If your still looking on how to remove that brown old paper from the bottom. I use wd-40 let it sit overnight. And then use a blade to remove it. I did this on a 300 gallon.
Cleaning Adhesive Paper Off Acrylic
- Thread starter JK47
- Start date
Thank you for the reply. It was so bad on the bottom of the tank that it took a couple of days of scraping and ultimately lots of elbow grease. Not fun but it's done
I have used a "goo gone" adhesive remover on plastic before with very good results. But I've not tried on acrylic. Probably too late in your case but something to consider if you find yourself in this unfortunate situation ;-). Then again, it's cleaning up a tank...so that's considered fortunate, really.
You have to be really careful with acrylic. Solvents such as alcohol and acetone can craze the acrylic. I called an acrylic manufacturer who sold me this product.
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPcA2yQN7QcHpmJaXvGhuVJHR5cPNQ3n6GcHXx3
It is a petroleum distillate.
I called my tank manufacturer who recommended Goo gone. I used hot water with Dawn soap to soak the paper, then Goo Gone with foam sponge to remove the dried on glue. Unfortunately, I used too much elbow grease removing the paper and managed to get a haze on my viewing panel. Will now have to buff the front panel.
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPcA2yQN7QcHpmJaXvGhuVJHR5cPNQ3n6GcHXx3
It is a petroleum distillate.
I called my tank manufacturer who recommended Goo gone. I used hot water with Dawn soap to soak the paper, then Goo Gone with foam sponge to remove the dried on glue. Unfortunately, I used too much elbow grease removing the paper and managed to get a haze on my viewing panel. Will now have to buff the front panel.
I use rubbing alcohol to remove stickers (hot glue or adhesive) off of tons of articles from books to Tupperware. It works and hasn't damaged anything in the process yet.
Having said that, I haven't used it on acrylic. Acetone appears to be a more aggressive solvent than alcohol and I'd likely steer clear of using it unless other solvents or methods had failed. Alcohol would be down the list as well since some people have suggested it can cause glazing as well.
I'd try elbow grease, hot water and soap a lot before I tried chemicals on something I wanted a picture perfect clarity on.
Also, once a method is chosen, test it on the bottom or back of the tank first (where an aggressive method can be hidden from view.)
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I found what the issue was. My tank had been stored outside by the previous owner. The sun baked this stuff on so nothing I tried worked including goo gone, WD-40 etc.... It came down to me literally scraping on the tank for a weekend with hand tools and then paint.
Before and after scraping and using nail polish remover for cleanup. That sucked...........
Check out the pile of scrapings at the bottom of the tank..
Before and after scraping and using nail polish remover for cleanup. That sucked...........
Check out the pile of scrapings at the bottom of the tank..
Well have have three more tanks to go so I will have another shot at it here soon. This was a couple of months ago. Thanks for the compliment!
