Revisiting scratch removal for acrylic tanks

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Nickeleye

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Apr 13, 2004
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I've found a couple threads here on this topic, but I did not see a whole lot of feedback regarding how the end results turned out for the folks who were looking to remove the scuffs and scratches.

I too will be making an attempt at removing the scratches in the tank I'm buying so I am curiuos to hear the experience of others. The scratches on the tank are not deep by any means. You actually have to look to see them, BUT they do add a somewhat cloudy appearance to the acrylic. Before I begin actually filling the tank and adding sand, etc. for the first time I'd like to take a crack at removing the scratches.

I was considering using the Rainbow LifeGard Aquarium Scratch Removal Kit. A fellow member of these forums suggested that this in itself may not be quite enough and also went for a 2pc polishing kit in addition to the aforementioned kit.

I'm curious if anyone can share any experiences they've had with the Rainbow Lifeguard kit or anything else. I'd like to order something so I can try to get to buffing the scratches out later in the coming week.

Thanks for any advice!
 
Originally posted by Nickeleye
A fellow member of these forums suggested that this in itself may not be quite enough and also went for a 2pc polishing kit in addition to the aforementioned kit.
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That was probably me. I don't think the Rainbow kit is good for final polishing and I don't think the TruVu kit was any good at tackling the scratches. But together, they did a very nice job. My 55g came out looking new when I was done, but it took a LOT of time to get it looking good.

Of course, you probably already read that in my other post ;)
 
Yeah, I did. At the same time how bad were the original scratches? I think that's a big factor in how much effort needs to be put into taking them out again.
 
The scratches in my tank sound a lot like what you describe - no really deep scratches...more like a lot of tiny scratches that made the tank look cloudy. Most of them couldn't even be felt by running my finger nail over them.

The Rainbow kit is time consuming to use. Wet sand - change sand paper - sand some more - change paper again, etc. The TruVu kit didn't take as long since it uses liquid instead of sandpaper.
 
But you said you used the TruVu kit after the Rainbow kit... When you say "time consuming"... in what kind of terms do you mean... a couple hours.... several hours... days?
 
Here's what I'm trying to do. I'm picking up my tank on Wednesday and I think I'm going to order the Rainbow scratch removal kit and hopefully have it either Wednesday or Thursday, which should give me a couple days to work before I go to pick up my sand on Friday.

I'm pretty much willing to spend some hours on this. You wouldn't happen to have the instructions for the Rainbow kit still would you? I'm curious as to the method they recommend.
 
I don't have my kit at the moment - I loaned it to a friend a few weeks ago so he could remove the scratches from his motorcycle windshield :)

Basically though, you start with a course wet sandpaper (800 grit?), rub in one direction, stop and rub in the other direction, and then move on through the finer grain papers (up to 12,000 grit?). The last step is using their liquid polishing compound...unless you choose to buy another (better) kit for final polishing.

This is definitely not something you want to rush through. If you want to remove the scratches, don't plan on putting the sand in on Friday...at least not this Friday. Take your sweet time with the scratch removal and it'll pay off in the end.
 
Yeah, I wasn't thinking of necessarily putting sand in on this Friday. Maybe late in the weekend if at all during the weekend... more likely sometime next week, but all that will be determined once I get working on the tank. Like I said, I'm picking up the tank tomorrow and likely will be getting the scratch kit tomorrow along with a bunch of other equipment and supplies. I'll have some time to work on this.

I was also going to ask if you remember where you got that TruVu polish stuff. I can't seem to find it.
 
Originally posted by Nickeleye
I was also going to ask if you remember where you got that TruVu polish stuff. I can't seem to find it.
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I got lucky and found it at my LFS. I haven't seen another kit anywhere since then though. They have it listed on their web site - may want to call them at 510-487-1133 and ask for a dealer list for your area. Hope that helps.
 
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