Greatstuff-cork background questions

2250 Views 7 Replies 4 Participants Last post by jbeetle, Feb 20, 2004

Discussion Starter · Feb 19, 2004

Hi.
I am preparing to rework a background on a 75 gallon tank. I have used corkbark, but all it has been till now is a hiding place for frogs, and I am worried about them laying eggs or getting hurt back there.
I want to seal the whole thing up with great stuff, then paint glue on the great stuff that is showing and cover it with coco fiber. Has anyone on this forum tried this?
I have the following questions.
1. How many days of a job is this? Don't want to expose my four-tincs to toxins.
2. What kind of glue did you use? Has it held up?
3. Did you attach anything to the glue besides cocofiber?
4. Any particular tips you have would also be appreciated.
Thanks for reading this. I am looking forward to the new forum here, and hope to hear from you.
mark

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TimsViv

· #2 · Feb 19, 2004

Markanthony,

Instead of glue, why not just use pure silicone? I would use a brown silicone, smear it on the foam that you want to cover and work in the coco fiber.

Tim

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kyle1745

· #3 · Feb 19, 2004

Second vote for silicon, much better option.

Markanthony said:
Hi.
I am preparing to rework a background on a 75 gallon tank. I have used corkbark, but all it has been till now is a hiding place for frogs, and I am worried about them laying eggs or getting hurt back there.
I want to seal the whole thing up with great stuff, then paint glue on the great stuff that is showing and cover it with coco fiber. Has anyone on this forum tried this?
I have the following questions.
1. How many days of a job is this? Don't want to expose my four-tincs to toxins.
2. What kind of glue did you use? Has it held up?
3. Did you attach anything to the glue besides cocofiber?
4. Any particular tips you have would also be appreciated.
Thanks for reading this. I am looking forward to the new forum here, and hope to hear from you.
mark

Save

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 20, 2004

Great stuff

It took me about three days. The first day I filled in behind the cork bark, the second day I filled in the cracks and gaps on the front and the third day I carved and shaved away excess Great Stuff. Although you have to keep in mind that I put the cork bark on a piece of plexiglass that I had cut to the size of the tank so that I could work on it easily outside of the tank. I think that it may have helped with the smell being gone quicker because it was not confined to the tank. Just my thought.
I used DAP 100% clear silicone for aquariums that I got at Ace Hardware to glue coco fiber to the Great Stuff. I also used that for glueing the egg crate together to form the false bottom.
One thing about the Great Stuff. I used a can of the Big Gap for bigger areas and did not like that nearly as much. It did not dry as well and had some weepy spots that would not dry.
It took longer for the silicone smell to go away than it did with the Great Stuff.
Hope this helps. I can post some photos if you would like. Just let me know.
Rhonda

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Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 20, 2004

Forgot a couple of things

After using the silicone to glue the egg crate together I put numerous small clamps on it and let it sit for 24 hours.

I wanted to have a couple of little baskets on the back so that I could put plants in so after filling in the gaps and cracks on the front I stuck small aquatic plant baskets into the Great Stuff where I wanted to have plants. The Great Stuff held them very well. I also did this with a very small clay pot dish (the kind you get to put under a clay pot so that it will catch water) and it held very well also. When the back had all set up I used the silicone on the clay dish and covered it with coco fiber.
Rhonda

p.s. to me, the silicone had the worst smell. It took several days for the smell to be completely gone and if I remember right the package said it would not be completely cured until the smell was entirely gone.

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Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 20, 2004

thanks all

Thanks for all the info- some of these are were extremely good ideas that probably would have caused me some problems if i went ahead and did it myself.
I'll avoid the big gap great stuff, use clear silicone, and try to stick some small plant-pots in the great stuff (my favorite idea, as I have a great many gaps and wondered about this as well).
I got four tincs- do you think they will be okay for four-days in a ten gallon?
Again, thanks all round. Never got many replies on KS to questions. Really like the setup at this site. Hopefully given time I will be dispensing advice of my own in a year- but till then I'll probably have more questions.
Mark

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Moe

· #7 · Feb 20, 2004

Vote #1 for the glue method =)

M.N

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jbeetle

· #8 · Feb 20, 2004

I use brown silicone to "glue" my coco fiber onto the backgrounds. I usually have either cork or wood peices also incorporated into the great stuff backgrounds. I just arrange it and then use the great stuff to attach it to the background. I don't do it directly to the back of the tank either, but instead do all of this work outside of the tank on thin peices of styrofoam. This way if I ever want to change the tank it is a lot easier to rip out the background.

As for the 4 tincs, it depends on their age. If they are young I think they should be fine in a 10 gallon. Just make sure there is enough cover and some hiding places for them.

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