Is the price right on a 300 gallon acrylic?

[EricandBrandi]

I have found a 300 gallon acrylic aquarium for $700. Included is the wood stand, sump, reef octupus skimmer and a reef dart pump that needs rebuilt(bad bearings). My questions are number one is that a fair price? Second they said it needs to be buffed, so is that expensive? Would buffing it be something I could do myself?

 

[sfsuphysics]

Depending upon how deep the scratches are, it could be a lot of work or a little work. You could do everything by hand with varying grits of sand paper, but that will leave you with one arm larger than the other that dwarfs the condition that many men get when they hit puberty! If they're deep scratches you'll need to sand them out first, minor scratches can easily be buffed out with Novus plus a buffer or hell one of those balls that fits on a drill.

As to the price.. eh, depends upon the condition of what you're getting. If everything was new it would be a fantastic deal. If the acrylic is old, brittle with seams that are on the verge of failure... then not so good.

 

[worm5406]

+1 and +1 on sfsuphysics comments.

Buffing will be a breeze and a little bit of elbow grease.

A sander from the store will work perfectly. You should save the money from having someone else do it.

 

[slief]

The price seems fair for the tank assuming it's in decent shape. As for removing scratches, that is one of the nice things about acrylic. As others noted, you can treat it like car paint. Sand with varying grades of wet sand paper until the scratches are gone. Then use a high speed buffer to polish the acrylic with acrylic polishing compound.

I've done this on my display twice in the 18 years I've owned it. The last time was several years back but every time, it comes out looking like new.

This is the last time I had it polished out several years ago..

 

[sfsuphysics]

I've done this on my display twice in the 18 years I've owned it. The last time was several years back but every time, it comes out looking like new.

Murphy's law states though that once you get it to that pristine crystal clear look, you will put a tiny scratch in it that your eye will always focus to within a week

 

[EricandBrandi]

Thanks everyone for the comments they were a great help. I wouldn't mind putting in a little work to restore it but I fear it is older than I want to spend that kind of money on. I just dont know that I could get it as clear as the pics of you inside yours.

 

[Pearson]

Thanks everyone for the comments they were a great help. I wouldn't mind putting in a little work to restore it but I fear it is older than I want to spend that kind of money on. I just dont know that I could get it as clear as the pics of you inside yours.

With enough work, you can get it that clear. It's probably going to take quite a bit of effort so factor that into a price and see if it's really worth it to you.

 

[WSPepsilon]

I would think the skimmer and pump combo alone would be about worth it. Not sure how much it will cost to rebuild the pump or what version skimmer it is. Either way it should about cover it.