Building A Paludarium

jimmyx36

Arachnosquire
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Aug 18, 2006
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I'm not at all a handy man so I have a simple question. I'm going to make a rock wall for the glass aquarium I'm using. I was planning on gluing the rocks together. Does anyone know a glue I can use that will be able to sit in the water when dried that either wont disolve or poison my water? Would silicone caulking be strong enough for rocks?

Thanks!

- James
 

JayzunBoget

Arachnobaron
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Jun 26, 2007
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Silicone actually has very little long term sticking power. I have used a variety of glues in the making of live planted vivariums and paludariums and my favorite is liquid nails. Give it a few days to cure and it should be more or less chemically inert. At least enough so that it has never been suspected of adverse affects on poison frogs. Trust me, they are wicked sensitive.
When gluing several sizes of rocks on a wall, I recommend that you start with the largest and fill in with smaller and smaller.
 

Elapid

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i have 30-year-old aquaria that are sealed with silicone. fortunately it does have excellent long-term sticking power in my experience.
 

jimmyx36

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What about using Quick-Crete? I'm also considering pouring concrete to make the ledge and backwall and maybe stick some rocks and pebbles on there while its still wet.
 

dtknow

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Aquaria ad rocks are apples and oranges, at least IME. Trying to stick rocks together with silicone is only a temporary fix. Give it some time, and some moving around and they will start coming apart.

I'd reccomend trying quik-crete or the mortar that is sold for terrarium use(look up t & c terrariums). Expoxy people use to glue live rock in reef tanks might be appropriate too.
 

JayzunBoget

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i have 30-year-old aquaria that are sealed with silicone. fortunately it does have excellent long-term sticking power in my experience.
I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. Due to the nature of glass against glass and the shear factor of silicone, it is the PERFECT glue for aquariums. I have used it to glue wood and stone to glass in wet environments (after curing of course) and usually it has come off within a year. I think the term for the kind of strength that it does not have is tare factor. That's why you can pull it off of things so easily.
 

JayzunBoget

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I'd reccomend trying quik-crete or the mortar that is sold for terrarium use(look up t & c terrariums). Expoxy people use to glue live rock in reef tanks might be appropriate too.
Quik-crete has things in it that harden your water and raise your ph. Depending on what you're planing on putting in your paludarium, that could be good or bad. If you're thinking poison frogs and little colorful tetras, as so many vivariasts are these days, you are going to want softer, slightly acidic ph.
The epoxy that reefers use for their live rock is good for gluing porous rock to porous rock. It also failed my vivarium test. I used it to glue some lianus together about a year and a half ago. All three instances in which I have used it have come apart by now.
 

skinheaddave

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I have yet to try it, but I had an idea a while ago when pondering a similar matter. You could use a masonry bit to drill holes into the rock and then use a PVC or similar rod siliconed in place in both rocks. Assuming your positioning was good, you'd never see the rods. Thoughts?

Cheers,
Dave
 

Hedorah99

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What about using Quick-Crete? I'm also considering pouring concrete to make the ledge and backwall and maybe stick some rocks and pebbles on there while its still wet.
You're goint ot need to either A:use an acid to age the concrete or B: let it sit with a filter running for weeks to months to ensure all the chemicals in the concrete, such as lye, have leached out of the mortar to ensure you don't poison any fish or amphibians you place in there.

If you use a rigid insulation foam and epoxy or silicone the rock on, it should work. I am ssuming at this point you are using pebbles and stones and not boulders.
 
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