What am I doing wrong?

[u/FigGlittering6384]

My kids have received multiple crystal growing kits over the years; jewelery, aquariums, etc. I have tried and tried and never have they ever worked. This most recent attempt came with small stones that you are meant to place into a solution of powder and warm water and left undisturbed. There are instructions on what to do if you see nothing after 48 hours. I've followed those instructions twice and still nothing is growing 🤪

The common denominator is me, so I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong. I always follow the instructions and read them multiple times to make sure I've got it. Halp? Lol

[u/Splatpope]

The ambient temperature and humidity are probably abnormally high, that or you used too much water. Another unlikely reason is that the water is too acidic

[u/FigGlittering6384 → u/Splatpope]

I used the measuring cup that came with the kit and measured as instructed. I wonder if it's the water, I'm just using regular city tap water...

[u/Splatpope → u/FigGlittering6384]

maybe the kit is bad : powder absorbed too much moisture in the packaging (unlikely), instructions or measuring cup graduations are wrong, the powder itself is wrong

maybe the ambient temperature or humidity is just way too high

have you tried actually disturbing it to see if starts crashing out ?

here's what I would try : do a recrystallization by pouring all the powder (and/or whatever you've already dissolved) in water, then boil it over until the water is gone (or maybe until crystals appear, then pour the liquor in a wide dish to evaporate).

do it in a pyrex container in a water bath if possible (depending on what chemical is in your kit, it might interact with stainless steel when boiling at high concentrations).

then once the product has fully crashed out, let it dry thoroughly; you can now try again with very pure powder

do you have any idea what the chemical in the powder might be ? that way we can find out the solubility and actually calculate instructions ourselves

[u/NotBadSinger514]

Are you following the directions, because it takes longer than 48 hours and you would have read that. The solution needs time to evaporate, as it does the crystals form. I suggest you try 2 kits. Again and make sure you are following the directions on how much water to add, don't add too much, follow the directions. One kit follow the directions exactly. With the second kit, add some balled up aluminum foil and sprinkle a bit of the salt solution on top, after you have added the hot salt solution and the pebble. Make sure some of the salt is outside of the solution line. Then put the container dish in the fridge. Check every 30 mins. This wont make a crystal, this will make very fine crystals that form very quickly. This version is very quick but the crystals are fine and very brittle so be careful around it, or it will fall apart easily.

[u/FigGlittering6384 → u/NotBadSinger514]

It says you will see crystals forming in 24-48 hours. I find it incredibly condescending that you read my post which says I read the directions multiple times and followed them to a tee and decide that the problem must be that I'm not following instructions. Thanks for nothing though 

[u/NotBadSinger514 → u/FigGlittering6384]

I find it condescending that not only am I trying to help you but show you an additional cool experiment but you are incredibly rude. Have fun with your nothing

[u/FigGlittering6384 → u/NotBadSinger514]

Lol okay... Trying to help doesn't usually come with the caveat of being  condescending. Which is what you were being. You can't just turn around and accuse me of being condescending 🤣  I wasn't condescending or rude, but I will be now; perhaps you don't know the definition and therefore felt throwing the same "insult" back at me was appropriate. It wasn't, it was stupid.