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Edmonton newbie
03-16-2010, 01:28 AM
has anyone had any luck with acrylic tanks? can you polish the scratches out or are they there for life?
bvlester
03-16-2010, 01:34 AM
you can get acrylic scratch kits and yes you can give them a quick polish but be very careful it tends to want to grab allot so go slow and soft. I would go and get a scratch kit there is 2 creams that should come with it 1 for buffing the scratches and the other is for finishing and cleaning. then take some water and rinse it off. should be as good as new.

A buffer works wonder I have seen tanks that have been buffed it is amazing but as I said before you have to be extra careful.

Bill
Edmonton newbie
03-16-2010, 02:14 AM
thats good to hear bill i have a 300 gal acrylic sitting in the garage collecting dust and i really dont want it to be just a sump
bvlester
03-16-2010, 04:21 AM
when buffing take your time and get the kit it helps and takes out the small scratches nicely then buff the others out. Wit will take some time to do the whole tank but you will be pleased and when cleaning you might as well put in new bulkheads while you are at it to make sure the rubber seal is good. Better to do it while it is dry and not full of water.

Bill
untamed
03-16-2010, 10:46 PM
Yes....and I'll add that you can continue to polish out scratches on the inside even after the tank is running by using a variety of super-duper fine sandpapers.
The Grizz
03-17-2010, 01:00 AM
WOW this is good to know, I have always been told that you can't polish acrylic. Bad info previously received.
Edmonton newbie
03-17-2010, 01:14 AM
good to know i keep alot of sandpaper around for some of my woodwork i think the finest i have is 12000 grit is that fine enough?
bvlester
03-17-2010, 05:59 AM
Paul's aquatic in Surrey has a DT tank that he had to polish awhile back, he was trying a new polisher and it grabbed the acrylic took out some of the acrylic but to this day you would not know it you can not see where it happened on the tank I know as he showed me. Use a drumel tool and go slow it works.

You can also polish scratches out of glass tanks so you would not know using a drumel tool and joulers rouge.

Bill