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View Full Version : getting scratches out of glass


drywall_guy87
06/11/2011, 10:24 PM
the tank is a perfecto 90 with corner flow. its not to bad but is there a way to polish it to remove most of the scratches? my cuzin got a deal on it and filled it up turned the lights on and saw them and he is very anal. so he went and bought a new tank. he is willing to give it to me for free. i have my 20g up and running so im going to take my time and build it the way i want.

dublo8
06/12/2011, 12:11 AM
I have worked in the auto glass industry for a couple years and I have seen people use a polishing compound on glass to get scratches out. It's illegal to use on a car as it's a safety item but on a reef tank it should work pretty good. You will have to get a high quality polish and use various grades to get it back to looking good instead of looking like somebody took sandpaper to it. HTH and GL

Stumped
06/12/2011, 01:17 AM
the tank is a perfecto 90 with corner flow. its not to bad but is there a way to polish it to remove most of the scratches? my cuzin got a deal on it and filled it up turned the lights on and saw them and he is very anal. so he went and bought a new tank. he is willing to give it to me for free. i have my 20g up and running so im going to take my time and build it the way i want.

You should re-post or have this moved to the DIY section. Also do a quick search there. Generally speaking it is possible to remove scratches from glass, but IMO it isn't worth the hassle at all based on the amount of time it would take.

Realistically you can only remove very shallow scratches (ones you can't feel when you run your fingernail over, but can see). If they are deeper and you try and remove them you will likely end up with distortion in that area (which will likely be more of a distraction than the scratch ever was). If you have a lot of scratches I definitely wouldn't bother trying at all.

Ultimately if they aren't bothersome I wouldn't worry about them at all. You're going to end up slightly scratching a glass tank over time, regardless of how careful you are.

Lynnmw1208
06/12/2011, 08:57 AM
Where are the scratches at? I has scratches on mine but it was towards the bottom where the substrate was so I just left them. you don't notice them that much unless you are on your knees with your face pressed up against the tank peering in at something lol. Depends on how OCD you are I guess :lol:

drywall_guy87
06/12/2011, 05:48 PM
i dont mind the work the scracthes arent deep there in the front left side i think.

i dont know how to get my post moved

disc1
06/12/2011, 07:58 PM
Click the little triangle under your avatar and ask the mod to move it or just go in DIY and start a new thread (probably easiest)

drywall_guy87
06/12/2011, 09:47 PM
O ok thanks

streak
06/12/2011, 10:22 PM
Look into a product called cerium oxide and some type of power tool and lots of elbow grease. Just thought I would throught that in there I used it on an old old 70g tank to buff it out a bit but it only had light scratchs.