# How to buff Acrylic tank



## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

I have a 120g Acrylic tank got scratched by my son who play around with the algae scraper but caught sand in it so end up scratched my full tank side. What should you use to buff the inside of the tank.


----------



## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Lots of work elbow grease


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

I hear these guys are good at removing scratches: http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/other-websites-31/check-out-our-website-36261/

a reference about them: http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/equi...ank-you-archer-plastics-acrylic-repair-36146/


----------



## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

I also have this problem I have a kit with different levels of sandpaper and a buffing compound but wow that will be alot of work


----------



## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Honestly, if it's a big tank or a show tank, I'd go with Mark at Archer Plastics. It cost us $100 to get a big scratch removed from the 300g, and you can't even see that it was there. I've seen way too many tanks where somebody tried to buff the scratches and made it worse.


----------



## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

thanks guys, i will look into different options and will probly contact Archer Plastic


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

If you're familiar with car polishing and have a Porter Cable RO buffer you should be able to do it with mild abrasives like the Novus stuff and a foam pad.


----------



## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

yeah but i heard Novus can't be use inside the fish tank? All the scratches are inside the tank


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

aQ.LED said:


> yeah but i heard Novus can't be use inside the fish tank? All the scratches are inside the tank


The inside and outside is the same material so I don't see the reason. Is the concern petroleum residue? A bit of dish soap, then a vinegar scrub down will take care of all that. The key is having a powerful buffer and not a Canadian Tire special.


----------



## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

I recently tried to remove scratches from my tank and it went well until I used to much power when I was buffering and it left a few brunt marks. You can over heat the acrylic if you use to much power. I think I did a decent job but It's not a great job.I going to get it done by a pro for my next tank. If you can get it done by a pro I would go that route. It will save you the time and hassle. I used novus inside the tank and the fish are doing fine. I did do a double rinse of the tank first before I put any fish in the tank. First rinse I used a dish soap then I used pp ( potassium permanganate ) in the second cleaning of the tank. I have had fish in the tank for over a week and no problems yet.


----------

