Silicone crash
 

I built a sump using GE. silicone. Which before was fine. Now I find out that they put mildew inhibter in the mix. I plumbed
In sump and went away for weekend. Came home to a partial meltdown. I did a water change and changed carbon.

Will the tank be fine or should I pull the sump and rebuild

If for nothing else than peace of mind, I think I would re-build it. If you lose anything or have any issues even years down the road, you'll always be wondering....
I've been using this stuff with good success and it's cheap at home hardware. Even says aquarium safe - you wont find that on any GE product I know of

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Pull the sump and rebuild.

It'll keep leaching that mildew inhibitor and kill more corals & fish. Nasty stuff.

Thanks. I'll do so tonight

I would shut off the return pump and close the sump off from the display to prevent any more leaching. Also, NOTE to self (actually I mean OP & everyone else): You should never do anything major to your tank just before taking off on holidays. That's just asking for Murphy to come visit and bleep with your tank.

The mildew inhibitors are petroleum distillates. The only thing that will remove them is aspiration by a skimmer (basically "undissolving" them) and big water changes. They don't stick to carbon. The silicone may also be leaching ammonia if it didn't cure long enough. Add an ammonia absorbing pad.

Pull the sump and rebuild it. Sorry you got bitten by the GE silicone problem. Seems to be getting pretty common and it's a pretty easy mistake to make. GE didn't even list the petroleum distillates in their MSDS until recently as they were a trade secret.

Sump is dismantled. Cleaned and awaiting my arrival home to be put back together

Make sure to buy the bottle that says 100% silicone

Ya, like GE II. It says 100%, even though the tube says it has mildew inhibitors.

With the recent reports of many people having problems with GE I or II, this is just bad advice.

The new bottles that people have had problems with no longer say 100% silicone

Bottles that say 100% silicone have nothing but silicone in them. That's what 100% means

the GE II i used says "100% silicone". it always has (have used it for YEARS on FW tanks). only now with the new packaging, it also has mildew resistant properties (STILL SAYS 100% SILICONE). i had issues with my tank, am having issues with my corals, is it the GE II or because this is my first salty tank... IDK? my corals are alive... has been running with this silicone for almost a year now.

Then they are obviously falsely advertising it in that case. Probably same case as mcdolands "100% beef"

that WAS "100% ALL BEEF" patties... and there was a trade mark symbol after the "all beef" because years ago the company that made those patties for mcdonalds was called "ALL BEEF (tradmark)" therefore they were 100% All Beef patties... not false advertising. as for GE in this case, i really dont know. their just out to get us...

It's just wording. All the beef in their patties came from cows. 100% of it. All the silicone in the tube is pure silicone. 100% of it. The other stuff however is neither beef nor silicone.
Personally, over the years I've used both I and II, but the last year or so has seen a lot of people having trouble after using it. Good enough reason to rethink it and use a product that is known good.

I just used ge 1 a month ago with no problem. Blue and gray bottle. Says its for windows and doors

K I'm at Rona right now.

Ge silicone II :

Premium waterproof has mildew protection
Window & door does not say it has mildew protection
K/B supreme says 10year mold free protection


So looks like the blue/brown tube is still good

The 100% Silicone part also has to do with whether or not there is any acrylic in the caulk. Acrylic will shrink; Silicone doesn't. It can be an important factor depending on the application.

I did a tone of research on this a while ago, even email GE & was informed that ALL the silicone has traces of the mildew inhibitor in it now EXCEPT there GE SCS1200. There still may be some tubes out there in stores that don't have it but why chance it just use the SCS1200.

I am not being a smart a$$ but just can't understand why not just use aquarium silicone? Is it that much of a difference in price that you would risk time and effort just to save a few bucks?

That's a good question & for me it's simply because every where I have seen actual aquarium silicone it's a very tiny tube priced anywhere from $9.99 - $16.99. SCS1200 is around $6 and 3 time the size.


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Ya, for me the price is ridiculous, and the tiny tubes are useless if you're building anything substantial. I'm lucky because my LFS carries tubes of GE 1200, and I can go to SeaStar and buy it there. I also have a couple of HW stores around that sell generic brands that are marked as aquarium safe.

+1 on using this stuff. I and everyone I know uses it, it specifically says it is aquarium safe on it, it works great, and a 3 pack (contractor size tubes) is about $10 or $12 from Home Hardware.

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Yup from Home Hardware its around $11 plus tax for 3 tubes (they sell singles for like $6). Used this on my euro bracing and I know some tank builders that use it... Sounds like a done deal.

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Wow, that is a big price difference. Good to know. Thanks for the reply guys.

Urban legend.