Ames Blue Max for Tank Coating

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Okay, here's the scoop:

Wayne at that company was pretty knowledgable. He says for life expectancy, the stuff should last forever indoors. Thickness and sun exposure will be factors outdoors and wouldn't give figures. (the product sheet recommends top coating with other of their products to protect against the sun..these products are not fish safe though)

He also says its not nessessarily fish safe. Just because its potable doesn't mean its fish safe. Basically, there is an exceptable amount of contamination for things ingested by humans, but for fish, this would be a constant exposure issue. That, and fish might be more sensitive to certain chemicals than people. His thoughts were that it probably was safe though. They have no facts either way on this.

I think I'm sold. The hardest part of tank building is the watersealing, and this product looks like it simplifies that. Nothing to mix, and one thick rubbery coat. It would be simple to do one last fish safe coat of a different product if one was really concerned about the safety to the fish.

And oh yeah, they're sending a free sample! Bonus
 
Try spraying a 5 gallon with the product, then drop in a gold fish once cured, and see if he continues to live :)
 
It is my understanding that when probably dried (it doesn't really cure since it's water based) it will not leach anything into the water. The toxicity that they are referring to in the MSDS in regard to animal toxicity is if it is ingested. That, of course, is my opinion only since it doesn't clearly say.

That said, I think it most likely fish safe, but Ames reps are told not to say one way or the other because of "lawyer speak." If they don't say for certain, they can't be sued. I doubt you'll get any more than what Gene told me, "They have a lot of pond applications and haven't had any complaints of fish loss."

You most likely have to handle it with the same care that you would with a pond liner with rocks and so forth. No sharp edges and careful not to puncture it.

I'm going to give it a try.

For the bottom of my tank, I'm going to put heavy plastic sheet down on top of it then maybe eggcrate covered with sand, pea gravel, and large pebbles then larger decor.
 
nolapete;2872737; said:
For the bottom of my tank, I'm going to put heavy plastic sheet down on top of it then maybe eggcrate covered with sand, pea gravel, and large pebbles then larger decor.
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I do the same also. I use vynyl hall runner under the gravel, with squares of plastic cut from buckets and other similair plastic containers to go under base rocks at the bottom of a stack.
 
At the risk of being redundant (I posted a similar reply on another thread) I recently built a 425 gal. aquarium using Birch plywood which I coated with 10 applications of Blue Max. As I mentioned in the other thread I wouldn't use it again for this purpose because it turns a blotchy whitish turquoise when it gets wet (seriously ugly!!). Apart from the colour issue it appears to do everything that Ames claims it will. I like the fact that it tends to remain slightly rubbery after curing (far less likely to crack with expansion and contraction than epoxy or fibreglass resin). I set this tank up as a FOWLR marine environment and I have some pretty sensitive critters in there including a powder blue tang and a queen angel and all appear to be very happy campers. I used abs sheets to cover the visible walls so that you couldn't see the Max. This blew the budget right out of the water. One other observation...even after several weeks of curing the surface still feels tacky but when you fill it up with water and run your hand on the surface underwater this sensation disappears.
 
mbunaman said:
At the risk of being redundant (I posted a similar reply on another thread) I recently built a 425 gal. aquarium using Birch plywood which I coated with 10 applications of Blue Max. As I mentioned in the other thread I wouldn't use it again for this purpose because it turns a blotchy whitish turquoise when it gets wet (seriously ugly!!). Apart from the colour issue it appears to do everything that Ames claims it will. I like the fact that it tends to remain slightly rubbery after curing (far less likely to crack with expansion and contraction than epoxy or fibreglass resin). I set this tank up as a FOWLR marine environment and I have some pretty sensitive critters in there including a powder blue tang and a queen angel and all appear to be very happy campers. I used abs sheets to cover the visible walls so that you couldn't see the Max. This blew the budget right out of the water. One other observation...even after several weeks of curing the surface still feels tacky but when you fill it up with water and run your hand on the surface underwater this sensation disappears.
Click to expand...
Did silicone bond well to it for installing the glass pane? Color really isn't a concern to me as coraline should grow on it.
 
Silicone usually doesn't get along well with rubber. I sealed the front viewing panel with epoxy paint and lapped the Blue max corner tape onto the epoxy making sure that enough of the epoxy around the opening for the glass remained exposed so that the silicone would have a good 2 inches of epoxy to bond to all the way around. Both the epoxy and the Max bond well to the silicone. So far everything appears to be sound.
 
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