The silicon wait

[royalpain]

How long do I need to wait for the curing silicone to be safe for my reef tank? I just made a new 20 gal sump and siliconed in the baffles last night, will it be safe to fill and put online tonight?

 

[Krish]

Most silicone tubes will say wait 24-48 hours before adding water to be safe. You might have to double check what's on the tube you used though

 

[royalpain]

The tube said 24 hours but was not sure if I should wait longer for the fish and corals

 

[Krish]

I'd probably wait just a tad bit longer than suggested as the 24 hours is probably going on the silicone curing under the right conditons (temp etc). I would probably wait a day and a half or if you could wait it out, 48 hours to be 100% safe. JMHO!

 

[Faciosity]

Most say 24 hours to cure, but 48 hours before it has a tight waterproof seal. I highly suggest waiting at least 48 hours! I had a recent incident where I only waited 24 hours, and an hour after I filled the tank it started leaking! I had to remove all the water, dry it with a hair dryer, romove the old silicone and make a new seal. The next time I waited 48 hours and it held fine.
Better safe than sorry!

 

[dragoneggs]

Agreed. 2 days. Patience in this hobby will not necessarily reward you but it sure will save you $$$, time, and frustration!

 

[07FocusST]

48hr wait to b suree 100%

 

[Scooterman]

Looks like everyone says to wait longer than the 24 hour period, I usually took longer because I was always waiting for other stuff or doing other things first. I know the room temp. is an important cure time determination, so that would come into play.

 

[iroll253]

I usually put a fan in my diy sump to help circulate air and leave it for 48 hrs

 

[user 2204]

48 hours is the normal wait period before putting silicone to full use. At 48 hours silicone caulk has pretty much reached its maximum strength.

 

[jrgilles]

I think a lot of it depends on the thickness of the silicone. If it is a huge, fat bead and is still squishy to the touch, wait longer. If you pressed it into the crack and it is a thinner layer, it will probably be cured faster. Push on it and see if it still feels liquidy inside.

Also, if it is just on your baffles, and it ends up with a pinhole leak, no big deal. Baffles don't need to be 100% watertight, just held in place so most of the water goes around them.

 

[Tecnomage]

I just put my sump together and ran into the same thing 24-48 hours was on the tube and just by feel you can tell that 24 hours isn't enough for the large beads I used. I did the refugium and raised baffle for the bubble trap first then the other 2 baffles 24 hours later (when I could remove the braces I used) so the most important ones cured for 72+ hours before running a water test. This seems to be the recommended way from everything I read.

 

[jrgilles]

If you want to do them all at once, you can do something like this:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Q-LjZ2W9bmGsgUp1owS5cA?feat=directlink