Removing Scratches on Starfire glass

Ivandrago · Jun 22, 2016

Hello i just recently acquired and ELOS 160XL for a very good price but the tank has scratches in it that need to be removed as well as swirl marks. Can anyone suggest how to remove them, I had a professional come and give me a quote which wasnt bad but i am wondering if its possible to do it yourself or maybe someone here does it. Please let me know.

Shep · Jun 22, 2016

[HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]

Diesel · Jun 22, 2016

I heard of it that's possible to buff it out but the results are disappointing as you always see where they polished.
Talked to Planet Aquariums a few years back and even them don't recommended.
I'll upgrade my tank next year as i have a few scratches in the front and I won't even bother selling this tank as I'll use it in my shop to cure future LR. This time I will go with low iron glass, never more starphire, it's just to soft.

Ivandrago · Jun 22, 2016

Actually the Elos tanks are low iron glass but o thought that's what starphire is

kschweer · Jun 22, 2016

Star fire and low iron glass are pretty much the same with "Starfire" being a brand name. I'm sure there are differences in formulations and the amount of iron in specific brands making some "softer" than others. That said polishing is possible but as diesel said you will always be able to tell not to mention it's a lot of work.

jsker · Jun 22, 2016

Diesel said:
I heard of it that's possible to buff it out but the results are disappointing as you always see where they polished.
Talked to Planet Aquariums a few years back and even them don't recommended.
I'll upgrade my tank next year as i have a few scratches in the front and I won't even bother selling this tank as I'll use it in my shop to cure future LR. This time I will go with low iron glass, never more starphire, it's just to soft.

I would go with the pro, only if the pro is insured and will cover the price of a new tank if the pro mess up.

Off topic @Diesel That is why I am going with sapphire glass on my next build.

bobman · Jun 22, 2016

I buffed a nano cube that was heavily scratched before. Not starphire glass so I would assume it is a lot easier to do on low iron glass but I would never attempt it again. Only reason I did it before was all I seen on the net was it cant be done so I had to do it but the labor involved is just insane and you can always tell where you buffed unless of course you buffed entire tank. With that said I used ruff sand paper on a sanding disk that hooked to my drill and just kept get finer and finer sand paper. I had to do the entire tank which was a nano and it took almost a month sanding away with all my free time.

Russ265 · Jun 23, 2016

as someone who has polished scratches out myself, it is pretty labor intensive. The results are worth it if you know what you are doing.

for deep scratches you will have to take a gritty sand paper and sand around the entire scratch as well as feather it out. itll look like scratchy haze as you do this.
the reason you are feathering it is to avoid a fish-eye lensing effect when you are done.

keep upping the grit level until it looks reasonably smooth.

then the final part and most laborous.

cerium oxide and a buffer wheel. you are gonna be buffing for a long long time, but it will get every microabrasion out that the sand paper did.

the only risk here is the fish-eye lensing from not feathering the depth enough.

bobman · Jun 23, 2016

Russ is spot n that's the way I did it. Also be sure to monitor the temp of the glass while buffing it can a will get very hot. Water helps to keep it cool but I found a little heat actually helps sand out the scratch but I would not push it.

Ivandrago · Jun 24, 2016

I actually did some research and the product is called Glassrenu 3 stage process and they give step by step instructions. i think i will be trying that.