Got Scratches in your Acrylic?? This IS how you remove them while your tank is full.

[slief]

Many of us have acrylic tanks and scratches seem to be a common problem. This is even a problem for glass tank owners but unlike glass where scratches are permanent, scratches from acrylic can be removed and they can even be removed with a tank that's full and stocked.

This subject has come up from time to time here and a number of months back, I took on this challenge in my own tank. Some of you may have seen LA Fish Guys episodes on Youtube and if so, you may have seen me and my tank on some episodes. Jim happens to be a good friend of mine and him and I came up with the idea of doing a new series of episodes that cover various aquarium related technologies and how too's. When I took on the challenge of removing the scratches from my display, we decided to film that process and use it for the first video in that series. Since this is a common issue that many of us acrylic tank owners have to deal with, I felt it was appropriate to share it here so others can learn from it and put this process to use.

The process covered in the videos below requires the use of various grades of wet sand paper.. It's explained in detail in the vidoes below. I will note that Jim thought it would be fun or funny to interrupt/distract me while I was talking. Something I found a bit annoying and something that was curtailed later on in the episode and will be curtailed in future episodes as well. I have a hard enough time keeping track of what I'm saying and where I'm going with the video and don't need help screwing up more. :lmao:

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy and can take advantage of this info.

Acrylic Scratch Removal Part 1
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Acrylic Scratch Removal Part 2.
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Here is a recap of each step/grit I went through and what the results of each step looked like.

Here are pictures looking into the tank at the areas that were sanded. You can see the transition from one grit to the next by the hazing and lack of reflection. I started with 400 grit.

Then went to 600

1000

1500

1800

2400

3200

3600

4000

[/QUOTE]

 

[slief]

6000

8000

And lastly 12000 grit. A perfect reflection that's hard to capture with my phone.

 

[slief]

Here are some shots of the tank after this process was complete. The results were spectacular and well worth the effort.

 

[SputnikNYC]

Bravo!!!

 

[FortyFour]

I really don't need another project right now but damn...

 

[Breadman03]

Seeing your tank never gets old.

 

[slief]

Bravo!!!

:beer:

I really don't need another project right now but damn...

It was a project. No doubt about it. Especially on such a large tank but it was well worth the effort. The results were nothing short of shocking. I did it one panel at a time and did each one a couple days apart. It took a couple hours to do the larger 8'x2' panels. Really it wasn't that bad and once I had the process down, the last panels seemed to go pretty quickly. In reality, each grade of sand paper goes quicker and requires much less effort as there is less friction.

Seeing your tank never gets old.

Thank you very much!

 

[Marinus]

Not for the faint of heart you say? I almost puked when you pulled out the 400!

 

[slief]

Not for the faint of heart you say? I almost puked when you pulled out the 400!

LMAO!!! Yea, I'll admit that the first pass with the 400 was scary. Especially after seeing what it did but I also knew I had another 11 steps to go so I was reasonably confident. Prior to busting out the 400, I had already done some small test spots with finer grit and found that it did well but the heavier scratches required much more effort. Then I experimented by starting with 600 and it was an improvement as far as effort required but still the deeper scratches needed more effort than I felt it should. Next was to do a small test with 400 and thats when I wondered if I was actually nuts but after following up with 600 and then 1000, I knew I was onto something. When we shot this video, I had already done my experimenting and had completed an entire 2'x8' panel so I knew what the results were going to be. Jim on the other hand was skeptical and probably figured he was filming me making a fool of myself but I really surprised him as he was quite shocked by the end result. After the panel we shot in this video, I tackled the other 2'x8' panel and the results were breath taking. Especially considering that particular panel was the front panel and happened to be the worst and was much worse than this one.

That said, a couple weeks prior to this, we removed years worth of coraline along the lower and upper edges of the viewing panes. I had been working on them with my Mighty Magnet Algae dozer pads but was tired of the very slow progress. I had my buddy Cande come over as he's kind of an expert on that and he used a metal coraline scraper meant for glass. Talk about scary. I was really nervous about that as I watched in terror. What was shocking is that it was done without causing a single solitary scratch and those metal scrapers removed the coraline like butter.. The trick was to sand the blades with wet 600 grit sand paper every once in a while to insure they weren't developing any burrs and to be very careful in making sure the blades were flat against the acrylic before pushing downward and also finding the right angle so the blade got under the coraline. Those blades peeled the coraline off in sheets as wide as the blade like removing a fruit roll from wax paper. It's about time to repeat that process as this episode was shot about 9 months ago and my coraline is growing insanely fast and has already covered a good inch along the lower viewing panes and in some places even more. I have plenty of blades and different length scrapers so I just need to muster up the energy to do so. At least I know if I scratch anything, I can easily remove the scratches. FWIW, that episode is on page 68 of two back in my build thread.

Click this link to my build thread and scroll down if you want to see how to remove heavy coraline from an acrylic tank.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1783476&page=68

Anyhow, as counter intuitive as some of this may seem, obviously restoring acrylic and even removing coraline on it is much easier than it would seem.

 

[Mrs. Music]

Scott, thanks for posting this. I just recently figured out that you are the guy occassionally on LA FISH GUY. LOL. I am really looking forward to your tech videos. Jim just seems like the nicest guy, and over the last few years he has entertained me with tank stuff thru his videos. So thanks to you guys! I am psychin' myself up to do this to my tank. My tank is 30 inches deep, and very challenging to keep the coraline under control. You can tell right where my reach ends based on the coraline growth! LOL. My hubby recently helped me get the bottom, but it got scratched a wee bit more. Ordering micromesh tonight.

 

[slief]

Scott, thanks for posting this. I just recently figured out that you are the guy occassionally on LA FISH GUY. LOL. I am really looking forward to your tech videos. Jim just seems like the nicest guy, and over the last few years he has entertained me with tank stuff thru his videos. So thanks to you guys! I am psychin' myself up to do this to my tank. My tank is 30 inches deep, and very challenging to keep the coraline under control. You can tell right where my reach ends based on the coraline growth! LOL. My hubby recently helped me get the bottom, but it got scratched a wee bit more. Ordering micromesh tonight.

Glad to share it here. This is a problem that seems to plague all of us acrylic tank owners but fortunately, scratches in acrylic aren't the problem that people make them out to be. First being careful and watching your cleaning pads as you go along is obviously a huge part of the battle but at least with acrylic unlike glass, scratches aren't the end of the world. Once you decide to takle your scratches, please share your results here.
:beer:

 

[pmrossetti]

1.5 inches thick acrylic Those are amazing magnets!!!

 

[slief]

1.5 inches thick acrylic Those are amazing magnets!!!

That's why they are called "Mighty Magnets". They are pretty serious magnet scrubbers and will do some serious damage if you get your fingers caught between them. In fact, it's darn near impossible (for me) to separate them if they get stuck together without the spacer between them. Been there done that. And the ones I use aren't even their strongest ones.

 

[SPotter]

Scott....do you make house calls for scratch repair????? lol. I have the mighty magnet scratch repair kit but have yet to use it because every time I take the all of the pads out, I break out into a complete sweat and say "the scratches arent that bad!". I have been looking around for a cheap used acrylic tank that is loaded with scratches so I can practice on that before attempting to do it on my big tank.

 

[Indymann99]

tagging along.

 

[FortyFour]

I'd like to share my recent experience. I just purchased mighty magnets and the scratch kit and went through the process to remove scratches on the interior or my aquarium. For me it was an investment not only to repair my current tank but to also maintain it. It was in bad shape from my previous magnetic cleaner. I can vouch for the strength and quality of these magnets.

As for the scratch removal. My tank definitely looks WAY better. I spent maybe 2-3 hours working on my 80G. My only regret, and this isn't a knock on the product, is that I didn't purchase a rougher grain sandpaper for my deepest scratches. The kit went down to I think 1200 grain, and I got the additional 1000 grain, but it wasn't enough for the deepest ones.

So what I have now is a tank that looks much much better than it did, while still having some of the deeper scratches. I may eventually find the tougher grains to remove those as well, and just start over. I might as well after coming this far.

Slief, thanks for the videos. They were helpful and the reason I even started the project.

 

[Halo_003]

Maybe not a well informed question, but is there no concern of future issues with the acrylic particles that are removed?

 

[slief]

Maybe not a well informed question, but is there no concern of future issues with the acrylic particles that are removed?

No issues with the particles. They are harmless and if you have a skimmer or filter socks, they will be filtered out anyway.

 

[slief]

Scott....do you make house calls for scratch repair????? lol. I have the mighty magnet scratch repair kit but have yet to use it because every time I take the all of the pads out, I break out into a complete sweat and say "the scratches arent that bad!". I have been looking around for a cheap used acrylic tank that is loaded with scratches so I can practice on that before attempting to do it on my big tank.

You buy, I'll fly! :tumbsup:

I'd like to share my recent experience. I just purchased mighty magnets and the scratch kit and went through the process to remove scratches on the interior or my aquarium. For me it was an investment not only to repair my current tank but to also maintain it. It was in bad shape from my previous magnetic cleaner. I can vouch for the strength and quality of these magnets.

As for the scratch removal. My tank definitely looks WAY better. I spent maybe 2-3 hours working on my 80G. My only regret, and this isn't a knock on the product, is that I didn't purchase a rougher grain sandpaper for my deepest scratches. The kit went down to I think 1200 grain, and I got the additional 1000 grain, but it wasn't enough for the deepest ones.

So what I have now is a tank that looks much much better than it did, while still having some of the deeper scratches. I may eventually find the tougher grains to remove those as well, and just start over. I might as well after coming this far.

Slief, thanks for the videos. They were helpful and the reason I even started the project.

Glad to help. Heavier grit is key for deeper the scratches. As you see above, I went down to 400 grit and just used regular wet sand paper from the store for everything below 1200 grit. The key is to work your way up from there if you need to go that rough. I went from 400 to 600 to 1000 then to 1200 and up from there.. That 400 took care of the really deep scratches but that would be really aggressive for ones that aren't that deep.

 

[Halo_003]

No issues with the particles. They are harmless and if you have a skimmer or filter socks, they will be filtered out anyway.

Nice, thanks for the quick reply. I didn't think about them being large enough to capture mechanically, that's a good point. Great job on these videos!