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10/11/2017, 12:28 PM
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#1 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: LA, CA
Posts: 616
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Foam Rock Wall....Silicone Dry Time?
I built a 5'x2' foam/dry rock , rock wall (on egg crate) and used about x3 10 oz tubes of Aqeuon Silicone to attach it to the back glass. That's ALOT of silicone! But It's going to be there for the life of the tank so I wanted to make sure it will never budge!
How long will the silicone take to cure? I figured I would let it sit for about a week, is that enough time for that much silicone? Is smell a good indicator of when silicone has cured? It still smells like silicone, not nearly as strong as 5 days ago when I first applied though. Here's a quick pic, it probably doesn't need the boxes for prop up anymore, feels pretty solid and no budging at all, but I'm leaving it there just in case. 
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10/11/2017, 03:50 PM
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#2 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 20,050
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All depends on the bead thickness and type of silicone..
In general smell is a "decent" indicator.. but not the best.. Its best to do a "test glob" as thick as the thickest section.. Then you can cut into it and see if its cured.. There are 2 types of silicone.. one smells like vinegar when curing.. one smells like ammonia.. Fairly sure the aqueon type is the "quicker" vinegar cure type (acetoxy) vs the neutral cure type.. 1 week should be sufficient.. even for quite a thick bead..
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Who me? |
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10/11/2017, 04:57 PM
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#3 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: LA, CA
Posts: 616
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I layed it on pretty thick because i knew the back of the wall wasn't going to be perfectly flat and didn't want large portions not touching the backglass.
Yes the smell is more like vinegear than ammonia. Thanks, Ill wait at least the full 7 days. |
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10/16/2017, 06:28 PM
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#4 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 31
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I waited a week and no problems for me.
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10/16/2017, 06:30 PM
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#5 |
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Team RC Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: NY
Posts: 17,749
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How thick is pretty thick?
When in doubt, wait it out.
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Inconveniencing marine life since 1992 "It is my personal belief that reef aquaria should be thriving communities of biodiversity, representative of their wild counterparts, and not merely collections of pretty specimens growing on tidy clean rock shelves covered in purple coralline algae." (Eric Borneman) |
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