Re: Help - Am I going to poison my fish with the background I built ? (NetMax please read)

[Note - I replied to Jim's post as NetMax's didn't appear on my server. 
Will reply to Jim's words separately]

> > Polystyrene is non-toxic.  Properly cured West System's epoxy is
> > non-toxic.  Your paint might have released some particulates, but it's
> > probably non-toxic as well.

That's the theory ;-)

> >  It appears the paint was not completely
> > sealed by epoxy (?).

AFAIK it was, but you can't be sure. The problem is not one of paint 
creeping out of a few spots where I might have missed with the epoxy, 
the problem appears to be more than the epoxy is dissolving. I have what 
looks like streams of milky substance coming off the surfaces of the 
background. I think the brown particles were just bits of paint that 
came off when the epoxy dissolved.

Now go on, tell me that epoxy can't dissolve in water and I'll agree. 
just don't have any other explanation for what I'm seeing.

<snip>
> > I'd fill the tank and let it soak a couple of days.  I'd then do a 100%
> > water change and observe the water.  If there were any particulates
> > bothering you, repeat the water change after a couple of days.  If the
> > water appears clean, then activate the filtration with some fresh carbon
> > (which gets thrown away after 3-4 weeks).

I left it for 36 hours after the first fill. The water was really milky 
and there were loads of particles around.

Last night I emptied it out and gave it a good wash out to get rid of 
the particles. I refilled it again a couple of hours ago (1pm GMT) and 
the water is certainly a lot better than it was two hours after the 
first fill. There is still some milky stuff coming off parts of the 
background, but not so much. I'm going to leave this until at least 
tomorrow night, then empty it, wash it and refill it again. If it looks 
clear after that, I may risk some cheap and hardy living creature to see 
if it survives. I figure four guppies in an unfiltered 220 litre tank 
should be OK as a test. If they survive, I'll consider the cichlids.

> > I have no bad news regarding my last epoxied polystyrene structure.  It's
> > been in the tank over a year, fish are fine, plants are growing, the
> > surface gets a bit of algae which the bushynose then promptly scrapes
> > off.
> >  I used several layers of epoxy, with sand in the last 2 layers to
> > give it a texture to match my rockwork.

Yeah, I don't think this is normal. I just don't have any explanation. I 
gave it two or three coats of epoxy, applied reasonably thickly. I 
didn't use sand as we didn't like the look of it. After some 
experimenting, I managed to get pretty realistic looking rocks and the 
sand just spoilt the appearance.

> > I'd agree with your assessment to proceed slowly but deliberately, and
> > introduce a low cost but sensitive creature to do your final test.  When
> > do we get to see pictures?

Well, I have pictures of the construction from the start, so as soon as 
I get anywhere near fish I'll put them on a web page. I'm still using a 
film camera, so images have to be developed and scanned.

Thanx for the reply. Any further ideas greatly welcome.

--
Alan Silver