Habitat - Indoor :: Urgent!

[hoojib88]

Okay this is related to my most recent post "Pirate ship?" but I just finished my project and I thought I'd be able to put epoxy resin on it.. But when I called the makers of the kind of epoxy resin I bought they said it was toxic and I do not want to put that in my tank! Oh my gosh.. I'm upset.... Everybody says everything they have is toxic.. What do I use?! I'm kinda freaking out.. It has taken me weeks to finish this project...

[mat012]

What kind did you buy? And under what conditions did they say it was toxic? They put this stuff on table tops and bar countertops everywhere. I would be shocked if a company of a product used in food services admitted it was toxic.

[hoojib88]

oh..... I bought cargroom... it's all they had here in Mammoth.. She said it's for cars and boats but even still i figured after it hardened it wouldn't be toxic any longer.. maybe it's different? This stuff is fiberglass resin. I used hardened resin on my pointe shoes so i wouldn't slip... I dont know... I wanted to finish today..

[mat012]

I think this is the tech sheet for the resin you have:

http://www.uschem.com/products/docs/TDS ... _Resin.pdf

It states that it is made of styrene and known to cause cancer in some lab animals and to be a marine pollutant.

Can you return it? I dont think I would use it. I know it will take longer, but it would be worth it. Better safe than sorry.

[geekyturtle]

You want to get aquarium sealant - it's available at most hardware shops.
This is what I bought:

http://www.acehardware.com/product/inde ... Id=1419409

Most other adhesives and caulks have chemicals in them to prevent mold and mildew, and those chemicals are harmful to aquarium life.

[hoojib88]

Oh wow... thank you so much for that MSDS! I'm not going to use this stuff... It's a marine Pollutant! I need to search for something else. And that silicon sealant I used to glue everything together but it's too messy to coat the outside with.. It would ruin my paint job and it would look all crappy. Unless you know of a way to thin it so I could paint it easily and it wouldn't look so... goopy.

[Fuzzy Hamster]

hoojib88, if you can return the stuff you have like mat012 suggested, you might want to have a look at http://www.solarez.com/index.php

One of the Solarez products is essentially a poly-resin once cured, which is what many aquarium safe decorations and turtle docks are made from. The MSDS still scares the he** out of me but there aren't any better options out there from what I've seen. I haven't tried it yet since I have been using a Krylon spray for my son's hobbies, but I am not 100% sure that the spray is turtle safe, and it won't give you a thick coat like a resin will.

If you already read my response in your other post, you know my concerns about resins in general, so I won't repeat it here.

[hoojib88]

Solarez seems like it would be safe.. it's for surfboard repairs that is in contact with water/human skin after it's cured.. I thought it was safe after it cured but the lady I talked to FREAKED OUT!! So.. I freaked out too... And I read on the internet that Poly resin and alabastrite is the stuff used to make aquarium decor and little random horse statues or cat statues.. Soo if this is like liquid poly resin then it should be safe I guess... Im going to read the MSDS now.. Maybe call the people or poison control maybe they'd know..

[hoojib88]

Cool... that stuff doesn't seem nearly as toxic or terrible as the stuff I have... All of the health effects seem to only happen when they're still liquids not solids.. The stuff I bought says it causes reproductive complications! How terrible does that sound?! I dunno if I can return it because I used a little tiny bit of it to test... Ha!! Then I decided to call.. I'm a smart one. Although I did test it on something else.. Not my ship.

[Fuzzy Hamster]

Seems like it would be easy to work with too. You can warm it up to make it thinner (more liquid than gel) and then after application just sit it in the sun to cure.

Note that they have several different products, each with its own MSDS. They are not all poly resin based.