silicon and aquariums

[RaVeNo888o]

Im going to be setting up a aquarium for dart frogs or red eyes pretty soon, and i just had one question (for now :P ). If i were to get some cork bark to make a backing for the tank, and i siliconed it in place, would i be able to remove the bark later on and scrape off the silicon or would it be pretty permanent. Im not too worried anyways, but i was just curious because i know you can scrape off excess with a razor but thats when it is still fairly new.
Thanks in advance.

[snakers55]

You would be able to remove it, but why waste the money on it.. It would be very difficult to disinfect and reuse on a different animal.. I would suggest trying out a home made rock wall maybe, I know some of the members on this site can direct you through making one.. It will look nice as well, and is completely customizable to fit the needs of your frogs... You could make a little stream that runs down the wall, or a waterfall or something (if sealed properly).. Just an idea..

[RaVeNo888o]

thanks, i would love to make a wall with a stream and such, but this will be our first viv so i'm trying to keep it relatively simple (and it will be technically my gf's so). Also I was more concerned with salvaging the tank itself with out having silicon stuck to one side of the glass, rather than wanting to reuse the cork bark.

ive seen some good pages for do it yourself walls,. i really liked the one with placing the driftwood against the back and filling the gaps in with foam, holding them in place.

[snakers55]

Yeah, even that would be pretty cool.. I was just thinking that in the end, the cork bark (if bought from a petstore) will probably cost more than the actual tank..

[RaVeNo888o]

a little change of plans here. In these black jungle instructions http://www.blackjungle.com/gallery/talltank/page1.html he says he uses triple exanding foam called Great Stuff. I was looking at the home depot page and they had several different kinds. Would the best one to use be the 'big gap filler'? it says it is for gaps larger than 1/2 inch.
http://a466.g.akamai.net/v/466/10142/12h/images.escalate.com/images/products/hd90120/000/010/000010994.jpg

[Jeff Hathaway]

Great Stuff really is just what the title implies. The Big Gap Filler is the most useful for the purpose you're thinking of. Consider it to be fairly permanent, though, as it is very difficult to remove from most surfaces. And in the end, it is just polyurethane foam, so you may want to coat the surface with epoxy after the polyurethane cures so that the surface is solid, impermeable, and cleanable.

Jeff Hathaway
Sciensational Sssnakes!!