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Confused about Silicone for your DIY tank?


nano-paul

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For the last couple of days I have seen silicone questions being asked all over the DIY forum. I have a sealant rep who deals in Dow Corning, Pecora, and GE silicones. We are willing to do reasearch and find out what works and what doesnt. We are working on 999-A, 795, and GE Silpruf as we speak.

 

Please post what silicone you are wondering about and I will add it to the list.

 

Dow Corning 999-A: SAFE for glass to glass, glass to acrylic with no weight.

Dow Corning 795: SAFE for glass to glass, and PVC to glass as long as you rough up the surface of the PVC

GE SilPruf: NOT SAFE for any underwater application.

Dow Corning 732: I got no answer

RTV 103 & 108: SAFE for glass to glass.

3M's 5200 Marine Adhesive Sealant: NOT SAFE

DAP Aquarium Sealant: SAFE for all applications.

DAP Auto Marine Sealant: SAFE Is my guess, but I bet it's not very strong and you are using it at your own risk. Can't get a definite answer from my Rep.

Edited by nano-paul
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I'm confused. GE-1 has been tried and tested for years, and is readily available and cheap. What's the relevance of other brands?

 

or is this more a strength/assembly thing and not a reef-safe thing?

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I'm confused. GE-1 has been tried and tested for years, and is readily available and cheap. What's the relevance of other brands?

 

or is this more a strength/assembly thing and not a reef-safe thing?

 

It is gonna be both. It has to be strong and reef-safe. Some people might use something different than GE-1 and I thought it would be helpful to know what works and what wont.

 

Different silicones work better for different applications. DaveFason is doing a PVC to glass bond and they are trying to find out which is better to use, so I thought I would start a thread and share the information with other people and give them a chance to post what they use.

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Interesting thread I have in the past used silicon on glass to acrylic for overflows and such but never had good bonding and just ended up siliconing the crap out of stuff. So how strong is the bond on the 999-A to acrylic?

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Interesting thread I have in the past used silicon on glass to acrylic for overflows and such but never had good bonding and just ended up siliconing the crap out of stuff. So how strong is the bond on the 999-A to acrylic?

As long as it doesn't have to hold and weight it should work.

 

Really is no good way to bond acrylic to glass........

Edited by nano-paul
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I'd be curious what the rep thinks about Dow Corning 732, I have only used it to build a few small tanks and put in sump dividers but I have a larger build in the planning stages and was hoping to do some nice thin black seams at up to 18-20" depth.

 

FWIW I had up to 6" of water level difference across an acrylic sump divider and the 732 held it just fine, and also one of the sumps cracked and I had to remove the dividers and they were in there GOOD. I obviously wouldn't assemble an acrylic tank with it but it seemed to adhere to the acrylic almost as good as the glass; I couldn't scrape it off with a razor and had to use a metal wire brush and silicone remover and still didn't get it all.

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I added 732 to the list.

 

It is along the same lines as 795, but the adhesive property is not as strong.

Edited by nano-paul
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NP,

I know it wasn't listed as a company your rep deals with but I am interested if 3M's 5200 Marine Adhesive Sealant is reef-safe. I have reviewed the MSDS but can't conclusively decide whether it is or isn't.

 

I am not interested if it will bond glass or not, just if it can be used in a reef-tank.

 

 

BTW, thanks for starting this thread and taking the time to look into this.

 

-Prof

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NP,

I know it wasn't listed as a company your rep deals with but I am interested if 3M's 5200 Marine Adhesive Sealant is reef-safe. I have reviewed the MSDS but can't conclusively decide whether it is or isn't.

 

I am not interested if it will bond glass or not, just if it can be used in a reef-tank.

 

 

BTW, thanks for starting this thread and taking the time to look into this.

 

-Prof

No it wont be reef-safe. It is a polyurethane and will leach chemicals into your aquarium.

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What about DAP Aquarium Sealant? Is this Reef Safe?

Yep.

 

:)

 

I fixed it.

 

Good read and thanks for doing all the lifting for this one. I appreciate it.

 

I think it'd be an excellent sticky thread.

I agree!!!!!

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ok so 999a vs 795

 

 

both are shore A 25 35

peel strength 20 32

cure in hours na 168 Hours to 336 Hours

Tear Strength = 25 ppi na

Tensile Strength = 325 psi = 45 psi

 

 

 

 

the big diffrence that i can see is that the 795 allows for greater movement in the joint. but other wise the 999 looks better for most applications. does this sound right or am i being stupid once again.

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When I spoke with a Dow rep regarding the two he said 795 is what Disney uses on there 1000+ aquariums. Black only though no clear so 999 it is. For me at least.

Edited by cdelicath
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nano-paul, First, Thanks much for the effort you are putting forth for this. Now, Can you tell me which would be best for a glass to pvc application. Also it must be able to stick to silicone. I am putting in a pvc overflow and in the corners it will need to stick to the silicone that is already there. You only list two possibles, 795 and you are checking on the pvc part and Dow aquarium, safe for all, does this include my requirements? Thanks again. You are the man. Mark

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