Taking Scratches out of an Acrylic Tank

[secondsun]

So I wanted to try and take some scratches out of a used acrylic tank I just bought. Have any of you done this before? Any suggestions or suggested reading? Also, does anyone have the materials/equipment that may be needed for this? Any suggestions or help is appreciated! Thanks !!

 

[iCon]

It's been done several times before, good luck

FWIW - I started out buffing a tank by hand and quickly figured out an electrical buffer was necessary.Was a small tank but the buffer helped keep everything even.

How big is the tank?

 

[melly mel]

How big is the tank and how bad/deep are the scratches? If fine scratches it can be buffed out with Novus that is sold at Tap plastics. Used it on a couple aquariums in the past. I forget which one i used but it goes from novus 1-3. As con mentioned, a buffer will make it so much easier.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Easiest way I found without buying a bunch of new equipment

Novus 3 & 2

Mothers powerball

Cordless drill

 

[sfboarders]

I've used this before and it works good. It just takes awhile to remove the scratches.

 

[secondsun]

Thanks for the quick responses! My tank is a 100 gallon corner made by truvu. I think some of the scratches are pretty deep (I can feel them with m finger nail). Does that mean I should go the sandpaper route first and then move on to buffing? I'd like to make it look all brand spanking new before filliing it with water .

 

[sfsuphysics]

You could just buff them all out possibly, however there are so many levels of "I can feel it with my finger nail" that it's hard to say for certain.

 

[secondsun]

So maybe I'll start with buffing and see if that works first before trying my hand at the sanding. Do you do anything special to clean the tank out after using the Novus so the livestock doesn't get contaminated?

 

[sfsuphysics]

You should be fine, if you're really worded rinse off the surface... or hell fill it with tap water and do you "wet test" then just discard that water.

 

[secondsun]

Good idea. Thanks Mike! Tap is closed today for some reason :Sp but I'll get that Novus tomorrow after work and start at it.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yeah, just test on a small out of the water area that won't be noticed, the back is always good if it's a clear back, or a side that might be against a wall.

Also it will take longer than you probably think. There are a few tutorials on the internet, but basically when you use a power buffer (or drill), get it started, then keep it slightly moist so it doesn't dry out.

 

[secondsun]

So used the novus 2 with electrical buffer and scratches became surprisingly faint! Go figure. There's still a couple that are noticeable. Tried the novus 3 on them without much progress. So I'm trying to figure out whether it's worth it to go the sandpaper route for those two stubborn lil guys or just get to it and fill the tank. But thanks for all the help!

 

[sfsuphysics]

That's odd, because Novus 3 is for deeper scratches and Novus 2 is for fine scratches.

I'd simply work at it a little more, if your scratches seemed to disappear a bit, then keep going.