Silicon question; aquarium suitable?

[Anthozoan]

I just used some General Electric brand "Kitchen and Bath Silicone 1" on my aquarium's bulkhead. I chose "Kitchen and Bath" under the assumption that it would be food-grade. But I just read the fine print and it says not for "food contact surfaces or aquariums". One selling point is "Resists mildew". Do you think this means there is an anti-microbial chemical in the silicone potentially deadly to my future tank inhabitants? Or do you think this is legal jargon for, "don't sue us when your tank breaks after using this product, afterall we told you so"?

What Home Depot available silicone do you recommend? Think I will be ok?

The plumbing is all finished, so removing the bulkheads and redoing it at this point is about the last thing I want to do. At the very least I'd just assume buy an aquarium-safe brand and put a coat over what I already have there.

Thanks,
Colin

[shag26272]

putting silicone on a bulkhead is a huge mistake, I recommend replacing them , they are not designed for silicone and if the seal breaks you will have a disaster

BTW the right silicone is GE window and door I, as far as I know the bathroom stuff has the anti mildew chemical

[jkreefer]

I think the kitchen and bath have some chemical in it that makes it mildew and mold resistant, thats why you cant use it in aquarium, you want to use 100% silicone, it would be a shame for you to set up your tank and have fish or corals dying unexplainably andas hard as it would be now, it would be alot harder to fix the problem when you have the tank full of live rock and livestock and water. good luck with your new tank

[Anthozoan]

So even with a rubber gasket, the silicone was a very bad idea? This is what I thought initially, but it was a used tank where all of the bulkheads I had removed had all been sealed with silicone and a rubber gasket. Jeez, this is bad news...

On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being definate diasaster), what do you think I have?

[shag26272]

it all depends, the main problem is if you bump your plumbing or anything and you dont have silicone the gasket re-seats itself if you bump it with silicone and break the seal you are done, not to mention about the type of silicone you used, if it has the anti mildew stuff which im not positive about could be a big problem also

[Anthozoan]

It's a shame that these products don't list their ingrediants any better. It says "100% silicone", and I compared it against the "Window and Door Silicone 1", and they both say they contain "methyltriacetoxysilane and petroleum distilates". As far as I could see they seemed identical. I chose the "kitchen" one assuming it would be food safe.

[shag26272]

checking online it says the number 1 is mildew resistant and the number 2 says keeps stain causing mold from growing on the sealant, you might be ok