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

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0081.jpg

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