scratched up acrylic tank

tamara323

~*Animal Loving Aquarius Aquarist*~
Feb 2, 2002
31
0
0
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Canada
Well, today when my dad came home from work, he brought with him an approx. 10 gallon tank (hexagonal shape). That someone had used an SOS pad to clean the algae off :rolleyes: Needles to say it's all scratched up. Once acrylic is scratched there's not much hope for it right?

*sigh*

I guess it'll end up being a fry outgrow tank, or maybe live food, we'll see.
 
If the tank is empty then you can buy cleaning kits at where ever they sell plexi. It will thin out the acrylic depending on how deep the scratches are. Hopefully this won't weaken it too much but as this is a 10 gallon the pressure shouldn't be too great.
 
Short of getting ahold of the stuff they use to repair windshields (a UV curing adhesive which I think you can also get at some glass specialty shops) there isn't much. If you do get that stuff it works great. It is really runny and will fill a crack or scratch then you bombard it with UV light. The more UV light the faster it cures. Sunlight will work but slower than a true high output UV source.

I wouldn't use it to repair more than a scratch though.
 
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
 
Cool, I didn't know you could remove the scratches from glass. You must buy specific kits, Glass or Acrylic. One does not work for the other. Glass is harder subtance than Acrylic! Hopefully it won't be too tough. Tell me how it works out.
 
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