# HELP! Elmers Glue



## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

I glued aluminum foil to my hood today to increas light output or i hoped too. and i just noticed that a drop is in the bottom of the tank and a drop hit the top of the water. I just did a scraping and 10% water change about an hour ago and now this. WHAT DO I DO. Please help!!! I have yellow's and tigers with no emergency tank

Muirner

Edit: So i vacced out the glue and took aobut a half gallon of water out. Filled the tank fully. And removed the light. I really wish i just had a hot glue gun at school. This wouldnt of happened at all. So what do i do? I'm leaving for thanks giving in a few days and am really dreading comming home to a dead tank. Someone put my mind at ease.


----------



## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Regular Elmers glue? The stuff all those kids eat in grade school every day? A single drop? My guess is that the shrimp will find it to be delicious and of no significant consequence.


----------



## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

haha, i can hear it now "Hey frank did you try this glue, it's great." But for now i took the light off and will let it dry. i jus wish that i had used hot glue not dumb elmers.


----------



## aznb0i (Feb 14, 2008)

Found this on a website:
"Simple non-toxic white glues are very basic and include Elmer’s Glue, which is considered to have no harmful effects unless under prolonged content. Both Elmer’s Glue All and Glue stick are certified by the Arts & Creative Materials Institute Inc. to be non-toxic."


----------



## clearleaf (Oct 4, 2008)

I'm guessing the non-toxicity they are touting is non-toxicity in large hairless monkeys, rather assume glue manufacturers are not concerned about toxicity levels in 1" tall fish.  That aside, as long as you don't have more than a few teaspoons in there rotting away for a week I'm guessing its not a big deal.

But this will probably just keep happening. Elmer's school glue isn't exactly moisture and heat resisitant. I recommend a few nails or staples to keep the foil pinned (heck, even pins!) to the hood.


----------



## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

clearleaf - really? The glue wont set like this? Hmmm well i guess that puts me onto plan b tonight. Hot glue and new foil. ugh. O well. Now i'm just worried about what wil happen today while i'm at school. I cannot have this leaking into my tank and causing a problem.


----------



## Afyounie (Aug 10, 2007)

You probably want to go with something like super glue. Elmers and hot glue will melt do to the heat generated by the light. I mean the hot glue gun is just rubber. Get some super glue that is not water soluble and is not rubbery and glue the foil with that. Just let it cure overnight so you don't let any of the real toxic stuff fall in the tank.


----------



## Chancey (Mar 31, 2008)

I know this isn't what you were asking about but I read that foil is not effective as a reflector. It is better to paint the inside of the hood white or use a smooth stiff metal.


----------



## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

I'm doing a personal experiment with it. The reason for using the foil is to help the CF hopefully reflect in ways that are not directly down back into the bulb. So far it seems to be doing well. I notice more perling where before there was little now every plant has some. Also the foil covers a lot of my hood. whereas the reflectors werer roughly 5-6" long with no end. 

I'm also switching to 20 watt CF Daylight GE's that i picked up today. Just as a note, the reflector i was using was the one that came with the hood, aka lame. I'll take a pic to illustrate soon.


----------



## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

Here's a link to a thread talking about aluminium foil 

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/lighting/51435-light-intensity-variations-some-thoughts-4.html


----------

