Silicone not sticking??

[logger850]

I am trying to build a plant refugium, trying to glue in some baffles in a 25 gallon long rubbermade container. It's been over 24 hours, and the silicone glue just pulls away from the container with little pressure. I've used silicone before on glass tanks and obviously works well, is there something that needs to be done to the rubbermade container for the silicone to adhere to??

 

[jb rekit]

I've never tried to glue anything to rubber, but I'm guessing it would probably be more like acrylic than glass in the way you make things stick. With acrylic you need to use weldon or some other solvent that actually welds the plastics together b/c silicone will not adhere to it like glass. Maybe someone else will chime in and let you know if they have ever tried putting a baffle in a tub and tell you if they had to weld it in place or not.

 

[the claw]

You may know this already, and I maybe sounding like a jerk, but I promise I'm not, did you know that some rubbermaid containers are not reef safe. They have a petroleum based coating that leaches off into the tank. This would also keep silicone from sticking to it very well. They tend to be the softer rubbermaid containers. The rigid ones are generally reef safe. Another word of warning, the softer ones tend to have holes punched into them or they tend to break along the bottom corners with much weight in them. Thats from a bad experience by the way.

 

[logger850]

thank you claw, didn't know about the leaching, seems we use rubbermade for everything else with fish I figured it would be safe for this, it is a very sturdy one, I paid attention to construction before I picked one out, I sanded the areas where i will be glueing, hope it works, Thanks again

 

[squidd]

Sorry, but trying to silicone/glue/weld/paste baffles into a rubbermaid is a lost cause...
You will never get anything to stick to the polyvinal...and when you fill it with water it WILL strech and pull the sides loose from the baffles...
To create baffles in a rubbermaid, try finding smaller tubs to "nest" inside the larger and cut appropriate slots to create baffling effect...

 

[essop3]

Originally Posted by Squidd
To create baffles in a rubbermaid, try finding smaller tubs to "nest" inside the larger and cut appropriate slots to create baffling effect...
Now you tell me this! I have been just leaning a baffle that came loose against my return pump for over a year.