# Silicone or Super Glue for gluing things together



## Karen00 (Sep 19, 2016)

Hello all,

I haven't been able to find an answer to this. Can silicone (100% silicone) be used to glue things together or should super glue (cyanoacrylate glue) be used? Is one stronger than the other? Let's say I wanted to glue some rocks together to put in my tank? Can either of these be used? The rock would need to be picked up so would silicone pull apart if the rock was too heavy? Are there situations when you would use one over the other?

Thanks!


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## martelvis (Oct 31, 2015)

If your goal is to glue aquarium rocks, you need to use an epoxy, from Big Al's. It is grey in colour. and it comes in a tube, you cut off a piece, roll it in your hands, to mix the two parts together. It will also cure when wet.


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## AustinLear (Apr 17, 2013)

Seconding Martel's reply, if its rocks you definitely will be safer with an epoxy. If it were just to glue plants to a rock or some pieces of wood together I've always gone with super glue as I find it much easier to work with in small quantities than silicon. Also cures nearly instantly if you run it under cold water which helps when gluing plants!


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## Karen00 (Sep 19, 2016)

martelvis said:


> If your goal is to glue aquarium rocks, you need to use an epoxy, from Big Al's. It is grey in colour. and it comes in a tube, you cut off a piece, roll it in your hands, to mix the two parts together. It will also cure when wet.


Wow, thanks for this. I didn't even think of epoxy. I'm glad I posted this. That adds a third method to stick things together. How come epoxy for rocks and not super glue?

I guess my question now is: Under what circumstances are these three used?

Thanks!!!


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Depends on the surfaces to be mated together, relative mass and ""crumbliness"/friability. 

If they are flat and large surface area, you can use CrazyGlue (CZ)/cyanoacrylate (CA) or silicone.

Light weight and porous, silicone will do. Heavier, putty style epoxy. If you are doing a large rock structure, hydraulic cement adding fibreglass "hairs", an acrylic additive vs water (seals the cement from the water) and when cured, paint some of the acrylic additive to the exposed cement and optionally you can dye the mix to match the rock closely.

JM2C/E


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## Karen00 (Sep 19, 2016)

wtac said:


> Depends on the surfaces to be mated together, relative mass and ""crumbliness"/friability.
> 
> If they are flat and large surface area, you can use CrazyGlue (CZ)/cyanoacrylate (CA) or silicone.
> 
> ...


@wtac (and the others who responded). Thanks for this explanation. In thinking about it this now makes sense as to when the different types should be used. I didn't think about glue not working so well on uneven surfaces or even porous surfaces because the glue would most likely be absorbed. Also using cement on very large structures. I'm not in large structure category (yet).

I have some slate rock that I want to glue together. I also have some smaller pieces of driftwood I bought that I want to glue together to make a larger wood piece. I've seen a ton of videos for gluing plants with super glue so that was easy but I couldn't figure out the best solutions for other structures like rock or wood. This post has been most helpful!!

Thanks again!!!


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