Are these silicone ties aquarium safe?

talhead · Jan 12, 2026

Hi all, I have a saltwater aquarium that I am using for research purposes. I need to secure some components within my tanks, but also have the ability to move them a few times a week so I don't want to use zipties as I would end up going through a ton of zipties. I found these silicone "zipties" that are reusable that seem like a great option as far as what I need them to do but I'm wondering whether they would be okay in saltwater for long periods of time or whether they would possibly leach anything harmful? This specific listing says that the material is rubber and silicone, while others that look identical list only silicone and I'm not sure that I trust that they don't also have rubber in them. I would love any feedback or help you all may have!

bushdoc · Jan 12, 2026

Silicone is generally non toxic and does not react with water, so it is safer alternative than most plastics especially those containing BPA, however those ties are not food grade, so I am not sure if colorants wouldn’t add something to water.

talhead · Jan 12, 2026

bushdoc said:
Silicone is generally non toxic and does not react with water, so it is safer alternative than most plastics especially those containing BPA, however those ties are not food grade, so I am not sure if colorants wouldn’t add something to water.

Awesome thank you for your quick reply here! I did find some that say they are food grade and don't list rubber as a material, so would those likely be safe even though they are colored?

KrisReef · Jan 12, 2026

Lots of ability to speculate about these, but other than the claim that they are made of silicone it’s not possible to say what they actually mean by silicone?

How do they make them different colors, if they are all made of the same material what causes the various colors? Random chance would not explain the color difference to my satisfaction.

A more realistic approach (perhaps?)
What experiments are you doing that the presence of silicon or colored silicon would possibly make your results dubious?

Use only one color and the same number of ties per treatment aquarium to reduce the degree of freedom?

Note-
Silicon is a common material used to construct aquariums, and it does react to bind colors that are sometimes present in chemical treatments (Bromothymol blue), but is it significant in your case?

Certainly silicone is not rubber, although the two materials do have some similar properties.