salvorHardin
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2021 5:09 pm

use of silicone caulking in hydroponic water system.

Hello.



I've tried to find an answer to this online without finding a clear one. I'm building a new rig and I'm exclusively using PVC, except on a manifold. I have small plastic adapters (for 6mm tubing) that I want to "glue to a main PVC tube. For the rest of the system I'm using PVC cement but, since the adapters are not PVC I can't use that on them. I want them to be glued in place and not worry about pressure and leaks, that's why I don't want to use rubber joints or anything that's not actually stuck in place (also not gonna use bulkhead unions for my 6mms, too costly).

I thought about using silicone caulking to seal the adapters in place. I did a test and it works great. I'm concerned now about that silicone touching the water. Does anybody knows if silicone caulking releases something in water that might harm my plants in the long run? I'm also using silicone I had home, which has a fungicide agent in it so that got me thinking (I was gonna use mycostop and I don't know if the chemicals in the caulking might interfere with the bacteria) and now I'm wondering if even regular caulking is a good solution.


If anybody has either a an answer or an alternative on what kind of gel/putty like material I could use to stick plastic to PVC that will resist pressure and be waterproof.

pepperhead212
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2852
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:52 pm
Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b

You should have no problems with silicone and the plants, but don't use white, use clear - often white has that fungicide in it, to keep mold off in bathroom areas. Silicone is used for assembling aquariums, for fish and plants. I'm not sure what the plastics are you want to attach -you'll just have to experiment, to see if silicone seal sticks to them.

salvorHardin
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2021 5:09 pm

pepperhead212 wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 10:18 pm
You should have no problems with silicone and the plants, but don't use white, use clear - often white has that fungicide in it, to keep mold off in bathroom areas. Silicone is used for assembling aquariums, for fish and plants. I'm not sure what the plastics are you want to attach -you'll just have to experiment, to see if silicone seal sticks to them.
thanks, I'll just switch to transparent silicone!



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