When 100% Silicone isn't
- Thread starter CHFIII
- Start date
Definitely not a waste of time. Looking forward to the results of your little experiment
Interesting that the silicone wipes clean when damp, with some effort, and this seems to reduce the amount of ooze. From that take away, if I use this to seal something that I actually want the mildicide for, then I cant clean it when its damp. I guess the hope is it doesnt need to be cleaned with the additives? Seems like a product that is doomed to fail for its actual purpose if thats the case
I hadn't thought of it that way but if there are any neat freaks out there with an underwater house they may indeed be disappointed if they scrub at the seals around their windows and doors
Seriously my guess is that typical rain and condensation make it gel and as it dries any mold spores that hit the gel can't get established.Personally I would greatly prefer that the helpful chemical manufacturers don't use this sort of toxic crap without better labeling and disclosure of the toxicity involved. If you are geeky enough to read through the EPA report on this compound it seems like they acknowledge that it is lethal as hell but got around a lot of rules because the 'intended use' of the product makes it unlikely that too many people will be poisoned by it. It should have big red letters stating that it should never be used in any application where it might come in contact with food or potable water.
....like any respectable DIYer gives a damn about what a product was intended for... lol
When I had my first hatchery back in the 80s I had a perfectly good moldicide. Add a cup of bleach to a couple gallons of water in the mop bucket and use the damned mop every couple days. Same hi-tech mixture on a paper towel around windows and their mildew prone seals when the condensation gets bad works quite nicely and you don't spread highly toxic compounds that are very difficult to break down in nature.
Sorry - soapbox issue for me... I always roll my eyes at the environmentalists who scream about things that are theoretical and well outside our ability to change while they ignore the incredible array of compounds that are within 'acceptable' limits in a 'superior' water supply. When you read about how some of those compounds can do harm and consider that they tend to get stored in the liver then do some math it is gets icky. Put it this way - say you drink a gallon of water per day.... That's about 3000 pounds of water per year, 30,000 pounds in a decade. Suddenly parts per million/billion don't seem so small and nobody really takes time to study what happens when you mix moldicides, pesticides, prescription drugs and the other crap that you find in your local water report but each of us is running that experiment in our guts right now. There's a happy thought! I've kinda gone to a "Would I let my Discus swim in the stuff I am about to drink?" Would you use it to top off your prized reef tank? if not... why the hell would you drink it? Stick to bourbon.
DO NOT USE GE SILICON II!! I should have realized this but there is no where on the smaller squeezeable tubes that says it has mold inhibiters in it. Only on the back of the tube that said's it has mold inhibiters. I resealed a 10 gallon with silicon II, waited 3 days to cure. I put around 30 1"-1 1/2" fry overnight and in the morning they were all dead. I should have just put 1 in. What a idiot I was!
The main idea of this thread isnt to establish if GE II is toxic to fish, but to establish if there is a point at which the toxins leech out enough to be fish safe. Many people have learned the hard way to use GE I, and even if this shows GE II can be safe after x amount of time, I would still recommend using GE I. The main reason I followed this thread is just for an academic purpose to see if it can be done. Might come in handy if somebody has something sealed with GE II that they need to use for short term storage
