# Anyone here tried Oogoo?



## Raptor22 (Nov 23, 2012)

I've been following a few threads on molding silicone, and stumbled across a DIY product called Oogoo. It is essentially a mix of GE Silicone I and corn starch. The corn starch kicks off the curing of the silicone, and silicone pieces of any thickness will cure in hours, instead of days or weeks. Most of the reports I have read say that the corn starch does not significantly change the properties of the cured silicone, but there is a stage in its cure where it becomes easily hand-moldable, like clay.

My last silicone background took MONTHS to completely finish curing, so this looks promising. I wonder how it will stack up as a background material against, say Titebond III? I have yet to try titebond III myself. In any case, for those who prefer silicone, this may be good news.

Here's the original instructable that unveiled oogoo:
How To Make Your Own Sugru Substitute

Comments? Does anyone have experience with this stuff?


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## Raptor22 (Nov 23, 2012)

No one has any thoughts?


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Seems safe and interesting.....I might try it for making caves/ledges and what not....Another tool, for the tool box


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

Looks fascinating...can hardly wait to try it....have tried all the other ones...some I love, some I hate.... It should be non toxic as well I'd think..


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## GRIMM (Jan 18, 2010)

Personally I wouldnt use silicone that cures faster. It will skin over by the time you can apply peat/coco and will grab even less then it usually does. Unless you physically mix the selected substrate into the silicone prior to applying it on the background, I think the results after a few months would be dissappointing.

I pre-mixed silicone and peat on my last tank to test it out and it worked well. The only downside to this is you really need to press it hard onto the bakground, and it tends to look really smooth from smearing it into the details. The good thing though is that the peat is encased in silicone and wont be going anywhere.


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

I think Dendro Dave has the right idea about using the product structurally...could probably be used as a good "stream" to direct water from a pump to exactly where you'd want it to go...easier to form I'd think.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Judy S said:


> I think Dendro Dave has the right idea about using the product structurally...could probably be used as a good "stream" to direct water from a pump to exactly where you'd want it to go...easier to form I'd think.


Ya that is my thinking, basically using it like that zoomed excavator clay type stuff to mold caves, tunnels, ledges, waterfalls, make fake rocks and you can paint silicone of course. You could probably press some milled sphagnum or something into, or put a layer of sticky silicone over your oogoo structure, then press in your substrate material like you normally would...just using the oogoo as the structural component.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

GRIMM said:


> Personally I wouldnt use silicone that cures faster. It will skin over by the time you can apply peat/coco and will grab even less then it usually does. Unless you physically mix the selected substrate into the silicone prior to applying it on the background, I think the results after a few months would be dissappointing.
> 
> I pre-mixed silicone and peat on my last tank to test it out and it worked well. The only downside to this is you really need to press it hard onto the bakground, and it tends to look really smooth from smearing it into the details. The good thing though is that the peat is encased in silicone and wont be going anywhere.


See last line of above post to easily get around substrate not sticking.


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

When you read the directions, which are really uncomplicated, you can't help but not want to try it...cheap, cheap, cheap....and we probably already have the ingredients...I don't know about using the oil based colors--my only hesitation....but I can see it as an "edging" for the FB pond areas with sort of scuplted edges instead of a pile of rocks...this could be a real addition to the art of viv building... Thanks to the OP


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## imzenko (Feb 2, 2013)

years ago a forum called frognet which some of you are to young to remember  they had a recipe for silicone soil. was sort of like the oogoo but you used "soil" instead of the cornstarch that they mention on the instructable site. I made it years ago. they use to make stream beds with it.


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## Raptor22 (Nov 23, 2012)

I'm definitely going to give this a try on my next build. I was envisioning it would be mixed with substrate at the same time that the corn starch is added.

If anyone tries it before me, I would appreciate it if they post their results


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

I dug this post up from Buddha from 10/06...will copy and paste directly:

This was from a gentleman from Frognet... I though it was interesting... About silicon Soil

Hi George, John,

Thanks for the kind words about my silicone soil article from many years ago.


Here is the info that several of you have asked for. I have posted some of this in the past so some of this is old info, some of it is new.


In order to create a river that flows from one side of the tank to the other, I create a streambed out of what I call silicone soil.
Silicone soil is a method that I developed many years ago in order to create streambeds that solve a number of problems relating to water falls, stream / river bed features, etc. Its far easier then slabs of rock, rock chips, bark chips, Plexiglas, ABS / PVC pipe, PVC shower pan liner, etc. It produces a real nice natural stream flow. (Water doesn’t instantly percolate down through the substrate leaving you with only a small trickle. Also you can use a smaller pump to get the same stream effect.)

The only drawback to the system as I have done it in the past is that I have used silicone caulking. While it is very cheap and is easy to get, it is also extremely sticky which makes it a bit difficult to work with. Because it wants to stick to everything it is not real easy to spread and smooth. There are ways to deal with the stickiness though, but it does take a bit of practice. Even with the stickiness, I feel that it is still far easier to get a natural looking waterproof stream bed using this process than using any of the other methods mentioned above.
Even so, I have been researching the possibility of using one of the mold making or makeup grade RTV-1 silicones rather than the caulk. They don’t have nearly the stickiness issues and would be much easier to shape into the desired stream shape. RTV silicone can come in many different forms. I was going to experiment with the process but because of the health issues I have been dealing with, I haven’t money nor ability to play with it at this time. I don’t know whether the highly viscous form when mixed with soil would be entirely waterproof. If not, would adding thickeners or using the paste form be a best way to go. Anyone up to doing a little experimenting?


This too is a long post; sorry about that, Brent has learned, me I’m a little slow. Anyhow, a number of people have asked me to elaborate so here goes. If this is too long, at least check out the questions that I would like to see answered in the summary at the end.

The Process of Forming A Stream

The Base
You can use any base that you want. Personally I prefer to use some type of gravel base for the tank; this provides a great deal of filtration. Gravel does a better job than does a false bottom system because the gravel system provides a great deal more surface area for the good bacteria to grow thus providing more biological filtration. This type of filtration pulls out toxic wastes like nitrates. Thus you have to do a lot less maintenance, i.e. Water changes, less pruning, (plants grow a bit slower because there is not as much fertilizer around), etc. As for the types of gravel to use, I have two tanks with regular gravel (heavy but cheap), and one tank with cat litter. I use the cheapest cat litter available, one that is all clay. Avoid anything with deodorizers, clumping agents, etc., bioballs (light but expensive), LECA (also light but expensive), one interesting filtration *product being used in the aquarium trade, is the plastic wadding used in loading shot gun shells. (cheap and light). I haven’t tried this last one. When I use something other than gravel I put gravel at every glass surface for the natural look. I also like the system I saw on Ken Uy ‘s web site, EQUIPMENT-Water System which drilled the tank and put a second very small ancillary tank behind the tank, connected by bulk heads, one going out of the tank, one coming back in. This allows you to put the pump outside the tank where you can get to it for maintenance. You could also put an overflow drain from the second tank which keeps your water level consistent even when you are adding water from spraying, misting etc. It also makes water changes real easy. The ancillary tank is also where I would put a heater if I needed it. For the record, I have never had a tank heater in any of my tanks, but if you have up/ down thermostats that drop temperatures into the 50s or something, I would consider it. Many others use a false bottom system. Ken’s site and many others can show this set up.

The Layout the Substrate
The first step in the process is to lay out the general terrain of the tank. The stream layout is sculpted in the gravel / soil substrate. I usually sculpt the substrate about 1/4” to 1/2” deeper then my final stream bed thickness. The soil used can be anything: Potting Soil, Atlanta BG mix, orchid mix, dirt from out side, cat litter (one of my favorites), anything. This was a soil mix that was posted on frognet a while ago.
The Home Depot Soil Mix:
1 part charcoal (available at HD for a lot less than the aquarium stuff and not quite as good, but more than sufficient)

3 parts milled sphagnum moss (this will look like peat)

2 parts small orchid bark (fir bark)

2 parts shredded coco mat (just buy one and take some scissors to it)



There are other recipes that can be found on the web as well.
The only thing I don’t recommend is using any soil that has perilite, the stuff with little white styrofoam balls in it or anything with vermiculite in it. These products don’t look natural and they can cause impaction if your animals ingest them.
If you are using dirt from outside, I would recommend that you sterilize it by baking or microwaving it and then letting it cool.

Making & Using Silicone Soil
It’s time to mix it up a little. Mix together the sterilized soil with any aquarium safe silicone. When I use silicone caulk I usually squirt a bunch of silicone onto on a piece of cardboard and then mix in the soil. RTV might make the mixing much easier, because it is so much more viscous than the caulk. RTV would need to be mixed in a throw away bowel though. Keep mixing until everything looks like wet / damp soil.
I use a Popsicle stick or plastic spoon to apply the mixture, sculpting from the waterfall down through the channel you created in the substrate until you get to the pond. You can use your fingers to shape, mold and smooth out the channel. You must wet your fingers often with water to keep the mixture from sticking to your hands. One note, whatever you apply this mixture to must be fairly dry as Silicone does not stick to wet surfaces.
You can add rocks at this time by pushing them into the mixture before it cures. Adding rocks breaks up the flow of the channel, creating little white water rapids, course changes etc., and it looks great.
The advantages of this system are numerous. The stream bed looks very natural, flowing around bends, rocks, branches, plants, etc. and keeps the water flow at the surface where it looks better, aerates the water, and adds to the tank’s humidity. Plants that don’t tolerate bog conditions can be put closer to the stream without rotting out because the water is held at the surface. The channel can be carried completely across the tank without losing much of the flow and without greatly increasing the size of your pump. Doing this also greatly increases the natural biological filtration in the tank, if you are using some type of a gravel bottom especially if you place the pump , or pump intake on the opposite side of the pond. You also won’t have nearly as many stagnant areas. The streambed can be cut out, altered and added to just by mixing more material. The streambed can be scrubbed to remove algae and it can be removed if needed, sterilized, and reinstalled. Finally, frogs and critters just love to sit in the stream.
The bed should cure in a dry environment for a minimum of 48 hours before adding water. Leave the lid off of the tank to let it cure and off gas. I would let it set for a week or more before adding animals. A week is probably overkill, but why take chances.
I didn’t know this before I started researching, but most of the silicone we use actually requires moisture in the form of humidity in order to set or cure.

Limits & Problems
The mix does have some limits, If the mix has too much silicone and not enough soil, the end result looks too white and shiny. If the soil has too much moisture, the soil will tend to flake off after the silicone is dry, leaving a whitish, shiny area of silicone. Tinting the silicone or using colored silicone would help eliminate some of these issues. The mixing process is not super critical, or touchy though. Having a dry soil, bark dust, sand mix, whatever mixture you choose, is the key. Most potting soils and sand box sands that you buy are too moist when they first come out of the bag and do need some drying. Pop the soil into the oven to dry things out and let it cool before you start mixing can help get rid of the excess moisture and will therefore give you a much better looking final product.

Hope this is helpful.

Summary : Silicone RTV vs Silicone Caulk???
I know that Silicone Caulk does work for streams, but until you get used to it is a bit of a pain getting it into place. RTV may solve this and make waterproof streams easy as pie with everyone doing it. There are a lot of different types of RTV though. Which type would work the best? Would mold making RTV stick well enough to the rocks & gravel? It is, after all, designed to release and not stick to the original piece being molded on one hand, and on the other it is designed to stick to itself as well as to other types of silicone. If mold making RTV doesn’t bond well enough, maybe using FX silicone, silicone used in make up and special effects work might be better. Would thinning down regular silicone caulk make it easier to work with? Or maybe mixing RTV with silicone caulk might do the trick. I don’t know.

Tracy, with your expertise in Art world, have you worked with any of these products? Any suggestions?

Many of these products can be found in hobby shops and at art supply stores. Anyone up to a little experimenting???


Dave Calkins


Other uses for silicone soil
I use the silicone soil mixture for a number of other things as well, feeding dishes, plant pots, etc. I coat the outside of certain types of feeding dishes with the silicone soil so that the dish blends into the background and looks more natural. I also will use plastic cups cut down and sunk into the ground and glued into place with silicone soil for feeding dish holders. Then I will cut down another cup that will fit inside the first cup. The second cup will be used to put food into the tank. Works great for food like meal worms, etc. if you are doing reptiles Plus I can then pull the cup out and wash it when it is need.
I have used double pots to plant various plants in a number of different tanks while still maintaining a natural look. I found it worked best when I used two identical pots that fit snugly together. I installed one pot in the soil / gravel permanently and used the other to hold the plant. It made it easy to plant / remove plants. I don’t tend to do this with my dart tanks, but it is a nice option it you want to try adding a bonsai plant which needs root pruning occasionally. I have used silicone soil to camouflage the permanent pot. It worked pretty well.

I don’t pot most of my plants, but there are a couple of reasons that I do use a pot in a tank.
1. A pot will tend to contain the roots of a fast growing plant and a root bound plant will tend to grow slower so there is less time spent trying to manage a plant by pruning it back, etc. Some plants will over grow a tank in less than a month, crowding out and killing any other plant's chances of success.

2. I may also want to remove a plant periodically to prune it's roots or for shaping the plant's structure, etc. as when you work with a bonsai plant. I will place a pot in the tank that will hold the plant's position in the soil. Then I will pot the plant in a pot that nests and nestles down into the position holding pot.

I like my tanks to look as natural as possible, so any pot's surface that is exposed is likely to get the silicone soil treatment. This even includes the insides edges of the pot that houses the plant.

If you use plastic pots, make sure that you sand the pot with sand paper in order to roughen up the surface so that the surface has some tooth on which the silicone soil can grab onto.

There are times that the inside of the pot is exposed or the pot / plant that I want to use is deeper than the soil in the area that I want to use it, so I have applied the sticky mixture to the exposed insides & outsides of the pot. This camouflages the color of the pot so that it now blends and matches my soil. The rough blotchy soil mix now also camouflages the unnatural round flattened edges of the pot. Now rather than an exposed artifical pot, I have a little irregularly shaped hill, which the frogs can hide in and around as well.

For a bonsai plant that I put into one of my tanks, I built a pot out of that acrylic that matched the contours of the area where I wanted it. I then put silicone soil on the outside surfaces of the point and it sat looking very nice in its corner. This allowed me to contain and shape the roots so that they were visible and part of the display.


Dave Calkins

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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

and there are other articles if you Google silicone soil...whatever did we do before "google??


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

Am curious whether anyone out there has used this method and how successful/not so successful it was...surprised that no one else has added on to the thread..


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## stephen-mcginn (Sep 26, 2010)

the silicone soil is interesting...ill probably end up attempting it on my background im currently working on....I will treat it like i would with "mud" for drywall(cant think of actual name)...ill just poor silicone in a metal container and mix peat/coco fiber and spackle it over the background...sounds easy yet messy enough....oogoo for those not willing to google is:_It turns out that corn starch is highly absorbent and when sitting around in an open box it will absorb moisture from the air. It is an extremely fine powder that diffuses evenly in mixtures. By adding the right amount of corn starch, the sticky silicone is somewhat stiffened and very quickly starts to set up from the inside out. While it still sets up faster on the surface than in the middle, the whole thing will set up in five minutes to 2 hours no matter what the thickness. The actual curing time depends on the temperature, the humidity, the amount of corn starch added, and the speed at which it was mixed._

_So that's it. Oogoo is corn starch and clear silicone caulk mixed together and then molded by hand or by forms to create just about anything you can imagine that needs to be adhesive initially and solid yet flexible when cured._

_(found off of http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Your-Own-Sugru-Substitute/)_


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

doesn't it sound really interesting??? Have been too busy the past few days, but this sounds promising...and non toxic to darts...liked the extra info...


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## Followgravity (Dec 31, 2012)

Judy S said:


> doesn't it sound really interesting??? Have been too busy the past few days, but this sounds promising...and non toxic to darts...liked the extra info...


This is really interesting I am definitely planning on experimenting with this in the next day or two


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## Followgravity (Dec 31, 2012)

So first attempt at making some oogoo, more experiments to come... Tried a few different small batches and it seems pretty cool. Not the easiest substance to work with but I think if you play with the mix you could mold it however you want. I tried to eyeball a 50/50 mix and it was workable by hand in about ten minutes.














(Sorry about the phone pics)


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## Raptor22 (Nov 23, 2012)

Thanks for posting your experiences. Would be interested in anything else you try.


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## Nat (Feb 11, 2014)

I've been using it for a few years - wish I'd seen this thread when it was posted - not specifically for vivariums, but mobile phones etc. I don't have a good understanding of chemistry, but after an experience of using a spoon made of cornstarch for 3.5 years until it started biodegrading, I thought pure talc may be better for vivs, so I asked every pharmacy until I found one that had it w/o fragrance and crap. What do others think of 100% talc? Or baking soda?

Definately for attaching coco husk to foam backgrounds, my experience is Oogoo cures too fast! I'm keeping it in mind for other viv projects. Like when I've just finished a whole paludarium, which was leak-free, and now there is a small leak, but I _really_ don't want to take everything apart again. Silicone, by itself, won't adhere to silicone, but oogoo should adhere to it.


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## Nat (Feb 11, 2014)

Ok, I applied the Oogoo w/ pure talc instead of cornstarch repair. Fingers crossed.


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## Wusserton (Feb 21, 2014)

Interesting not sure it would be strong enough and if mixed in such small quantities would take just as long for a large build as cure times for silicone on its own, worth a shot though!


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## Nat (Feb 11, 2014)

Wusserton, whose idea for application of it do you refer to? For herp people needing to appy just a thin layer, it is pointless, and even harmful. Otherwise, using it foundationally, it is good stuff. Strong enough it is, as long as it is mixed thoroughly(Oogoo mixer on the cheap (avoid messy hands ) : Extract the Oogoo). That is my experience. Just in case, better to err on the side of caution, and use too little cornstarch/talc/sodium bicarbonate mixed with the silicone. For most of our uses in the hobby(besides the member above w/ the nice toadstools) we probably won't need to actually make perfect shapes like with clay or playdough, and whatever amount of absorbtion powder is used will still make it dry more quickly and uniformly than plain silicone.

I am interested in trying the silicone/dirt trick soon. With this there is less need for structural strenght or watertightness, I think.


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## Nat (Feb 11, 2014)

Say, do you have a wire going from the glowing toadstool to make it light up? I saw glow in the dark mushrooms at one terrarium fair, but I'm nervous about having fungeous growing/glowing w/ my animals. Here a cheap way of getting phosphorescent (glow in the dark) or fluorescent (glow in UV) pigments for mixing with DIY silicone compounds are discussed: Homemade silicones and casting/repair compounds - Creators Corner - Ex Isle Forums


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## Nat (Feb 11, 2014)

And another use I thought of: How do you keep on those long black plastic strips which often go along the edge of the paludarium to protect it? They don't stick very well to pure silicone, esp. when you are cleaning out the inside of an old viv. What I'm about to do is lighly sand the inside of the plastic strips, and use silicone mixed with talc for better adhision.

Found this, whatever is available in your own country is often cheaper. In the states they call it Crazy Plastic, if I remember correctly, good for goth fangs:

Plastimake | Plastic you can shape with your hands


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## Wusserton (Feb 21, 2014)

I was thinking more in line with with dendro dave, for like small huts maybe some really cool vines, cave type stuff or maybe even replace film canisters with something that looks more natural, I usually use various silicone coated pods like monkey nuts but still use film canisters too. Its really interesting and I bookmarked that site because eventually I think I'm going to toy with this idea lol


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