Scraped silicone seal by accident

[kerryf88]

So today whilst cleaning the back of my custom built 260g tank, I noticed that along the back bottom of the tank, the algae were actually growing inside the inner silicone seal on the glass. I must have accidentally scraped the side off of the silicone while I was scraping the algae off, causing the edge of the inner seal to lift off that’s why algae is growing in there. Should I be worried about potential future leakage of the tank due to this?
Definitely going to stop scraping along the edges from now on, but I’ve probably been doing this for over a year or two before I noticed it last night… the tank is about 3-4 years old.

[Jaren45]

Most tanks except for some higher end rimless tanks (look at cade or waterbox) have a secondary bead of silicone on the inside of the tank. That's what it looks like you've scraped in to, and I wouldn't worry too much. As long as the silicone directly in the seam isn't damaged you'll be fine for 10+ years, working service on a large array of tanks I've seen some truly sketchy silicone seams.

[kerryf88]

4 hours ago, Jaren45 said:

Most tanks except for some higher end rimless tanks (look at cade or waterbox) have a secondary bead of silicone on the inside of the tank. That's what it looks like you've scraped in to, and I wouldn't worry too much. As long as the silicone directly in the seam isn't damaged you'll be fine for 10+ years, working service on a large array of tanks I've seen some truly sketchy silicone seams.

By “seam”, do you mean the part where the two panels of the glasses (bottom and side) joins? So the part where I labeled “glass panel thickness” in my photo? 

[Jaren45]

16 minutes ago, kerryf88 said:

By “seam”, do you mean the part where the two panels of the glasses (bottom and side) joins? So the part where I labeled “glass panel thickness” in my photo? 

Yeah. It looks like your tank is constructed like normal where the front and side panels touch the stand, instead of the bottom pane being all that touches right? That's the only real structural part to a seam

[kerryf88]

1 hour ago, Jaren45 said:

Yeah. It looks like your tank is constructed like normal where the front and side panels touch the stand, instead of the bottom pane being all that touches right? That's the only real structural part to a seam

Yup that’s right.

 

do you know if there’s any way to get rid of the algae along the inner silicone seal without using a scraper? Normal sponge pad scraper tool won’t do it, and because the tank is so big I can’t reach majority of the tank bottom panel, as well as the back side panel, so I can’t really scrub the algae off with my hand. 

[Jaren45]

Just now, kerryf88 said:

Yup that’s right.

 

do you know if there’s any way to get rid of the algae along the inner silicone seal without using a scraper? Normal sponge pad scraper tool won’t do it, and because the tank is so big I can’t reach majority of the tank bottom panel, as well as the back side panel, so I can’t really scrub the algae off with my hand. 

toothbrush does the trick if you scrub in the seam gently, if it's encrusting algae there's no real good way to get it out without further scraping in that area

[kerryf88]

21 hours ago, Jaren45 said:

toothbrush does the trick if you scrub in the seam gently, if it's encrusting algae there's no real good way to get it out without further scraping in that area

Thanks. I also got a reply from the builder of my tank, they said it looks fine it’s just the silicon above the glass rod I have scrapped, no structural damage. So they have glass rods placed along the edge too which I didn’t know is a thing…