Aquarium Silicone Sealant for Glueing Live Rock?

[Harry_Y]

I have been thinking about using aquarium silicone sealant for sticking together my live rock.

It seems like it would be better than epoxy.

Has any one tried using Aquarium Silicone Sealant?

Thank you!

[crvz]

I assume you'd be doing this out of the tank, correct? I don't think uncured silicone is reef safe, but I could be mistaken. More so, I don't think silicone will bond very well to rock (it doesnt do well to plastic, that I'm sure). It may hold, but it could probably be pulled apart with very little force. I'd try it on a few pieces of rubble to see how it works out.

If you're really getting crazy, look into thorite. I think thats the name of the stuff. If memory serves (which is highly suspect), its an aragonite based concrete type mixture. But I'm reaching way back to pull that out.

[Harry_Y]

I have some PC-11 Marine Epoxy. I called the company, they say some have used it to glue live rock and that he never heard anythin good or bad about it.

I'm still a little hesatant to use the PC-11.

It is only rock in there now + two hitchhikers (snail and feather-duster worm)

Thank you

PS: I appreaciate all the help, I read and read and I still have a bunch of questions.

[crvz]

Well, thorite is definitely not the right name, but it's whatever the guy Carl used for his 150gallon, as can be seen on reefvideos.

[Loverotties]

If you used the silicone.The rock would be out of water to long for it to cure.

[Hop]

I may try it on dry base rock, but not liverock. As mentioned, toxins are released during the curing process of the silicone. Even reef safe silicone is not reef safe for 24-48 hours, depending upon how thick it was applied.

The two part marine epoxy works well as does superglue gel for smaller rocks. Both of these can be used immediately. Personally I'm toying with acrylic rods and drilling the rocks on my next build, but the jury is still out on that one. I may wind up just using epoxy