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So at the last place I could possibly check I found cork tiles 1'x1' for cheap and half my moss has arrived. Yay! Now problem 2.. Cork floats. Not just kinda floats.. Cork floats so well that forcing a tile underwater almost breaks the tile. Is there anyway to add the cork to the back of the aquarium without draining the whole thing and siliconing it on? That's the only idea I could come up with. Not a problem if I had found the cork before I had to move the fish into the tank..... I also found vinyl coated mesh so I can go back to that idea I guess.

If you are refering to the compressed sheet cork, I would completly forget about them as they are compressed and held together by glue (unknown) this "might" be a major problem and could cause unknown chemicals introduced into the tank.

Where as natural cork would possibly be OK

Keith

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And where within 75miles of here would I find a solid board of natural cork? I've called or been to every business and the only other cork I've found is rolls of it or boards of like cardboard with the roll of cork over it. I even tried to order it online. Back to the plastic mesh The number one reason to not make a moss wall is not the work putting it together or the maintenance it's finding the materials.

All is not lost. The cork binder is polyurethane which is used to make fake corals and so forth for aquariums. Also I found mention by several other people including on the thekrib that they've used the same tiles I have. They've had them in the aquarium for years without problems. So now to get tons of rubbermaid containers and silicone so I can drain my tank and glue on my background.

Cork will not float after a few days, it becomes waterlogged just like any other wood.

I know, i tried to make something that floated!

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Silicone says not to disturb for 24hrs and don't fill with water for 48hrs... Can I cut that time a little short? I don't really want to leave my fish in rubbermaid containers for 2 days or my plants high and dry and no water movement over the substrate.

Use krazy glue, you can use it wet and underwater afaik. Ask someone who propagates corals.

Well walmart doesn't have krazy glue exactly... There's a krazy glue stick and super glue liquid. What ingrediant exactly am I looking for or not looking for?

Gave up on the super glue cause it took 2 tubes to do 1 set of cork and it dried so fast I barely got the cork in place. Then it was slightly off so when I got to the other end I had to cut down the last 2 tiles. The gap on the end isn't really noticeable and I shoved an extra anubias plant in there. How long do I have to wait for the silicone to dry and is it going to poison the fish if I put the silicone too low on one of the edges and it ended up below the water level? Right now half the fish are still in the tank with 4" of water and an airstone, some are in the 20g, and some are in rubbermaid containers with the filters running. I guess they'd be fine like that for quite awhile but I'd rather have the tank filled up before I went to bed.

Last edited by sham at 16-Aug-2005 19:11

I'll pass a saying to you that someone told me..
"Patience grasshopper"

I'd never subject my fish to the strong chemicals coming from uncured superglue OR silicone. Glue the cork into a cleaned, dried tank and let it cure a MINIMUM of 48 hours.

Your moss wall will look awesome, good luck !


Last edited by DaFishMan at 21-Aug-2005 17:59

The Amazon Nut...

of cause the cork floats]

It cured 12hrs. But so far even the shrimp are fine. My other moss order got delayed so I covered the bottom of the wall. I'll have to staple partially underwater for the rest First though I have to solve this greenwater problem so I can see the wall