deer antlers (bones) in tank?

IluVfish

What do you guys think? What would bone do in an aquarium, ive heard its pretty inert? I'm still kind of wary so if I put boiled it, then sealed THE WHOLE thing with a layer of silicone, would it be ok in a tank? I like using wierd things for tanks instead of petsmart things :]

Falina

That's an interesting question, to which I don't know the answer.

My thinking is, however, that if properly sealed it shouldn't cause any problems. How, though, do you plan on sealing it entirely with silicone? If you are using a silicone gun I think it would be very footery and difficult to make sure there were no little gaps, nor would it look very good as it'd be really hard to get smooth.

If it wasn't sealed, I would guess it would release calcium into the water and possibly raise ph, like when cuttlefish is added to a tank, which is basically a bone. This is just my guess however, hopefully someone else will have a more definitive answer for you.

IluVfish

I really don't know, I was just going to buy a tube and paint it on there somehow lol

herefishy

Deer antlers are basically calcium and phosphorous. When a buck sheds his rack all of the tiny critters are very quick to start gnawing them to supplement their diet. I would think that they could dissolve very quickly in water as I have never found any at the side of a river or creek. I would attribute my not finding any to water dissolving them. If this is true, They would cause a rise in the hardness of your water.

IluVfish

Do you think sealing them would work? If I could somehow get a layer of clear silicone over it all that would stop hardness, ph, dissolving etc not be possible, correct?

herefishy

Silicone? I would try a coat or two of uerethane, making sure that the bases are covered thoroughly to prevent water from getting into the rack. Dipping would be my choice for the best method of application.

IluVfish

Why wouldn't silicone work? (it was just my first thought of sealant :] ).
You think a Urethane adhesive would be more effective than silicone? ... I don't know much about either one, I just knew they sold silicone aquarium safe.

Lupin

I find the bones a rather weird addition to the tank. Lately, I keep seeing threads in other forums about bones for decors.

fish_4_all

I think siliocne would be a bad idea for a number of reasons.
#1 It will be hard to completely seal the bone in silicone as stated before.
#2 Silicone would not be a very good permenant solution as any fish who like to move things atround or rasp on the bones would remove the silicone quickly.
#3 Getting it to look good would be very difficult. I have tried to make caves using silicone and talk about a huge mess. Getting it smooth and working it thin over the entire antler/bone could be very difficult and removing it could damage the material.

I would use the urethane or a marine Epoxy would even be beter. The eopxy would seal the bone/antler and should last a very long time.

It would be interesitng to see how long it lasts though if not coated and what effect it has on the water hardness and pH.