What Kind of Adhesive Would You Use?

[Saltcreep]

I want to attach some decorative molding pieces to the typical plastic frame you find on the top and bottom of tanks. They call the material composite but to me it looks like, and tools like PVC. I can rough up the plastic trim and the molding a bit to give it some tooth. It will be purely decorative and not supporting any weight but its own. There will be a small gap to fill because of the profile of the plastic trim. I've got No More Nails, PL Construction, and white adhesive caulking in stock. I was also wondering about using some heavy duty, two-sided, mounting tape.

What think you?

Thanks

[FocusFin]

I've always used clear silicone for attaching anything to the tank. If it's not bearing any weight the silicone should work and it's super easy to remove down the road. That being said, I've had a few glasses of wine and could be completely misunderstanding your question.

[Saltcreep]

I've always used clear silicone for attaching anything to the tank. If it's not bearing any weight the silicone should work and it's super easy to remove down the road. That being said, I've had a few glasses of wine and could be completely misunderstanding your question.

Well , at least we're on the same page; I've enjoyed a cold beer or two today. I would consider silicone except this is plastic to composite, or PVC. It will just cover the plastic trim itself with a very small overlap onto the glass. I"ll probably fill that little void between the glass and the molding with silicone. At this point I'm considering either PL construction adhesive or the mounting tape. I've used that tape before and if you get a good bond, it holds like, well, glue. The stand and canopy are going to be painted with a white, semi-gloss enamel so the black trim, top and bottom, must be hidden.

[redbelly]

The silicone will adhere to the trim on the tank so if it will adhere to your moulding then it will definately work.

I second the vote for silicone.

[HomerJ]

+1 for silicone too.  The installer used silicone to "glue" tiles around my dad's fireplace.  We laughed at first, but after trying to remove one, we revised our opinion!

You can use tape to hold the trim until the silicone dries off too.

[dan2x38]

I would use the tape. The trim is plastic there is not true adhesive to mount anything to plastic. There are some products that claim they adhere plastics but I doubt it. The tape would be my bet to hold for any length of time.

http://www.stealth316.com/2-dp8005.htm

[Saltcreep]

I was leaning toward the tape until I got swayed by FocusFin and redbelly. I still don't feel truly confident in a plastic to silicone bond, but like I said, it won't be supporting much.

[RossW]

What I really want to know is... what are you puting on the rim of your tank?  Halloween decorations 

[Saltcreep]

What I really want to know is... what are you puting on the rim of your tank?  Halloween decorations 

Oh, alright, here's a couple of teasers. I'll post more when it's picture-ready. All that corner treatment will be smooth as baby's ? when I'm done. In the closeup you can see the trim piece around the bottom of the tank. I need to do the same thing for the top trim but I can't rely on gravity and a little dab of glue to hold it in place.



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[redbelly]

Nice white trim!

Do you have a bit of scrap?
Put a small bit of silicone on the back of some cut off if you have it and stick it to something (nothing important though....)

If the silicone sticks to the white trim you will be fine.

Try pulling the top brace of your tank off.
It doesnt come off to easy does it?
Its held on with silicone
Yes it will come off if enough force is applied, but not easily. Although I do have to admit I have never tried to attach anything to my trim... so go ahead and try a diff adhesive.
Maybe you could just try a piece of cut off on the back of the tank where it can easily be cut off. Heck I bet I have a spare scrap tank you can try it on if you want.

PL is horrible and amazing stuff too. I have attached a great many things together with just PL.
Have you seen someones pool where they have a diving board made from thick stone? I have seen those being installed before and they used a type of construction adhesive.

Just keep us posted on what works

[Saltcreep]

Nice white trim!

Do you have a bit of scrap?
Put a small bit of silicone on the back of some cut off if you have it and stick it to something (nothing important though....)

If the silicone sticks to the white trim you will be fine.

Try pulling the top brace of your tank off.
It doesnt come off to easy does it?
Its held on with silicone
Yes it will come off if enough force is applied, but not easily. Although I do have to admit I have never tried to attach anything to my trim... so go ahead and try a diff adhesive.
Maybe you could just try a piece of cut off on the back of the tank where it can easily be cut off. Heck I bet I have a spare scrap tank you can try it on if you want.

PL is horrible and amazing stuff too. I have attached a great many things together with just PL.
Have you seen someones pool where they have a diving board made from thick stone? I have seen those being installed before and they used a type of construction adhesive.

Just keep us posted on what works

Thanks. I've actually put a few tests together and we'll see how they work tomorrow later today. Right now, I have attached scraps of the composite to the trim on my sump, with silicone, PL, No-More-Nails and white adhesive caulking. I'm going to get a roll of 3M tape and try that too. I'll go with the one that's hardest to remove.

Any bets on the winner?

[dan2x38]

Any bets on the winner?

I bet a 1/2 cup of salt double sided 3M tape... I've tried to pull it off when I used it and it was anchoored quite well.

[FocusFin]

I did something similar on my old 56 gallon by attaching stained pine trim and and it was very solid. Sadly my wife wouldn't let me "trim" out the new tank but I still have plans for it one weekend while she's away.

[dan2x38]

I like that very nice Focus! Good luck when she gets back... 

[Saltcreep]

I like that very nice Focus! Good luck when she gets back... 

Yeah, I like that too; it's the kind of thing I'd make for myself. For this one though, it's gotta be white. It's going into a young girl's bedroom which is 100% IKEA, 100% white. The beadboard I used matches the bed almost perfectly. I even matched the door pulls to what's there now.

As for tests - the white adhesive caulking was, by far the worst - it held the trim in place but was easy to remove. Obviously, more a caulk than an adhesive, but I knew that. The silicone performed pretty much as expected. Definitely held the trim in place but was not too difficult to remove. I think, because both surfaces are non-porous, it's real holding power comes more from friction than bonding. Redbelly made the point about removing the trim from a tank. Very true, it's difficult to remove, but when you do get it off, you'll see that almost all the silicone remains stuck to the glass and not the plastic. You basically, slide the trim off the silicone once the friction bond is broken. Both the PL and the No More Nails are still a little soft so the jury remains out. I do expect they'll both come off much like the silicone, but with more difficulty. I think, by now, we've all learned that the only way to join two plastics predictably is with a solvent cement. Think about model cement, joining CPVC, PVC or ABS in plumbing applications - all solvents. Plus, all those tube adhesives are messy to work with and require curing time. I just tried the same connection using heavy-hold, 3M mounting tape. I assume it will get even stronger over time, but even now it's hard to remove the piece for repositioning. Bonus with the tape is that I used two thicknesses of it on the upper edge of the tank trim where the gap is and one layer on the very edge where it fits tightly to the molding. Evened things out nicely.

So, for this job anyway, it will be the mounting tape. I've already used all the others plus wood filler on this project. Next challenge is going to be a perfect coat of paint. More pictures coming soon.

Thanks for all the input.

[dan2x38]

If your not consider using Krylon Fussion three or so coats and let it stand for 7 days it is chip proof and aquarium safe.

So do I win 1/2 cup of salt? LMAO

[Saltcreep]

If your not consider using Krylon Fussion three or so coats and let it stand for 7 days it is chip proof and aquarium safe.

So do I win 1/2 cup of salt? LMAO

Yeah, I might try that just because of the plastic trim. I'll bring your 1/2 cup of salt to the next meeting I attend.

[Saltcreep]

A few almost final pics here .....

http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=46633.0