A wile ago I saw someone made a cave by gluing substrate to a peice of PVC using silicone and It blends in nicely in the tank I was wondering if I could do the same thing but instead of PVC can I use a plastic bottle and just cut off the ends or would It leach something into the tank?
Would this diy cave work?
- Thread starter icherno7
- Start date
Plastic bottles should not leach anything into the water. Just make sure you clean it really well if it had any nasty chemicals in it.
There are different grade of plastic bottles. I'd say if the plastic bottle held a food product you will be OK after a good cleaning. If it held anything else, like cleaning supplies, stay away from that.
gseith;4256090; said:
i agree with this post, it will look a lot better then plastic bottles, unless you want that paluted lake michigan look haha
No - such a bottle isn't designed for repeated use, and the conditions of your tank (warm water with lots of bacteria) will probaby break it down over time to the extent that BPA's and DEHP's (chemicals which interfere with hormones and are likely carcinogenic) will leach into the water.
A better option is the use of lunch containers which are BPA free - Systema has a good range which would go well with this technique: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_cichlid_cave.php
Though you don't actually need any plastic to be permanently in your tank - you can do what you were thinking (bottle, silicone, rocks) until it sets, then remove the bottle carefully, so that the silicon and rocks retain its shape. You could also put the bottle, then rocks, then silicone, then more rocks - this would be more rigid, though could be a bit tricky if the first layer of rocks were very small.
No matter how you do it though, make sure the silicone is aquarium safe.
A better option is the use of lunch containers which are BPA free - Systema has a good range which would go well with this technique: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_cichlid_cave.php
Though you don't actually need any plastic to be permanently in your tank - you can do what you were thinking (bottle, silicone, rocks) until it sets, then remove the bottle carefully, so that the silicon and rocks retain its shape. You could also put the bottle, then rocks, then silicone, then more rocks - this would be more rigid, though could be a bit tricky if the first layer of rocks were very small.
No matter how you do it though, make sure the silicone is aquarium safe.