Opinions on sealing driftwood with aquarium-safe epoxy?

[Dave]

I have looked high and low for some truly nice fake driftwood to no avail. I have some West System Epoxy that is aquarium safe. I initially bought it to make one of these:

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_othe ... _styro.htm

I'm thinking that if a piece of driftwood is sealed, it will not rot. Am I correct for thinking that?[/url]

[Myaj]

The thing I've always worried about with any sealant/epoxy is the lighting.. won't the lighting catch the sealant and make it look horrible? Sort of a black light effect?

[Dave]

Yeah, it would be hard not to notice the BRIGHT SHINY PIECE OF WOOD in a nice peaceful BW tank lol. Good point.

I think by roughing it up a bit with sandpaper after a couple coats of epoxy would help soften the look. I think I would test it on a small piece of wood before doing a large version. I'm looking to fill up my 90g with large long pieces of driftwood, similar to a fallen tree.

[RTR]

Not to rain on your parade, but I have know many folks who have tried, none who were successful.

[Dave]

No worries. I may try it myself anyways, but I appreciate all input and experiences!

[ChesapeakeSwellfish]

I didn't realize the stuff was aquarium safe. Its so strong smelling when you use it that I didn't think it would be safe. We use it to seal plywood lids we make for fish transport tanks & we're happy to get a couple of years out of it.

Do you think it could be used to fill hollow artificial wood?
I like the looks of the TopFin dark mangrove roots/stumps sold at PetSmart. The smallest one has a hollow interior and I was concerned about it going anoxic -what do you think about filling it with West System epoxy.

[Jager]

if it is 100% pure silicone and is aquarium safe, give it 48 hours per layer to set up and youll be fine. but building up the layering in side the wood would take forever.

[ChesapeakeSwellfish]

I was asking about the two-part West System epoxy - parts B & C in the link on Dave's original post. When you leave some of that leftover mixed epoxy in a container, it gets rock-hard overnight - I suspect it would do the same inside an ornament.

[Dave]

I've heard several people use it for their fake rock projects such as the one I cited. It is so expensive for me that I would not even consider using it to fill up a fake ornament hehe.

[ChesapeakeSwellfish]

Its expensive in the US as well. I was thinking of how to best use leftover mixed product - we've miscalculated before at work and wound up with some extra; I drilled a large hole a foot off the floor on a rotten door sill and poured in the extra stuff. A piece of duct tape on the wood held it in where the wood was rotted. Of course, you don't have much time to use leftover mix, so I like to have something already in mind.