smaller tank with a few guppies to make sure its safe. But as far as covering it with a resin I dont know, but would like to find out since I picked up a good piece and hope that it will be ok to use.
 
Well I posted another thread asking if the piece of wood was okay for my tank and the answer was a definite NO. They said because it still has bark and hasn't been under water it isn't considered driftwood and is toxic to the tank and can be harlful to the fish.
 
sorry i missed the fact that it has bark. I would soak it with bleach water solution. let it dry completely. then soak it in regular water with some salt. then do a feeder fish test. I know some people think it is cruel to use feeders that way but I figure it is prob better off then being in those tanks all crammed in barley filtered.
 
Valous;3985442; said:
sorry i missed the fact that it has bark. I would soak it with bleach water solution. let it dry completely. then soak it in regular water with some salt. then do a feeder fish test. I know some people think it is cruel to use feeders that way but I figure it is prob better off then being in those tanks all crammed in barley filtered.
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Yeah I might end up doing that. But first I want to get some input from others who maybe have done this before or have heard of the fiberglass resin idea before. I think it sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the reply!
 
If you coated it in fiberglass resin, that should eliminate the bark issue altogether. The question I guess would be is whether or not the fiberglass resin is both waterproof and safe for the fishes. The fiberglass resin I have here is waterproof and according to the label, the VOC loss when cured is 1.8 grams per liter or 0.02 pounds per gallon. I know VOC is bad but to what degree and whether those number are high or low I just dont know.
 
hmm what if you used a clear epoxy. Now if i could remember that site that someone posted had the clear there..
 
BadOleRoss;3985603; said:
If you coated it in fiberglass resin, that should eliminate the bark issue altogether. The question I guess would be is whether or not the fiberglass resin is both waterproof and safe for the fishes. The fiberglass resin I have here is waterproof and according to the label, the VOC loss when cured is 1.8 grams per liter or 0.02 pounds per gallon. I know VOC is bad but to what degree and whether those number are high or low I just dont know.
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Yeah I know we could get some waterproof resin. I'm not too fibeglass resin savy so is VOC a chemical in the resin that is bad for fish?

The epoxy is a good idea as well. I had another idea. What about sillicone? The aquarium safe stuff? What do you guys think?
 
Just put a little glob on your finger and king of coat it all over the place. We did it on one little piece of the branch and it looks fine. Do you think that a thin coat of silicone will seal the whole piece of wood so none of the toxins release into the water?
 
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