BettaGammaDelta

Hey, I've always liked DIY decorating nearly all my stuff, and it annoys me when I have to buy things instead of making them from scratch. Specifically, in this case I would love making a new, unique ornament for my new nine-gallon, but I have no idea what materials are safe, non-toxic, and heavy enough to sit in that much water.

So these are my questions - what kind of paints are safe? What kind of rock and plastics? What wood, and how do I treat it beforehand?

Butterfly

About any nonresinous wood would be ok after it's boiled (to sterilize and remove tannins).
Plastics marked non-toxic should be ok. Ceramic s that have been fired are usually ok.
carol

Reid

Here are some ideas of stuff I have used in the past:

For caves and decoration:

-white PVC (black is ABS, not PVC) or acrylic
-slate shingles (from a demolition site)
-lava stone from the garden center (silicone on PVC, or build something cool out of acrylic and silicone them on there)
-found stones by fresh water lakes and rivers
-water gutter from the hardware store (cut holes in the bottom, separate with garden liner to make multiple caves, flip over, brush on silicone cover with either substrate, sand, or lava stone to make a cave across the bottom of your tank, or string 3 or 4 together and hang to cover your rear wall.)
-found drift wood (non resinous)
-Styrofoam walls(carve them out of the styrofoam coolers), covered in quickcrete. This requires a lot of work, but results are amazing.

Make sure you are only using DAP Aquarium safe silicone. It is 3 dollars a tube at the hardware store.

Boil all rocks and wood, put it in a bucket of tested water for a few days and test the water. If anything is out of whack, repeat. You don't want to add anything that will spike the pH. If the wood you get wont stay down, get a square piece of acrylic and screw the wood to it and bury the acrylic in the substrate. If the rocks and the wood are to big for your pots, you can put them in a bucket and pour boiling water over them, or/and bake them in the oven.

Well I have to get back to work here...lol Let me know if you need help building anything, I can send plans for stuff I have already built.

Have fun!
Cheers!

corycalogero

the only paint i know is safe for in take use is "krylon fusion" for plastic surfaces.... ive spoken to many who build their own equipment and mod things and they all swear by it....... multiple light coats and a 2 week curing time at least before using it..... no chipping or peeling, no outgasing after curing.....

prairielilly

So far as rocks: make sure it comes from a natural source ie a river etc so you 'know' (as much as possible) that it doesn't have any traces of pesticides, fertilizers etc. That would go for wood too. The rock itself: if it is made of limestone or contains limestone it may have an adverse effect on the pH. To test, put a bit of vinegar on the part in question - if it fizzes, it's calcite (limestone). If it doesn't, use a steel knife to try to scrape a bit of the rock off into a powder; if you can do that, put vinegar on the powder and see if it fizzes - if it does, it's dolomite (similar mineralogy, will also affect pH). If there's anything in the rock that appears blue, purple, metallic or irridescent, steer clear of it (may indicate minerals that will leach harmful substances into the water). Another possible issue is with natural rock salt; they will appear semi-translucent and will be in shades of pink, blue, grey and white (may not contain all those). They'll be very soft, you can scratch them with your fingernail, and if you lick your finger and then touch the rock and then taste your finger it will taste like salt (sounds gross, but geologists lick rocks all the time). Rock salt will dissolve in warm water and as you know that's not good....If you want to specifically identify a certain rock you can PM me and I can help with that. If it's mineralogically safe, then boiling is the best way to 'sterilize' it, and after that it should be completely aquarium-safe.