# buffing out acrylic scratches?



## dwarf_puffer (Apr 25, 2010)

recently my little cousin came to my house and was using one of those magnetic wall cleaners; unfortunately i wasnt home and she squished a snail under it and then continued to scrub the tank leaving minor scratches all across the front. these scratches are not deep and you cant notice them until you look up close but it bothers me none the less. i was just curious if there is anyway to buff these scratches out and if so how? is there any spray you can use thats aquarium safe?


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

are the scratches on the outside surface or the inside?


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## anessa (Apr 26, 2010)

It sounds like they are on the inside if a snail caused them. We buffed our acrylic 180 gallon aquarium with Novus plastic polish that we ordered from ebay and we used a car buffer. It takes a lot of work but it's worth it if you get a fairly scratched up aquarium for a great deal like we did. If the scratches are small, I'd just live with it because draining the tank, working on it, washing the polish, resetting it up... it's going to be a long process.


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## abel (Apr 21, 2010)

Industrial plastics and paints carries the Novus plastic polish. I picked up some from the Richmond store last week. If you don't have to big of an area to polish ask them for some sample packs to try.

Langley


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## Discus (Apr 23, 2010)

I will keep this in mind that you can buff sctractes out


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## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

Approximately how much is that polish? Good thing to know if we ever need it in future!


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## Ron99 (Apr 22, 2010)

You will have to drain the tank to use the Novus. Try finding some micromesh cloths. They were originally developed to polish aircraft windows. You can wet sand with them in the tanks. The microscopic bits of acrylic dust should just be filtered out and not harm your livestock unless you are sanding a ton or polishing the entire face etc.


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## TCR (Jul 13, 2010)

anessa said:


> It sounds like they are on the inside if a snail caused them. We buffed our acrylic 180 gallon aquarium with Novus plastic polish that we ordered from ebay and we used a car buffer. It takes a lot of work but it's worth it if you get a fairly scratched up aquarium for a great deal like we did. If the scratches are small, I'd just live with it because draining the tank, working on it, washing the polish, resetting it up... it's going to be a long process.


I work at western powersports in Langley... we sell novus


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