Can you safely put Styrofoam in an aquarium or pond ?

Can you safely put Styrofoam in an aquarium or pond? Is Styrofoam dangerous for fish? What are its benefits?

Many artists use Styrofoam to build beautiful homemade projects. Styrofoam is a very lightweight & cheap material, & you can simply use it for building ornaments. Therefore, hobbyists have begun using Styrofoam in their fish tanks for making ornaments, backgrounds & dynamic aquascapes.

Can you safely put Styrofoam in an aquarium or pond?

The addition of Styrofoam to an aquarium is an awesome but difficult procedure. Users need to choose an empty aquarium, choose shapes, add glue on corners, slightly pushing & stabilizing it. In addition, they should put heavy rocks, stop free-floating, & setup a thermal barrier for an aquarium. If they are not careful, then they could see floating foam particles that fish can swallow & die.

The biggest issue is that the Styrofoam might leach dangerous chemicals that could be toxic for fish. However, some Styrofoams are fully safe to use in immersed fish tank environments as long as they meet certain inert requirements, & you should apply aquarium safe sealant on them.

Your sealant could leach harmful chemicals in the water if it is not aquarium safe. Mainly Styrofoam is not the cause of these harmful chemicals, it is the adhesive material that is applied for attaching it to rocks or other ornaments in the fish tank. Hence, it is very important to use aquarium safe Styrofoam, & adhesive material before starting your project.

 

Which Styrofoam is safe for aquarium use?

An uncoated Styrofoam can be safely used in a fish tank. Pink insulation foam is another alternative that can be safely used in an aquarium. If you are not sure which Styrofoam is safe for aquarium use, then you can consider adding Styrofoam from a cooler. & you can cut it down into pieces required for your DIY decoration. If a Styrofoam product is labelled as ‘food safe’, then it can be used in fish tanks too.

Any aquarium safe adhesive material can be used to stick foam to the aquarium glass to stop it from floating.

Is Styrofoam waterproof?

Styrofoams are waterproof for a short period of time. However, they are not water resistant, so you should apply sealant on Styrofoam to stop the passage of liquids through openings in material before putting it in a fish tank where it is exposed to continuous wetness.