scratches on my acrylic 40gal

[Bray]

Hi All
I just tore apart my 40 gal freshwater after a terrible crash over last weekend- my "tanksitter" thought they "looked hungry"...anyhow, all I have left are a school of candystriped gobies and a couple dozen ghost shrimp- so I am debating whether to retry the freshwater again or go salt with this one..I have a 60 gal SW ffishonly with live rock and would like to someday try a reef..is this my chance? what would you do in my situation?

My question for now is- with the tank empty and all the livestock at my LFS- I need to remove some hard green algae that has been building on my tank- there are also quite a few fine scratches from the "acrylic-safe" algae magnet I bought....Is there a method to A) remove the algae while minimizing damage and B) a way to buff these scratches? can you DIY or is it better to find someone to do it for you?

thanks for any info or opinions you might have

-Bray

[Hebdizzle]

The only way to remove scratches from acrylic is using a scratch removal kit. These don't work on deep scratches. Kits have a selection of sand papers that you use to sand down around the scratch, using a higher grit every time. CAUTION : do not use your own sandpaper, these are special that go to a very high grit.

If you have the money and experience, why not try the reef or SW? Use a razor blade to get the algae off, available at a hardware store.

Aaron

[clayt101]

I too am in the process of removing hard algae from a broken down acrylic. I am using an old large toothbrush with pretty good successs. It takes elbow greese. I know that there is still rements of toothpaste in the brush, however, I figure it will be fine once I rince it out a few times.

[Hebdizzle]

yeah, on second thought I don't know if the razor blade is safe on acrylic or not. I thought it was, but you better double check with someone else to see.

[btowntaz]

Here is a reply I made on a different post with the same problem.
AND I would NOT attempt to use a razor. It could easily cut deeper than you can remove with the kit.


I had the same problem with my 165 gallon tank. There is hope!
You will need to get a scratch removal kit. I had to order one on the internet. It's quite a bit of work, but i was also doing a 165 gallon tank. All the kit constists of is 8-10 pieces ofdifferent grit sandpaper, a sanding block, and a polish. READ the directions. There is a certain way you have to sand it. And don't try to go to home depot and buy this sandpaper to save a few bucks. It is some VERY fine stuff. But when it was all finished, I have a scratch free tank. BUT if your scratches are deep, there isn't a lot of hope. So good luck. Here is the link to the one I bought. Scratch Removal kit (http://aquariumpros.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=ATsk)