Cut silicone with razor!

[MstgKillr]

Unfortunately, one of my friends that had a few to many drinks, decided to clean my glass for me. My friend used my hammerhead cleaner with the razor attachment and when sliding the magnet from the side to the front glass, cut the silicone in several places. Its not leaking but it looks bad.

Could I just trim down the excess silicone.

Any suggestions?

[luv951]

Having a similar problem. A bit of my silicone has peeled back. Does not affect the corner, but worries me. Can I just use new silicone over the old stuff?

[illal]

Originally posted by luv951
Can I just use new silicone over the old stuff?

if the look of it makes u feel better.... but siliconed doesnt bond to silicone meaning if your affraid it will leak this wont help any

[widmer]

Also, this is something that obviously has to be done with the tank bone dry because silicone is entirely water soluble before cured.

[sikpupy]

I always wondered, if you cleaned the inner corners free of silicone, but did not cut into the glass to glass bond, then resiliconed the corner to get it water tight, how much strength would one lose to the original strength that was there?

[coop47]

I'm 99% certain that new silicone bonds to (clean) already cured silicone just fine, with near or the same strength it has when bonded to glass.

You just have to be certain to clean the surfaces to be bonded very thouroughly, no matter which they are, because dust or mineral deposits, etc. will severely weaken the bond.

[coop47]

Originally posted by sikpupy
I always wondered, if you cleaned the inner corners free of silicone, but did not cut into the glass to glass bond, then resiliconed the corner to get it water tight, how much strength would one lose to the original strength that was there?

I don't know how one would actually quantify the strength lost, if any, in doing this, but I have done it successfully on tanks ranging from 10 to 90 gal with no issues at all in the short or long term. (long term being ~5 years on the 90 gallon, which is a friend's main display)

[Amoore311]

I'm 99% certain that new silicone bonds to (clean) already cured silicone just fine, with near or the same strength it has when bonded to glass.

Nope, doesn't work. I've tried it many times for different applications and it just doesn't work. It will bond, but the bond is extremely weak.... almost like when you try and use silicone on Acrylic but a bit weaker even. I'm pretty sure you're fine regardless, the silicone between the pains of glass is what really holds the seal. I'd still keep an eye on it though, never can be to careful.