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For Christmas my fiance wanted a new turtle cage for her pair of Florida River Cooters. I decided to be the handyman and try to put some basic geometry and woodworking skill together and build it for her. Well I spent 50 bucks on wood and another 60 on some acrylic plexiglass, 15 on the 100% All-Glass Aquarium Sylicone Sealant and another 15 or so on wood stain and sealant. With some well planned and hard angled cuts its was together in 2 weeks. One mistake, I water tested it for only an hour before I decided that it was good enough (that's me being impatiant). So when my fiance came to town for Christmas I took her out and bought over 150 bucks worth of equipment for her new turtle tank. We got it all sat up and it ran for a day when suddenly it started leaking terribly. My heart sunk after all the time, energy, and money poured into this thing went through the cracks with the water.

Well here's the question after all of that. I can't find a sealant anywhere, ANYWHERE, that is non-toxic and waterproof that I can use on acrylic. The only thing I've heard of is something called "WELD-ON #16". I know nothing about this product and I need to know if it is safe, how do I use it, do I need to seal it afterwards, can someone please help me?

Thanks, DavidJames

>>Well here's the question after all of that. I can't find a sealant anywhere, ANYWHERE, that is non-toxic and waterproof that I can use on acrylic. The only thing I've heard of is something called "WELD-ON #16". I know nothing about this product and I need to know if it is safe, how do I use it, do I need to seal it afterwards, can someone please help me?

If I were you, I'd call a shop that specializes in plastics and ask their advice. Around here, TAP Plastics is the place to call...

Unfortunately, it looks like Weld-On #16 isn't exactly safe. I found the MSDS info for IPS Weld-On #16 for Acrylic and it definitely contains lots of nasty stuff. I didn't read far enough to see if there was info about danger after the bond had set...

Ooops! The correct link for Tap Plastics is here.

Thanks for the information and the concern for the turtles. I took that link to the site and found a 1-800 number to call and I talked to a specialist. He let me know that the best thing for my application would be WELD-ON #16, but only when and after it is cured should the water and animals be placed back in the tank. He said it's a common question and that's what top aquarium builders recomend.

But again, thanks for the link, it helped out great.