Scratches in acrylic tank

[WuTanMang]

For whatever reason someone took a key and scratched into my acrylic aquarium. The acrylic is 1/2" and is 8X3. I have purchased scratch remover kits and have done some small areas but can't imagine fixing all the damage. Does anyone know a better way to cover a large area?

Thanks for any help

 

[framerguy]

Is it on the inside or outside? Outside will take elbow grease, lots of wet/dry sandpaper, Novus polish, and lots of time. Start with 600 grit W/D paper from the hardware store or auto supply store and advance to finer grit as you proceed. Get Novus polish and a buffer attachment for the drill (or a car buffer) to do the final buffing.

Inside will be more difficult. To get a scratch out on the inside you will need a magnetic algae cleaner to make the job much easier. Put the sand paper on the cleaner and apply elbow grease and lots of it. It is going to cloud the dickens out of your water! For either type of scratch it is not going to be easy, but it is possible at least.

I am so sorry someone did that to you, are they still breathing?

 

[nikkipigtails]

That sucks!! I'd beat 'em down!!

I just spent the majority of my day Sunday buffing out our acrylic aquarium inside and out with an acrylic buffing kit from Everclear. It did an awesome job on the finer scratches (they have a separate one for deep scratches) and it attaches to a power drill. It took about 20 minutes per side of each side. It's a little expensive so I can't imagine getting the whole kit for one scratch. But it might be worth it if you plan on keeping that person around and they plan on adding more scratches to your aquarium.