# Gorilla Glue, kind of disbelief



## snakedon (Oct 4, 2010)

Hi all,

Iv decided to build a nice set up for some tincs, first time with dart or any sort of living terrarium.

Whilst waiting on all the supplies to get dug in my gorilla glue came early ire then everything els.

So I thought I'd give it a go on a little plastic tub to see what sought of effect it had before I get started with the terrarium.

But nothing.... The ecoearth stack to it but no foaming....

Not to sure if I'm doing it right as iv struggled finding any info on building the wall with gorilla glue.

Can you give me a few hints and tips
Iv also bought silicone and expanding foam.


Much appreciated guy!!!


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## Meefloaf (Mar 24, 2013)

gorilla glue tends to come away from plastic or glass as it tends not to be able to get a grip (i recently used it for attaching mesh to my temporary homes for some frogs, i sanded the parts where i would use the gg and it has fixed itself for now)

most people avoid using it as the solid background unless you put it on say polystyrene (believe this is what callum aka plasma did in his viv recently) but i have used it in the odd place on one viv and so far so good - one year- but i use a method of putting gg and then putting on gg+wet coir mix and then some more gg and topped with soil, pressing the hell out of it to keep it from expanding

now onto the expanding, did you use any water ? gg uses water to expand and form a bond, when attaching say wood to cork i'll wet the wood and cork and then add a bit of gg to both, but then i rub it with my finger so it goes creamy, this helps bring it on a bit and can help keeping expansion down. then i sit and hold it or press to make sure the expansion isnt pushing it out. 

<edit> also expanding foam wont like sticking to the glass either as when it cures, it cures to glass with a smooth film and you can pull it off (quite handing if you're making some out of viv decoration or planters) one of the common method used is to silicone the glass tank using black silicone (hides the cream foam) and then foam ontop of this, the silicone is supposed to give it something to hang onto, i have toyed in the past with siliconing either egg crate or a bit of plastic mesh to give the expanding foam a bit more, but im an over thinker lol
for you're background i'd suggest using either cork panels or even using cork bark flats to create the cork bark mosaic and then you can silicone inbetween the sheets and your branches and chuck coir ontop lol


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## plasma234 (Feb 27, 2013)

okay i just used gorilla glue to make my viv background. 

my top tip would to be to do it onto a pressed cork flat outside of the viv and then silicone that to the glass. gorilla glue has a tendency to peel away from glass when applied directly.. 

wear marigolds or similar when dealing with gorilla glue, it WILL stain your hands brown otherwise.. 

1) spray the surface you wish to glue to with a bit of water

2) pour GG onto the wet surface in a kind of zigzag pattern and wait for 2 min, it will turn from yellow to a whitish colour

3) when the glue starts to foam, spread it around with your hands to make an even coating of glue

4) put damp not wet coco fibre on to the glue

5) spread the coco fiber covering the whole of the background

6) keep pressing the coco fiber down into the glue, methodically work your way over the whole surface and repeat for about 20 minutes, putting more coco fiber onto any parts that the glue comes through. 

7) after 20 minutes of constantly pushing the coco fiber down, leave to dry for ~24hours

8 ) silicone the background onto the glass


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## KWIBEZEE (Mar 15, 2010)

*GG,EE, Silicone etc...*

Gorilla glue (GG) does not exactly whip up into a foam. It does expand a little and if you GENTLY spray it with a fine mist of water this helps to set and cure it. The surface layer will form a water barrier. I think you can use Eco-Earth (EE) damp or dry with GG. It has to be dry when using the other method of expandable foam covered with silicone. If the EE is wet when being applied to silicone it will simply not work.


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## treefella (Dec 21, 2013)

With out searching the web for correct names of glue by the gorilla brand but I'm sure that there are two kinds of water proof p u adhesive that they supply and one being non foaming. Hope this helps


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## Liam Yule (Feb 16, 2012)

I recently done two eco earth/orchid bark backgrounds with GG...

I sprayed the glass with water then made sure every bit of the glass was covered in GG.... then applied my mix. 

IF you are doing it like that then you better have a spare 30 mins. because it WILL foam up. quite a bit in fact through the bark and eco earth. You have to sit there and constantly push the mix down and down until it stops foaming/ adding a bit of the background mixture if you need to. 

I only done the back walls on mine which you can find on my thread. I also have a cork log stuck to the background with GG. I was fairly impressed with it tbh!

its not an expanding foam though if that's what you meant!


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

I wonder if there is any toxicity risk from silicone and other glues in these less than well ventilated boxes, especially when heated or made damp??

has anyone any definite science?

I must admit, it really worries me

john


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## thetong6969 (Apr 20, 2009)

gorilla glue is strong glue but not for what you want , why not get some contact glue ,glue both sides and wait 5 minutes then press firmly they will stick fast,i have done this with a sign on the house against brick and it is there still
cost me about 2.55 from the range: victory:


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## Ker (Feb 8, 2012)

My gg background has started to peel after a year and some of the background is falling away. Although not too bad, I don't think I would use it again. HoweverI can easily patch the affected areas with wood etc. though.


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## frogman955 (Feb 7, 2010)

As I`ve said already, fablon onto the back of the viv and no background, it`s so much easier :lol2:.



Mike


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## phelsumaman (Aug 14, 2008)

John, I've used marine safe silicone on all of my vivs. I don't believe this contains any nasties. As for the gorilla glue I've used it in one VIV to cover most of the 3 sides, this was for a VIV for some anoles. I probably wouldn't use this method for a frogs viv which needed to be very humid.

Ben


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## DrNick (Sep 20, 2012)

My understanding of the acid-curing silicones is that once the excess acetic acid has vented off the silicone is ~100% polymerized and completely inert. The only problems stem from fungicides etc that we all know about. Even if there are traces of the siloxane monomer, these are pretty benign.

I'm not so sure about the neutral curing silicones, the chemistry is a little more complex, however I have used one extensively to construct my polycarbonate vivaria and never had any unexplained issues.

Polyurethanes I am less sure about.... Using GG for me was a balancing act. It's possible that some nasties do still emanate, but is such a great background-making tool I'll press on with it until I see evidence. Like the neutral-cure silicone, over a dozen vivs down and no toxicity to report. I also can't understand how so many people have problems making it work as a background - it's the easiest and most long-lasting method I know!!

The one thing I do avoid completely is epoxy, although many people use it and have no issues. Having said that, I actually tested the ENT stuff at work alongside several other epoxies and it showed very little toxicity when cured and soaked.

Nick


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

Thanks  I guess time will tell, 

You know that uneasy feeling though.....I just worry about these things....like I work about heat, humidity and plastic/resin plants and ornaments......

Again I guess time will tell

John





DrNick said:


> My understanding of the acid-curing silicones is that once the excess acetic acid has vented off the silicone is ~100% polymerized and completely inert. The only problems stem from fungicides etc that we all know about. Even if there are traces of the siloxane monomer, these are pretty benign.
> 
> I'm not so sure about the neutral curing silicones, the chemistry is a little more complex, however I have used one extensively to construct my polycarbonate vivaria and never had any unexplained issues.
> 
> ...


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## Wolfenrook (Jul 2, 2010)

If your GG background pulls away from the glass after just a year, you've done something wrong.  Good examples are using it to glue something to the glass, eg. wood, dried funghi etc. If you do this, you create a lever which in time pulls the glue off. If you are attaching things like this, you need to silicone it to the glass first.

The usual problem with gorilla glue methods is the simple fact that coir type materials don't have enough surface area to bond to the glue, so sooner or later they rub off. Fibers and chunks, such as fine orchid bark or tree fern fiber, bond much more firmly and last far longer.

This viv for example I used coir on Gorilla glue, with the glue directly onto the glass, and it's just over 3 years old. It hasn't peeled off at all, but there ARE patches where the coir has rubbed off. Luckily plants cover these in time, or you can use a bit of aquarium safe black silicone and some form of substrate to patch them up.










This viv however I used polystyrene siliconed to the glass, attached the wood to the glass first using aquarium safe silicone, then covered this in gorilla glue and tree fern fiber. Again, this viv is about 3 years old:-










Would I use the method again? Yes, in fact I did, along with 2 other methods, in my microspot auratus viv:-










Do I, or would I, recommend the method to others? No I wouldn't. It's far too easy to get it wrong, and as John mentions, there is insufficient research or evidence as to the long term effects of using all of these chemicals in such small eco-systems, beyond the anecdotal evidence of it been used by many people for many years without any apparent ill effects to the frogs.

The method I promote is the one that Mike adopted, the external covering method, combined with decorating the inside of the viv with natural materials and plants. AKA. The organic background method.


























No mess, no mistakes and no chemicals beyond those used in the construction of the viv itself. It's also faster, with no cure time.


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## frogman955 (Feb 7, 2010)

Wolfenrook said:


> The method I promote is the one that Mike adopted, the external covering method, combined with decorating the inside of the viv with natural materials and plants. AKA. The organic background method.
> 
> 
> No mess, no mistakes and no chemicals beyond those used in the construction of the viv itself. *It's also faster, with no cure time*.


 
It`s so simple :2thumb:.


Mike


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

that white viv is the dogs whatsnames Ade.....phew I love that!

john





Wolfenrook said:


> If your GG background pulls away from the glass after just a year, you've done something wrong.  Good examples are using it to glue something to the glass, eg. wood, dried funghi etc. If you do this, you create a lever which in time pulls the glue off. If you are attaching things like this, you need to silicone it to the glass first.
> 
> The usual problem with gorilla glue methods is the simple fact that coir type materials don't have enough surface area to bond to the glue, so sooner or later they rub off. Fibers and chunks, such as fine orchid bark or tree fern fiber, bond much more firmly and last far longer.
> 
> ...


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## johne.ev (Sep 14, 2008)

Thinking of trying it on a couple of spare exo terra backgrounds that i have. Was going to stick eco earth to it (hopefully). Is it better to do it outside of the tank first & then stick the background in when dry using aquarium silicone? Any other substrates work particularly well using this method?

Sorry for hijacking your thread snakedon.


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## frogman955 (Feb 7, 2010)

I`m a bit puzzled that after whats been posted above your still wanting to use GG.
I don`t use it any more and have no intentions of ever using it again.
There are too many pitfalls with it and it`s a fact that there are better options available, mainly silicone.
If aquarium silicone wasn`t safe there would be millions of useless aquariums around the planet, and vivs.
So why not make life easier by covering the background in silicone before coating it with whatever.
It`ll probably be less messy for you as well.
Oh and doing it all outside the viv ?
It`s a no brainer.


Mike


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## plasma234 (Feb 27, 2013)

johne.ev said:


> Thinking of trying it on a couple of spare exo terra backgrounds that i have. Was going to stick eco earth to it (hopefully). Is it better to do it outside of the tank first & then stick the background in when dry using aquarium silicone? Any other substrates work particularly well using this method?


should work fine, just read the step by step guide i posted. sedge peat would work as well.


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