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  1. #1
    Banned Rank = Mature Champion Trace's Avatar
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    T-Tip#9 Don't waste money on Sealant marketing Myths.


    This is a quick tip:

    Don't fall for marketing BS!

    A certain pond adhesive/sealant product that is re-branded and sold under a label that sounds very similar to "Bold Fable" and a few other massively "Koi taxed" supposedly specialist EPDM Liner sealant/adhesives have no better performance than any other MS Polymer.

    None of them give a good bond underwater ... as many have found out.

    There are many different adhesives/sealants that can be used safely in ponds but the two optimum (and cheapest if you buy them without little fishes on the tubes) are:

    Polyurethane (PU) based and MS Polymer (MSP) based.


    We tested lot's of different brands of both and safe silicone a couple of years ago and also left some of the thick beads for two years to see what would happen.

    PU is the pond all rounder value buy that is optimum for everything except bonding EPDM rubber (where it looks as if it's worked well at first but usually peels off a few months later).

    MSP is the best for bonding EPDM or any other rubber liner with correct priming (see below) and is good for most other pond jobs but can take months/years to cure completely if loaded on thick and is slightly more expensive.

    PU and MSP were defo the best from what we saw here and the best place we found to buy in bulk was from Idealsealants (great prices on boxes of 12).

    PU is Auto-marine

    MSP is MS290

    Here is the link to their pond safe page: Pond

    Another good PU based sealant is "Bond It PU18" and this can be found even cheaper than "Auto-marine" if your buying multiple tubes ... check it out on ebay.

    I can guarantee the performance of all of them if used properly ... we use PU for everything except bonding liner to itself or anything else when we use MSP.

    Here's some tips:


    Always prepare pond liner .... by making sure it's bone dry then roughening with a heavy grit abrasive paper and de-greasing and priming with a wipe of Standard (Cellulose) Thinners.

    Always make sure any other surfaces are dust free, bone dry and spotless ... (strong bonds on wet surfaces are marketing BS).

    Don't ever squash sealant beads thinner than 2 or 3mm thick ... sealant is not glue and won't cure right through if squashed too flat (just the first couple of mm will cure and that's why a lot of liner repairs fail even though people have used loads of sealant) ... multiple e.g. 5mm beads are better than a big splurge of squashed flat sealant.

    Always wait at least 48 hrs for PU to cure before any fish contact.

    To shape sealant after application ... water with a spot of detergent (washing up liquid) on your finger or shaping tool is the best thing to use.

    Buy lots of extra Nozzles ... sealant especially PU will cure very fast in the Nozzle .. easiest way to keep using a tube after storage is just remove the old Nozzle and put on a new one .... this also allows you to change to different sizes of beads from the same tube.

    Here's a link for spare Nozzles: MASTIC / SILICONE SEALANT SPARE NOZZLES. bulk pack 25 | eBay




  2. #2
    Banned Rank = Mature Champion Trace's Avatar
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    Update .... just a quick addition to this thread.

    Normally I would advise that you can use either PU or MSP for all pond related sealing and bonding and that they are the optimum choices for bond strength as detailed above.

    But there is one exception ... and that is when a strong UV-C sterilizing bulb like e.g. Amalgam submersible tubes are used in the vicinity of sealant beads.

    In that case using a good quality silicone based sealant such as "HA6" would be the optimum choice for long term UV exposure because of it's superior UV stability.

    That is just the one exception though and it still depends on a lot of other factors for individual situations ...

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