acryllic tank, paint removal

[kdrun76]

I bought a used acrylic tank and the back is painted a lovely shade of blue.

Is removing the paint an option?

I fear that any method of scraping will scratch the snots out of it, heck for all I know the back is already scratched under the paint.

How about a solvent?

My initial "scratch at it with a finger nail and see what happens" gives me a window that looks hazed over or etched. Is it likely that the paint has caused the acrylic to become glazed?

I was really hoping to put this tank where it could be viewed from both sides.

 

[L~C~G]

Acrylic can be polished with a bit of elbow grease so even if the paint has etched the surface of the acrylic you should still be able to clean it up.

What size is the tank?

How easily did it come off with your "My initial "scratch at it with a finger nail and see what happens" effort?

 

[kdrun76]

180 gallons, 5' x 3' x 2'

It did not come off easy at all. I was hoping I would get an edge and peel off a big chunk, but that didn't happen, all I did was scratch in a little hole to look through.

 

[Clay]

Be very careful with any solvents. Quite often, they end up causing crazing or very fine microfractures, and that's the kind of stuff that will keep you up at night.

TBH, your best bet is probably scraping carefully and polishing out any scratches.