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- Aug 8, 2005
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Bored, midnight, websurfing, looking for technical documents to put me to sleep. Found some info.
Yes, it is completely safe to use hot glue in your tanks, toxicity wise. But there are several things that can screw this wonderstuff up.
First, hot glue contains wax. While the stuff is supposedly stable, put a glop of your glue of choice in a small glass container, add water and agitate every day for several weeks if possible. See if any stuff is floating on the surface. You probably don't want to do LD50 experiments with your favorite fish's ability to digest carnuba wax.
Second, the heat of hot glue can destabilize acrylics. It may cause crazing, brittleness or even create potentially toxic compounds. If you use the stuff, try to get by with low melt heat glues.
Third. The heat can cause glass to crack. Squirting a big glop of hot glue onto thin plate glass isn't that good an idea. For those in the glazing business, you know the drill. If in doubt heat the glass, or identical test glass slowly until the appropriate temperature* is reached, glue then let it even more slowly cool down. The problem with glass cracking is rapid thermal expansion and contraction so the order of the day is S L O W.
Otherwise, have at it. The stuff is basically harmless and some is the same plastic those clear water and soda bottles are made from, HDPE. The additives to give molten plastic glue like properties are also basically non toxic.
* Temperature. HOT. Touch and instant OUCH time. Usually up to 100C or higher.
Yes, it is completely safe to use hot glue in your tanks, toxicity wise. But there are several things that can screw this wonderstuff up.
First, hot glue contains wax. While the stuff is supposedly stable, put a glop of your glue of choice in a small glass container, add water and agitate every day for several weeks if possible. See if any stuff is floating on the surface. You probably don't want to do LD50 experiments with your favorite fish's ability to digest carnuba wax.
Second, the heat of hot glue can destabilize acrylics. It may cause crazing, brittleness or even create potentially toxic compounds. If you use the stuff, try to get by with low melt heat glues.
Third. The heat can cause glass to crack. Squirting a big glop of hot glue onto thin plate glass isn't that good an idea. For those in the glazing business, you know the drill. If in doubt heat the glass, or identical test glass slowly until the appropriate temperature* is reached, glue then let it even more slowly cool down. The problem with glass cracking is rapid thermal expansion and contraction so the order of the day is S L O W.
Otherwise, have at it. The stuff is basically harmless and some is the same plastic those clear water and soda bottles are made from, HDPE. The additives to give molten plastic glue like properties are also basically non toxic.
* Temperature. HOT. Touch and instant OUCH time. Usually up to 100C or higher.
