# Silicone curing time?



## kabuto (Mar 9, 2007)

guys,
I resealed an aquarium, and started cycling on day 3. It says "fully cured in 72 hours" on the instructions. Today, while i was RE-reading the instructions, I noticed in FINE PRINT it say "for aquariums: cure for 7 days"

It is an acetic acid based silicone. Would that be harmful? Should i reempty the tank and clean everything up and re cycle?

how long do you guys normally wait before using the fish tank?


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## Pali (Dec 22, 2009)

I wait 7-10 days to be shure, but now you have filled it and cycled the tank. I would just wait a few weeks with adding fish and do some heavy water changes and add activated carbon, to be shure the toxins are out of the water and filters.

How manny days have the tank been filled?

I would also worry about the silicone letting go under the pressure of the water, but it's been filled a full cycleing periode and holding I would'nt worry about it.


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## kabuto (Mar 9, 2007)

i was actually more worried about the acetic acid.


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## mg426 (Nov 24, 2009)

I have made a half dozen or so sumps. I used GE Silicone I on all of them. I let them cure 24 hrs and them added them to existing systems. Nothing bad happened.


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## Malawi_Junkie (Nov 26, 2009)

I usually wait 3 days for silicone to cure and have had no problems. 7 days for larger amounts of silicone like for backgrounds. You should be fine, I wouldn't worry


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

How long you need to wait is really dependent on the thickness of the bead. The cure time on the tube is for a specified bead size. If you go bigger or smaller, that time will change. Personally, I like to have the vinegar smell gone before filling. It is better to err on the side of caution in my opinion.


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## krfhsf (Dec 25, 2008)

I have repaired leaking upper corners on existing tanks and only waited 4 hours with fish in the tank. they held good. when I reseal a whole tank I always wait 5-7 days. You are good IMO.


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## Demasoni17 (Mar 11, 2010)

It's been 2 weeks since I've siliconed my background into the aquarium and I still can smell acetic. I think part of the problem was that when I siliconed the first couple of pieces together I wasn't carefull to make sure that they would lay flush against the back of the aquarium, thus I had some spacing issues. I had to lay the silicone on thick to make sure it would get to the back of the aquarium on these pieces.

Let's say that I have a square piece of background: if the silicone cured around the outside perimeter, how long would it take the inside portion to cure? If the outside created an airtight seal wouldn't it take a LONG time for the center portion to cure? I've been putting a box fan on top of the tank for the last 3-4 days but I'm not sure that is having any effect.

Any tricks to help the curing process along?


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