Scratches!

[Truebluereefs]

How do I remove scratches in my acrylic aquarium that is full of fish and corals.

 

[Crabs McJones]

How do I remove scratches in my acrylic aquarium that is full of fish and corals.

Are scratches on the inside or outside of the aquarium?

 

[Truebluereefs]

Inside most likely due to raze blades being used on the inside to revive hard algae

 

[Crabs McJones]

Inside most likely due to raze blades being used on the inside to revive hard algae

Acrylic tanks are easier to scratch than glass, but luckily they're easier to repair. Unfortunately this requires draining and emptying the tank. There's nothing that I'm aware of that you can do with water and livestock in the tank. You basically use sanding and a chemical to buff and polish the acrylic. Maybe someone else will chime in with more info

 

[Truebluereefs]

Aww I guess I’ll just have to buy a new aquarium an go bigger!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Aww I guess I’ll just have to buy a new aquarium an go bigger!

What size is your tank now?

 

[Truebluereefs]

70 gallon with a 40 gallon sump

 

[Jamie7907]

You can sand and polish the tank full of water with fish in it. Start with a course grit aover just the scratches and work your way out using increasingly finer grits and to and area 3-4x the original size. Final grit should be either 3,000 or 5,000 grit, I usually start with 600 or so unless the scratches are really deep. You can do a better job with the tank dry but the method I outlined is the same with the exception of using an orbital polisher instead of any sandpaper above 2,000 grit.

 

[Truebluereefs]

Will it harm the fish?

 

[Instigate]

You can sand and polish the tank full of water with fish in it. Start with a course grit aover just the scratches and work your way out using increasingly finer grits and to and area 3-4x the original size. Final grit should be either 3,000 or 5,000 grit, I usually start with 600 or so unless the scratches are really deep. You can do a better job with the tank dry but the method I outlined is the same with the exception of using an orbital polisher instead of any sandpaper above 2,000 grit.

What about the polish?

 

[Jamie7907]

No it won’t harm the fish.

 

[Jamie7907]

What about the polish?

3,000 grit is so fine that you won’t see any of the scratches from it with water in it, it’s actually finer than some polishing compounds. 5,000 grit is even finer.

 

[Instigate]

3,000 grit is so fine that you won’t see any of the scratches from it with water in it, it’s actually finer than some polishing compounds. 5,000 grit is even finer.

Good to know. I assumed it would be cloudy unless you used polish.

 

[Truebluereefs]

That’s good I think I’ll have to try it out.

 

[TangingOut]

I've done this before with a tank full of fish and corals. You actually have to go up to 12,000 grit if you want it to look like new.

Couple key points that would've made my tank come out even better. First, start with a low enough grit to remove the largest/deepest scratches. Second, with each step up in grit, sand in the perpendicular direction. No circular motions.

Member Slief has a pretty detailed thread on the other forum. He made a YouTube video talking about it too. Edit, I found the videos and attached them.

 

[Servillius]

Lifeguard makes a scratch removal kit a keep on hand for Judy these occasions. I’ve also part emptied a tank, used an orbiting sander with wet sanding pads to remove a major scratch and refilled before anything noticed.

It’s always a pain in the butt so don’t scratch the tank

Good news is glass scratches too. It may happen more on acrylic but I can remove it while on a glass tank the tank was shot.