What do YOU do with old, hazy or scratched up tanks ?

Solga · Apr 6, 2022

Like many others, I have a few aquariums that I just do not use. Whether they were given to me, or acquired as part of a package deal, or I have used them and they have gotten scratched over time, etc. On all of these tanks, the seals are still good and they still hold water fine, but on about half of them the view is ... less than desirable.

While getting my hair cut recently, I was talking with my barber about my salt water addiction

and he mentioned that he had a couple aquariums that he wanted to get rid of. Lets just say that I got an AMAZING deal, but I had to take all of the aquariums and equipment that he had.

Among those is an acrylic tank that is 60x18x21 (in inches) and has a stand and canopy with it. Needless to say, the viewing panes are kinda scratched up and it has the typical calcium buildup around the top couple inches of the tank. This tank still holds water fine, but it is not quite up to the standards of what I want as a display tank, and I have my doubts if I could sell it. I am considering to use it as a holding tank for live rock, or even making a remote sump out of it later on down the road.

All of this got me to thinking, what do all of you do with used, scratched or otherwise retired tanks ?

Biglew11 · Apr 6, 2022

On acrylic tanks you can use a kit like this to remove scratches and hazing.

Acrylic/Plastic Restoral Kit : TAP Plastics

Check out this great deal on our Acrylic/Plastic Restoral Kit! Stay within budget with our great selection of products.

www.tapplastics.com

Glass is nearly impossible to remove scratches but you may try something with cerium oxide. This kit from Eastwood may work.

Eastwood Glass Polishing Kit for Deep Scratches

Avoid costly windshield replacementby removing even deep scratches

www.eastwood.com

I have done a small pach on an acrylic tank, and it turned out great. Never any glass so can say anything about it.

Solga · Apr 6, 2022

Thank you for the information.
I can see maybe trying to polish up the whole acrylic tank, but for the smaller tanks I don't really think its cost/time worthy.
I may use one of the only 10 gallon tanks for an ATO tank too.

Jekyl · Apr 6, 2022

ATO reservoir, QT, frag tank, hospital tank.

Solga · Apr 6, 2022

Jekyl said:
ATO reservoir, QT, frag tank, hospital tank.

I had considered a hospital/QT tank, and even cleaned a couple smaller ones and set them aside for that purpose.
I honestly never thought about a frag tank tho... Maybe when the coral I have start growing out, I will start up a frag tank for sharing/trading !

AcanSkywalker · Apr 15, 2022

Solga said:
Like many others, I have a few aquariums that I just do not use. Whether they were given to me, or acquired as part of a package deal, or I have used them and they have gotten scratched over time, etc. On all of these tanks, the seals are still good and they still hold water fine, but on about half of them the view is ... less than desirable.

While getting my hair cut recently, I was talking with my barber about my salt water addiction and he mentioned that he had a couple aquariums that he wanted to get rid of. Lets just say that I got an AMAZING deal, but I had to take all of the aquariums and equipment that he had.

Among those is an acrylic tank that is 60x18x21 (in inches) and has a stand and canopy with it. Needless to say, the viewing panes are kinda scratched up and it has the typical calcium buildup around the top couple inches of the tank. This tank still holds water fine, but it is not quite up to the standards of what I want as a display tank, and I have my doubts if I could sell it. I am considering to use it as a holding tank for live rock, or even making a remote sump out of it later on down the road.

All of this got me to thinking, what do all of you do with used, scratched or otherwise retired tanks ?

NOVUS 3 Step scratch removing polish will make any acrylic tank look like new!