Spirits and silicone

Hi

So im busy with a 60l low tech and was resealing all the corners . So made a mess and used spirits and a cloth to remove some of the silicone . Now im a bit scared the spirits would weaken the silicone between the glass. Any one some advice ?

 

Not so much as spirits evaporate to fast to have an effect on silicone. But turps does a good job on silicone only after a while.

 

You don't want anything with an oily base near your silicone seams, in-fact you should degrease the surfaces entirely. Acetone is great for this. You can also use dish washing liquid, - also works amazingly to stop silicone sticking to your fingers, and has no negative effect when it needs to bond to a surface.

Once the silicone is on the glass, and except if far away from a join, I would not clean it up with any chemical, except perhaps careful work with dish washing liquid. Safer to let it set, and then clean with a blade.

The real art is to work cleanly from the onset and use tape to mask where required.

 

I did use tape afterwards, but didn't think about what that spirits might do to the sealer in between the glass as I didn't strip the entire tank. I used a razerblade to remover the sealer in all the corners. So you guys think it would not have weekend that sealer? The smell is gone already but will clean the tank good as a lot of work is still needed for the internal filter (diy) .

 

If you used the spirits just to prep the surface, ie applied to the remaining silicone, that should be fine. It will be beneficial, as you thereby degreased the surfaces for the fresh silicone to bond to. As this is a small tank you will be fine.

With a large tank I would disassemble entirely, clean up all old silicone, and re-silicone the entire thing.

 

Good to know. Yes I only took a clean cloth, made it wet with spirits and wiped it over the glass and corners a few times.