take it to a shop.. or DIY

do you have the equipment/supplies to do it yourself? It can be a learning experience, since you have an acrylic tank and you might be doing this once in a while.

there is an incredible amount of work in buffing those scratches out, and gettin good results.
I'd do my own Kidney transplant if i could, but I'd take that tank to a plastic shop..

maybe just get the front fixed?sides?

..idk,but if you do,we are here cherring you on.

Wow, that's a toughy. I'd be inclined to follow the advice already given, and have it done professionally, but at a hundred and fifty bucks...?? I've read a few threads by blokes with small areas to be polished, and they all say that it was a major mission to get good results, but satisfying to know they'd done the work themselves. It'd certainly be a handy skill to aquire.... Why not have a go yourself, and if it all gets too much, you can fall back on having the shop do the work. I'm sure you couldn't make it any worse than it is!

it's not that big of a deal. really all you are doing is reducing the edges of the scratches. once the water gets in the tank many will become invisible.
I buff acrylic/poly windshields on MC's.
often these can be done with the right compounds.

to buff out a few scrqatches is one thing..
this poor tank has more than a few scratches.

In order to acheive favorable results you will have to sand this tank over and over with increasingly finer sand paper, and then finally begin to buff the acrylic to a smooth finish. You cant really cut corners here or you will get imperfections that will appear blurry, or distorted. If the tank is going against a wall I would paint the back, and only polish the sides that you will be looking at.

If you want to try it yourself, then try a small section, and find out how difficult it will be, but IMO do get this job done well, and having not ever done this type of work before, maybe without the right equipment, I think you are looking at at least a week or two worth of labor...
And working on the inside of that tank is just going to make it more difficult.


As a side note, Have you filled it to see how bad it looks as it is?
It may not be as bad as it looks.

For $150 you could buy a new 55gal glass tank which won't scratch as easily as the acrylic does.