[jasonh]

Hello, i've always wanted to make my own cave for my aquarium.
has anybody done this before? what materials have you used?

i'm not interested in covering a busted flowerpot with silicone and rolling it in gravel, i'd like to craft my own caves out of clay or something and make them safe for aquariums.

also, does anybody here make your own fake plant decorations?
i recently got a bunch of these things http://i.imgur.com/GpF3E.jpg and they made a big difference.

if you make your own, what supplier do you use? i was looking into making my own out of silicon but that seemed complicated and costly.

thanks

 

[Karebear13]

Ooo Im interested in artsy stuff too so I will be stalking this thread.

BTW Does Silicone make the pot safe for the aquarium? Im looking for some type of seal coat to make some decorations safe for my aquarium

 

[Olympia]

If you get that clay that you bake and it hardens, I can't see anything going wrong.. But it would be a good idea to put it in water for a few days to see how it reacts, colour leeching, turning soft again. I think it might turn soft in the water. :/
A good cave idea I saw was to take a coconut, battle your soul out to cut it in half, and make a little cave out of that. You'd just have to wash it really well.

 

[jasonh]

Ooo Im interested in artsy stuff too so I will be stalking this thread.

BTW Does Silicone make the pot safe for the aquarium? Im looking for some type of seal coat to make some decorations safe for my aquarium

the aquarium safe kind does. you'd have to cover every single part of it and get a pretty fine coat, which might be very difficult.

 

[jasonh]

I'm thinking of mixing globs of silicone with sand and pebbles so i can make a realistic looking rock cave that i can mold by hand. i think it might require a lot of trial and error though.

 

[Queen Zenobia]

Never use polymer clay! It really colored my tank water and made my bettas sick. It didn't soften, though. I am thinking about trying ceramics, which is what most caves are made of, I think.

Queen Zeno

 

[djembekah]

polymer clay is generally bad for anything besides putting on a shelf. beautiful things are made from it, but it's just not the best choice for animals, or even for humans to wear as jewelry

 

[Queen Zenobia]

Just curious, how can polymer clay be harmful to humans?

Queen Zeno

 

[djembekah]

well, if you see people with "gauged"- actually called stretched- ears, and they wear the clay as jewelry, since it is porous, it harbors bacteria and would effect the ears, and also, it can fuse to the skin. i guess that's all i really know its bad for, so i guess a regular old necklace or ring with clay in it would be fine xD


but i still wouldnt use it in a fish tank because of the same reasons its bad to wear as earrings.

 

[thekoimaiden]

I've made my own caves before. I did it because I couldn't find anything else that looked natural enough. All I used were large stones (from the dollar store or some place like it) and aquarium-safe silicon. I found a few rocks that would set on each other and kinda made like a Stonehenge thing. Here are some pictures of them in my tanks:

Look directly above the TFK logo. That's the best picture I can find of mine. I have one in with each betta. They love them! Just make sure none of the rocks have any sharp edges.