HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm throwing this out there because I need some ideas as to what went wrong!

I'm also asking for people who have a lot of silicone in their pools to share what they used and also to have their water tested and list the results

I made these pools on March 25 of this year. It is now Oct. 15th. They are completely cured with no odor whatsoever. The silicone is dry all the way down. I had them sitting in water for three months with a filter on it to try to fix the problem, but no luck! The ammonia levels are insanely and toxically high. They are now in the garbage as I have given up!

Original Pool Thread:
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 39&t=79703

My pretty pools. :crybaby:




This is the silicone I used. This is supposed to be the safe stuff!!




And here is the ammonia test. 0ppm (the only safe level for fish and hermit crabs) is a pale yellow. The test can go up to 8ppm which is dark green. My tests? Blue-black. I don't even know how much that is!




Any thoughts or ideas?

beautiful pool, too bad you cant use it.
as soon as I find a test kit, I will test the water from the ones I made and let you know the results!

Awwww man, that's too bad.

I used aquarium silicon, so I'm hoping mine aren't like that. I'll pick up a kit next time I go to petco, and let you know. I'll try to convince my husband that we need to go tomorrow, but I don't have high hopes. He's such a stubborn poo-head sometimes. Wish I had my own car.

Wheeee!! I get to go tomorrow morning.

Most fish stores including Petco and Petsmart will do free water testing if you bring in a sample from home, so you don't have to spend anything!!!

Thank you!

I think you have a bad batch. Ring the company up. Could it also be possible your tests are off?

I took water samples in to two different stores where the same thing happened, so it's not the test I have.

I also used two different tubes from two different batches as I ran out after finishing two of the pools and had to buy another one at a different store to finish the remaining two pools. All four pools are testing this way.

Since it's not officially labeled for aquarium use the company won't respond to any inquiries about water chemistry problems.

Darn I just did my pools last night with the same exact stuff, I dont know whats going to happen but ill test them and see what happens. Nothing works now the aquarium sealant i used didnt work either.

It also could have been because the silicone was thicker than half an inch

Wodesorel I'm throwing this out here just in case it might benefit you. I am in no way as experiences as you are with hermit crabs or fish but today I was doing some reasearch on water conditioners and I know that in another post (I think it was an older one) you said of a certain brand that you used (i forget the exact name but I know it was one I haven't heard of) well any way I was looking a comparison chart of dechlor on some fish aquarium site and the one that use said it didn't remove or neutralize ammonia. I'm sorry this is so vague but right after I read this it came to mind. Like I said I could be completly wrong or you could use a different brand right now but just in case I wanted to let you know. I tried looking in my history on my iPhone but now it won't let me pull it up but I will keep trying. There's a lot of history from today lol because I'm doing research before I get my order from LHC. I hope this helps!

I think you said you use Prime because I know I did a search for it to see if it has stress coat in because my aqua safe safe it aids in a healthy slime coat but doesnt actually have aleo in it just a seaweed extract (which Im guessing is fine, right?). I'm sure if you do a search for prime comparision chart it will come up but my cell won't let me get to it now.

These were my tests. My pools were made months ago (with aquarium sealant), and this particular batch of water has been in there for a little less than 24 hours. I'm going to do daily tests for like a week to see if it changes.

Totally not worried about the aquarium silicone now. (Too bad it's three times the cost of the other stuff!) Thanks Wolf!

Nevi - I had thought about the Prime being the problem as well, though I've never had any problems with the readings in my fishtanks and I've used it for seven years now. I did borrow some Top Fin water conditioner from the betta at my hubby's work, and the results came up the same. So it's not the conditioner - I wish it had been!

Awww man I was hoping it was too, because for one your pools look really nice, and I know a lot of people have used that for various different projects! It's a shame. I hope everyones crabbies are ok!

Are these those pools that had the really thick bits of silcone on it? Maybe they never cured properly?