Hot melt glue

[David]

Reef safe? Opinions? Experiences? Was thinking about attaching seahorse perches to glass and don't want anything as permanent as epoxy. (obviously I will drain tank and clean and dry glass first, pleeeeeeease).

[asmith]

I know lots of people who have used hot glue guns to repair broken skimmers, and other objects that are in direct contact with tank water. I would say that it would BE OK, but you might want to wait for a few more opinions first.

Andrew

[icemark]

I have used it, but it has a poor adhesion to glass, and low shear strength. Didn't kill anything. Stuff grows on it.

You also don't want it near the hood/lighting in any way.

[eses]

It is fine if you allow it to cool and completely harden before putting it near the water. It is inert when cold, but will release chemicals when liquid. Like said before. it blows as an adhesive, it probably won't stick to the glass well unless you score/scratch the glass where the glue will be present. You'd be better off with aquarium silicon for this, as it would hold better and you would be able to remove it and scrape it off when you no longer want the perches on the glass.

[Ironreef]

IME its not very strong= almost worthless when I tried using it. My wife has mass glue guns to bad it didn't work for me. I tried fraging and other diy projects. Probally only good for cloth and paper. JME

[David]

OK, thanks for info, I won't waste my time. Silicon won't do as I simply want to lower water level, stick dead coral "perches" onto glass and fill tank right back up same day. Any other ideas? I have them attached with suction cups and tie wraps right now but was hoping for a neater look.

[icemark]

Silicon will generally "skin" over in about 5 minutes, and be fairly solid in an hour.

Full strength is in 24 to 48 hours, but I would think after 2 or 3 hours it would be safe to fill your tank back over as you are not using it as a glue that needs super high shear.

Of course I might be a little leary of placing more than 2 or 3 blobs in there at a time, since the acidic acid still needs to evap for 24 hours, and more than 2 or 3 blobs could mess up the tank chemsitry.

[David]

Icemark- I could always support the branches, that's not my concern. I guess I always figured silicon to be "toxic" until fully cured. Are you suggesting that it isn't? This would be big news. Why wouldn't we all be using it to attach corals and build LR structures? Sorry, I'm confused. Please explain.

[organicreefer]

i agree with ice mark to an extent.once it is skinned over you have a 'chemical barrier" at least to some extent.i know poeple who have fixed leaks by applying silicone and have heard this suggested lots of times...jmo (maybe you should guinea pig this one for us )

[DAVE G.]

why not super glue
the guy at my LFS suggested supper glue on my corals to rocks and I have glued these under water with no problem,maybe a month ago and the glue has already covered with C-Alage and now I can't even tell the glue is there. Could this method be harmful? I am a NEWBBIE! two and a half months and counting

[organicreefer]

super glue is fine to use,especially the gel
the only thing is it is very brittle,and is really only good to attach things that will grow there own attachments in time.hth