One of my other hobbies besides aquariums and ponds is mechanics. I was wanting to do an engine parts theme in one of my next aquariums. I can get the engine parts perfectly clean but I need to seal them. I tried searching but only found a few relevant threads, one of which said polyurethane fogs up after being submerged. I remember reading a thread awhile back of something that worked but couldn't seem to find it this time.
Fish safe clear coat for metal
- Thread starter Longshot
- Start date
dude ive been dreaming about this for so long... imagine an aluminum v8 block with fish swimming around in the cylinders inside the tank!?!?!
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I was given three damaged water pumps that are all honda clones. Two of them can be tore down as spare parts for my long tail outboard but the third is useless for spares. I was going to gut it down to just the housing (center piece) and have the cam, head and piston etc. laying as accessory pieces. I just need to make them fish safe.
i think a stainless steel straight through muffler would be cool
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Probably wouldn't be too hard to build one that LOOKS like a muffler. 
I wouldn't use an actual one due to the various filler materials.
I wouldn't use an actual one due to the various filler materials.
i know flowmaster 40 series are all stainless and just have a couple stainless baffles inside
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No, you can buy them in stainless but they aren't all stainless. I had one and it rusted away in the yard. Personally I wouldn't put something like that in there just because it doesn't have enough character...unless you cut holes between the baffles. A tore down engine with all the intricate parts would be an interesting piece alone, then to have a school of small fish swimming through it would make it much cooler.
So nobody has any suggestions?
Well I tried polyurethane today so we'll see how it turns out before I do anything larger. I let it dry twice as long as recommended before placing it in. Some spots may not have dried properly or bonded well so I'll be keeping an eye on my tetras for suspicious behavior. The snails aren't acting different, still digging up my plants. The hygrophila doubled in size today and the glass shrimp became clearer but I think that is just coincidence to the changes in scenery. You can see both behind the timing gear.
Just snapped a quick pic.
Well I tried polyurethane today so we'll see how it turns out before I do anything larger. I let it dry twice as long as recommended before placing it in. Some spots may not have dried properly or bonded well so I'll be keeping an eye on my tetras for suspicious behavior. The snails aren't acting different, still digging up my plants. The hygrophila doubled in size today and the glass shrimp became clearer but I think that is just coincidence to the changes in scenery. You can see both behind the timing gear.
Just snapped a quick pic.
Maybe you could use an epoxy like west system, some people have used it for their plywood tanks so it must be fish safe.
Well, my rattle can rustoleum clear coat doesn't seem to be hurting anything. The only problem now is keeping the snails from digging up my plants.
