Made Pools (Yay!) - how long until the silicone dries?

Post by **wodesorel** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 2:53 am

Cause I went a little.... overboard..... trying to get the ramp right. And I didn't think about how the silicone was gonna have to actually dry. Anyone else do this? How long did you have to wait?

Cause it's been five days and it's obviously still not cured and it smells really strongly of vinegar. I don't mind waiting however long it takes, but I'm crossing my fingers I won't have to start over!

Pool, only one of them since I ran out of silicone to finish the rim on the matching pool the other day, so I finished it tonight and it's too wet to move.

Silicone blob *facepalm*, much like the one in the other pool.

At least I learned my lesson and the new Es pools have less silicone in the corners and should dry quicker. I hope.

One of my old handles was silicone_prsstss.... Guess I lived up to that one this week. :roll:

tnt4eva · Post by **tnt4eva** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 3:00 am

It should be cured by now. What's making you think it's not cured - the smell or is it still soft? If it's the smell, that can take a while to go away even after curing. Leaving it outside to air is probably your best bet to get the smell to abate. However if the silicone you applied 5 days ago is still soft...you have a problem and it probably isn't going to cure.

What brand was it?

Edit: BTW - the pools look AWESOME. I think I may try it as I caught a teeny fully submerged trying to crawl into a gap between the pool pebbles...silicon would keep the little trouble maker safe.

Post by **wodesorel** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 3:12 am

Thanks! They were a lot of fun to make, though kinda messy. I normally try to be a complete cheapo, but I couldn't find pebbles I liked so I splurged on Exo-terra Turtle Pebbles. They're uncoated (almost all aquarium gravel is epoxy coated) and just tumbled so they're shiny.... and they cost $10 for 10 pounds. Totally worth it in my opinion, and I still have a little over half a bag I can use in my fish tank!

The reason I think it's not cured is because it's so cloudy and it smells SO strong. (It actually makes me wince when I sniff.) I used GE 100% Silicone 1, which I also used on the Display Case. It should be crystal clear when dry, yet it's still as cloudy in that corner as when I put it on. I guess it could be because there's so much, but I really thought it should have gotten a bit more clear. I don't think it's that soft - it's got the normal spring a glob of dry silicone should have.

Post by **wodesorel** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 3:26 am

Oh horse apples..... I googled it and it seems that silicone won't dry if it's thicker than a half-inch since the outside forms a skin. I don't know if that means it'll stop smelling at some point or not.... And since it doesn't stick to itself popping off the top rock to let it cure means I probably won't be able to reattach it.

Now what do I do? Here is my head, there is the wall. Oh look, a smiley has me covered. Sigh.

tnt4eva · Post by **tnt4eva** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 4:35 am

I just spoke to my hubby, the expert on all things sealant and glue-like. He suggests heat and thinks that it will cure in time. If you have an oven that you are able to set on VERY low heat - like 85-90F you could try that. Nice hot sunshine is good - not sure on the season where you are. If you have some spare heating equipment for the hermit crabs you could try that.

He's pretty sure it will eventually cure.

Post by **wodesorel** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 4:57 am

I've got a spare heat lamp. Give your hubby my thanks!

(Wish we had hot sunshine! It finally got up to 70 degrees last week, and now it's snowing again. It won't be above freezing for at least another week.

)

tnt4eva · Post by **tnt4eva** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 5:35 am

I did. I hope it dries for you. There is nothing worse than DIY project going awry on you....I know what that feels like at the moment!!!

Might not want to have the pools in room you're using much while you try to cure them with the heat lamp...it may make the smell stronger for a time.

Our summer seems to be leaving us, so maybe it's heading your way

SebbyCrab · Post by **SebbyCrab** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 11:08 am

worse comes to worse you can pierce the top skin of the silicone with a knife or such to let the moisture trapped in the under layers to escape while giving it a bit of heat with the lamp.

rhemaangel · Post by **rhemaangel** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 12:46 am

Awesome pools! I would also suggest poking a hole into the thick part of the silicone to let air in, or to maybe let excess silicone out.

I'm gonna "borrow" your idea, if you don't mind, to make new pools for my growing little tribe (size-wise, not number-wise).

One question, though -- what did you use as a "mold" for the pools????? And what size tank do you have them in? Ok -- so that was TWO questions

Post by **wodesorel** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 5:45 am

I still don't actually have them in the tank. I filled them with water overnight and am planning on testing the pH this afternoon - if it's normal then I hope that means the acetic acid has stopped leaching and they'll be safe to use. I didn't have that spare heat lamp, so for the past week and a half I've been filling them with hot water twice a day, and that seems to have worked on three of the four. (Only one still has the cloudy spot on the underside.) They finally stopped smelling on Wednesday, and I *ahem* tasted the water yesterday before I changed it out and it tasted like normal drinking water.

The mold for the large ones was a glass Pyrex bread pan. I think it was $5 at Walmart. The small ones were a heavy plastic food container I got for $1.50 at Marc's. Sorry, don't remember the name brand! Big pools are going into a 135 custom tank with a floor space of 18in x 48in, same as a 75G or 90G. The small pools are going into a 30 gallon. It took me a long time to find containers that worked with what I was going for. I had wanted both sets to be glass, but trying to find the perfect sizes was too hard!