Acrylic haze/scratch/fuzzy, need some help please.

[polish]

I just got a 110g tank that is Acrylic and well, it is funked up.

Click to see thread with pics

The inside of the aquarium is all hazy, as first I thought it was just the water or that it would clear up but nope. It's all funked up. Now that I have some wood and such in it I can tell it's bad, much worse than I thought. It is like looking through a foggy window. I do not know why it's like this, I am guessing it's because of the device he used to clean it. It was this long brush with a white pad on it, that is not soft. I've researched on what to do to fix scratches but it seems like the inside is just one big scratch. I am going to try and do the sandpaper deal. Do a spot with 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 4000 etc inside and see what that does. From what I have read it should help out some, I hope. Any thoughts or ideas?

 

[Dracor]

Good Luck!

 

[selki]

I just pickd up an acrylic tank as well....Does acrylic LIDS scratch the acrylic tank? Say if you were to bring down the lid and the corner of it hit your tank, would it scratch it?

 

[nitrofish1]

maybe thats why the tank was a cheap pickup? looks like it needs an overhaul

 

[brianp]

Go to TAP Plastic and get a small bottle of acrylic scratch remover and a microfiber cloth. See if this works. If so, get a big bottle and a buffer and go to work on the inside of this tank. Sometimes, acrylic can fog if exposed to certain chemicals. In which case, I don't think it can be repaired.

 

[jcardona1]

Novus 1, 2, 3 + elbow grease =

 

[DaveB]

Do the sandpaper route on any deep scratches first, but if it's just minor ones, you can skip it (if you do need to though, you can get some good paper cheap at an autozone - 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 - way cheaper than the actual kits they sell for tanks) and proceed to the next step, which is the polishing.

I bought an orbital buffer at Home Depot (actually I bought 2, because I couldn't return the 10" one after the box got destroyed) - the 6" handheld is great. That plus some #2 and #3 Novus scratch remover/polish worked wonders on my tank, which had a ton of incredibly deep scratches. I got the Novus polish incredibly cheap at a tanning supply co a mile away and the buffers were $25 each.

I've already gotten some new blurring on the bottom near the sand and on the outside (acrylic is a pain!) but it's nothing the novus #1 won't take care of. I've actually got a spray that came with it that says it will help with that too, but I haven't tried it. The key is to just have plenty of soft clean towels with no debris in them. Buff with wool or clean terry and then wipe it clean with another clean towel. It takes a bit of wiping and I always get worried that it'll just make new scratches. But as long as you've got enough clean ones you should be fine.

I think the buffer is an excellent investment though, makes this all so much easier.