I have vases with glass stones and fake plants in all of my bare bottom tanks and I love how they look and LOVE the bare bottom, but what I am finding is that food and debrise gets trapped in the vases and I am worries about rotting debrise fouling the water. I do try very hard to clean the vases out with water changes but i am finding that I have to take everything out of the vases and then put it all back together in order to keep it clean.
What i was wondering was if there is a product that would be clear and safe to use to fill in around the pebbles and plants so that I would not have debrise falling to the bottom of the vase but would be safe to have in the water?
I have read about people filling hollow ornaments but what is used?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions

I have a couple of little bottles & decorations that hold water. I just make sure that during every weekly water change I completely empty them all. Then I rinsed thru them real good.

I haven't had any problems.

I have live potted plants in both of my goldfish tanks. The really nice thing about the plants being alive is that they use any bits of food that get into the vases.

I also use clear glass vases, so when I first set up one of the tanks with them I was worried about food getting in them--not so much, initially, because the food would rot in there, but because it would first make the clear vases look filthy. So I bought a length of clear acrylic tube (from a pet store's fish section) and began using it when feeding. The tube goes in the water with the top foot or so sticking out of the surface, and I just pour the food into it. The food goes right to the bottom and out of reach of the tops of the vases. Any food that does manage to drift in is tiny crumbs, which the plants will easily take care of.

I'm honestly not sure what, precisely, people use to fill aquarium ornaments, but you could probably use aquarium silicone. Although I think that might get a bit expensive...

Thanks for the replies.
Jeana,
What you described is what I am doing now and agree that with routine cleaning it probably won't be a problem but I have a total of seven vases in three tanks so I am trying to cut down my cleaning time. That is why I would want to fill them so that all I have to do is rinse the plastic plants instead of dumping everything and then having to put it all back together. I also have six other caged pets that need routine cleaning and care so every bit of time helps me
SnBMeg,
I am so not a live plant person, I tend to kill everthing green unforutunatly. I also feed gel food that the babies take and rip apart and stuff floats everywhere (They are unbelievable savages with their food) so I will have floaters no matter what

I agree that aquarium silicone would get expensive also I would worry about the stuff at the bottom not drying. I was at a craft store this weekend and was thinking that maybe the glue sticks for hot glue guns would work? I could melt it a pour in into the vase and it is temperture sensitive so would harden throughout, it is also supposed to be non toxic I mean really all it is is a plastic polymer?

Any thoughts?

Hot glue would work. It's plastic, which is innate and totally harmless. I've used hot glue for all kinds of things in my tanks - glueing suction cups to the bottom of fake plants, making filter guards and isolation baskets, etc.

I, too, have the yuck-in-the-vases problem and am considering doing the hot glue topper on them. My only hesitation is the thought that I may want to change my plants down the road and, if so, the glued ones would be fodder. I also have some live plants and am not sure if permantly sealing them permanently into the vase is such a good idea. I'm constantly having to buy new plants because my gf eat the bejeebus out of them.

I also use the tube method of feeding and that works well. I only have a problem when my gf are a bit too 'rambunctious' at feeding time and swirl the food all over the place.

Not much help, I know! Just wanted to let you know that hot glue IS safe if you choose to go that route.

Lisa

Thanks Lisa,
I am glad that the glue is safe and someone else has used it. My vases are recyled (carefully scrubbed and disinfected from other projects) and the plants are all fake I figure if I want a change down the roade I will just scrap everything and start over and it won't have been a huge financial loss considering the time gain. I agree sealing in live plants may not be the best.

I think I am going to try the glue in that vases and see how it goes. I will try to posts picks so you can see the end results.

I too have used hot glue to fill ornaments and top off vases. To fill ornaments I pour aquarium gravel that I am not using (we all have at least a few pounds laying around ) into the hollow part and then top that off with about a half inch to an inch of hot glue poured on top. Make sure you let it dry really well. I always left mine out to dry (turn the ornaments upside down so that the glue is on top, of course) overnight and put them in the tank the next day. As far as filling vases, I have done that too. Once more, I fill the vase with the substrate I am using and then seal it off with at least an inch of hot glue to make sure that water cannot get in there and sour. Usually if you have gravel or stones in the vase it will stay down on the bottom, as long as it isn't too tiny. Good luck, and make sure to post pics!

Well the whole filling thing is not going as well as I had hoped I tried to melt the glue in a pyrex container so I could easily pour it into the vase well the whole pouring thing was going okay until the pyrex beaker exploded!!!!! Needless to say I had glas bits and strings of glue everywhere and stuck to my stove and clothes and floor, at which point I also got a piece in my toe !!! Can I just say cleaning up glas is my least favorite thing in the world GRRR!! I thought pyrex was supposed to be great for hot things. DO NOT EVER TRY THIS MY WAY!!!

So I guess I will try using the glue gun and just seal of the top. Now I just have to figure out where I put the gosh darn glue gun, I am reasonable sure it is buried in a box in my basement
(Trugges off to find glue gun)