Scratch on Glass

[bullshark]

Hi,

Anyone know how to fix a small scratch on the inside of a glass tank? One of the rocks in my cichlid tank hit the glass while cleaning and left a scratch.

Thanks for the help.

 

[mvigor]

Empty the tank and polish the scratch out with some glass polish? I don't know where to buy the polish but it's basically wet sanding and should turn out very well if you have somewhere else to keep your fish for a while.

 

[bullshark]

Great idea - I will look into that. Really upsetting as the tank (75 gal) is only a few months old.

Thanks again

 

[Kasakato]

You cant, safely. Unless you can find some aquarium safe polish you are out of luck.

 

[viboy]

It depends on the size of the tank. If it is a small tank then you are probably out of luck. If it is a larger tank you may be able to polish it out with some jeweller's rouge (sp?). You can pick it up at your local glass shop. You will need a drill and some kind of buffer to apply the rouge to. It comes as a very fine powder. Wet the area and then apply a small amount of the powder. Use the drill to buff the scratch out. The glass will heat up almost immediately and you will have to keep misting it with water to keep it cool. Keep applying a small amount of rouge until the scratch is removed.

It will slightly distort the glass as it basically melts the first layers of the glass. If it is thin glass then make sure and support the other side of the glass as you will need to apply a fair amount of pressure.

The other thing to note is that this will only work on scratches that are barely detectable to the touch. Deep scratches can be reduced but they will not be completely removed.

I am not sure of the chemical makeup of the rouge but it smells like clay and I do not think that it will be harmful to a tank. Just make sure you thoroughly rinse out the tank.

 

[mvigor]

He can't tear down his tank, polish the scratch and then rinse the hell out of it until it's clean again before putting it back together? Why not?