Thickness of sealant

[lauralaura]

I have read everywhere that new sealant does not adhear to old sealant. But does this apply to sealant that has JUST dried. 2 days ago will be 48 hours of drying of my sealant. Used "marineland aquarium sealant" on my 55 gallon. had a small pinhole leak so i stripped all corners with razor, completely clean but without dismantaling the panes. I resealed them and now notice my sealant is not extending as far as the original sealant was.... I did do a bead about the size of a pen or so then pushed in with finger to smooth it out. but I remember the old stuff extending from the corner about 1.5 cm. Now my new sealant job only extends maybe a cm... So should I put a bead on each horizontal edge and extend it slightly? Or leave it?

Everyone comments not to put new on old but seems as though pinhole leaks are often remedied this way? And what if my "old sealant" is a day or two old?

I know I can test it out, but just cannot have 55 gallons fail 2 months down the road in my house

 

[Acer]

Sucks that you did the work already and don't feel comfortable with it. I have no experience in how much silicone or how little you can get away with. If it makes you nervous repeal the whole tank. All it takes is a whole day of scraping old silicone off and cleaning the seam with denatured alcohol and apply a new bead of silicone. This time around though just buy generic g.e type 1 100% silicone. Make sure it doesn't have any any bacterial additives. I.e don't but kitchen and bath silicone.

 

[Acer]

Sucks that you did the work already and don't feel comfortable with it. I have no experience in how much silicone or how little you can get away with. If it makes you nervous repeal the whole tank. All it takes is a whole day of scraping old silicone off and cleaning the seam with denatured alcohol and apply a new bead of silicone. This time around though just buy generic g.e type 1 100% silicone. Make sure it doesn't have any any antibacterial additives. I.e don't but kitchen and bath silicone.[

 

[tonedogz]

Try contacting the maker of the silicone I'm sure they can tell you if it will stick or not

 

[AquaRick]

It won't be a strong bond if you decide to create a new seal on top of the 2day old silicone. Did you have to replace the trim/brace?

 

[BillD]

It will probably work fine since the silicone just applied hasn't built up any dirt on it. However, there is no reason to redo the job just because the bead is a little narrower than the original, if it was put in properly.