Coating on silicone rubbed off on aquarium

[TobyPhatz77]

Hi

I‘ve resealed an aquarium with reef safe silicone and left it to cure for over a week before filling.
It’s been filled for 10 days and when I looked closely at the seal I noticed a couple of yellowish dots so gave them a rub with my finger to see what it was. When I did this a soft layer of what seems to be a coating on the silicone came off leaving the silicone underneath intact and clearer than it had previously looked.
I found that rubbing my finger up the corner pulled a lot of this off which started flowing around my tank.

Has anyone else found this kind of thing happening?

Is my tank now a toxic mess even though it’s reef safe silicone?

I’d appreciate all useful feedback you might have on this.

Cheers

 

[xxkenny90xx]

That seems odd. It sounds like it isn't cured but a week should be fine. What kind of silicone did you use and where was the tank stored (cold wet basement, dry sunny porch, ect)?

 

[TobyPhatz77]

This was the silicone and it was in just sat in my room.
The flakes have all gone, over my weir and some probably stuck in the rock.
My main concern now is whether my tanks safe.

 

[BlennyTime]

I’ve read about that happening randomly in tanks and especially sumps, but never seen a reason why. It didn’t appear to affect their livestock. Interested to see if anyone knows.

 

[Larry L]

Was the coating that rubbed off rubbery feeling, or slimy feeling? It might just be a bacterial slime coating. Lots of silicones give off acetic acid as they cure (you can tell by the vinegar smell), and there are lots of bacteria that like to metabolize the acetic acid (which is why dosing vinegar into your reef as a carbon source helps to grow bacteria that reduce nitrates).

 

[TobyPhatz77]

It was definitely slimy though I didn’t try smelling it.
If it appears again I’ll check that too and update here.

 

[Larry L]

It was definitely slimy though I didn’t try smelling it.

Not sure if the coating would smell like anything specific, but if you remember the silicone smelling like vinegar while you applied it and while it was curing, then it was definitely giving off acetid acid, which might have encouraged the bacterial film.