I'm doing some photography projects with glow in the dark UV hairspray which has provided some interesting results. Right now i'm trying to get this stuff into Aquarium/Fish tank tubing which is the easy part however sealing it up seems to be the problem. I can melt the stuff relatively easily with a grill/stick lighter but the ends just look too...newbish for my shots. Anyone know of a good way to seal/melt the ends of fish tank tubing to form a nice tight seal?

I can use some regular school grade glue since I have that laying around from previous experiments. However i'm not sure how stable that stuff would be when exposed to the UV spray. Put the UV stuff in the glue when it was liquid and made some glow in the dark art, but as far as sealing stuff goes not sure how it would work out. :confused:

Well if you're scared of regular glue just get some two part epoxy from the hardware store. That'll make a water tight seal easy, just give it time to dry. Usually ends up clear too.

hot glue

I'm guessing your using what would be a clear poly vinyl tubing as opposed to silicone, because for one, silicone isn't very clear, and two, it wouldn't be possible that you are melting it. (they make baking molds out of the stuff) Anyway, I think a small tube of clear silicone sealant would do the trick for ya. It's definitely water tight, remains flexible (unlike epoxies) and would be clear enough to allow your glow in the dark substance to radiate through. It's available at any hardware store for about 4 bucks a tube.

i suggest consulting some one who knows about toxic fumes and how to properly melt synthetics. you never know, i once was going to smelt gun shell casings for the metal before i found out that that some have hazardous fumes that can seriously cause harm.

probably the best idea.

Don't use hot glue. That stuff is very unreliable. and besides.... It made my finger look like a worm was inside of it when I was younger.... That stuff should be a relic of the past right now...

I wouldn't say that i'm scared of it however i'm not sure how reliable it is to use. A nice epoxy glue could theoretically work I guess the only problem is the tubing is very tiny. I think it's a standard tubing probably 1/8th inch in diameter with a 1/10th inch thick outside maybe smaller. It's so small I have to use a 30 gauge needle with a 3cc capacity syringe to make sure I don't damage it. Even then it's still a bit of a PITA to work with, but a clear silicone could fix that.

As for melting it i'm not too concerned about the fumes since i'm not directly standing over it and inhaling it. /wink