help removing silicone off of acrylic???

[northerndarkness]

i picked up this "50gal glass" which turned out to be a 35gal acrylic tank for 50$, hard to complain cuz it looks real nice but its held together with thick beads of silicone which i found strange dunno if i should be concerned of that, but my main concern is as you see in the picture the previous owner used this tank to house goldfish and frogs and used aquarium silicone to adhere platforms to it... i realy want to clean this up and use it as a nice puffer tank. is it possible to remove the silicone easily or am i looking at scratchin it up and having to sand and buff?? thanks for all the help in advance..

note the blinds, thats what you get with 4 kittens.... =\ oh well haha

 

[CHOMPERS]

The best answer would have been to walk away from the deal. Since you are past that, consider this:

Anytime you have to take a razor to acrylic, you are going to have a bad day. FIRST cut the bulk of it off without contacting the acrylic. THEN do the fine detail work. This way you don't have to put as much pressure against the acrylic.

NEVER EVER use a razor blade with sharp edges against acrylic. Look for the utility blades with round edges. If you can not find them DO NOT do the job. Just keep looking. The sharp edged blades are guaranteed to dig in when you least expect it.

Hope this helps

 

[fishmaven]

is it possible to remove the silicone easily

You might try a credit card or driver's license.

 

[CHOMPERS]

Oooooo.....I like that The simple ideas are often the best ones. Keep em coming.

 

[northerndarkness]

thanks i wll try the credit card idea see where that gets me! thanks hopefully i get some more insight to this. and 50$ for the tank and stand isnt that bad realy just a big headache i spose

 

[northerndarkness]

some progress, no scratches yet and 95% of the silicone i want off is done just a residue left. and the tank holds water which uis nice to know, having water in the tank also seems to help prevent me from scratching the tank. Also any clue what size bulb i could run on this tiny ballast i found under the tank? still looks fine just unused for some reason??