Polish Scratches Out of Acrylic Aquarium, LA Fishguys Tech Talk Episode 149, part 2

[@casperhito]

Awesome series gents.

[@rossellis6484]

Good stuff ready for the next ones👍

[@litoloco4fish]

thanks guys awesome video as always helped me a lot....very specific and informative

[@reefdruid4049]

think this will be a great seires for us tech geeks in the hobby. can't wait for the next one

[@gino.from.chicago]

I’m assuming the answer is no since your corals and fish all look good but by doing this the particles from sanding the inside doesn’t affect anyone? Also - it doesn’t affect the thickness over time? How did you get those scratches..is there a technique/tool to do everyday cleaning to minimize heavy cleaning which would more prone to scratching? I’m debating glass or 1/2” acrylic upgrade. Thanks!

[@untappedgenius558]

Thank you SO much for taking the time to do this video ... immensely useful for someone like me who's gone through two 135 gallon acrylic tanks, the first being replaced after I added oh about 500 scratches while cleaning the algae off the front panel without realizing it ... until I did! And now? Couple days ago I had a few friends with their kids over ... and while I was chatting w/ the mom, her little boy decided to 'play' with my magnetic cleaner, caught a piece of gravel and within 30 seconds added 50+ DEEP scratches to my precious tank!! LOL ... so I'm doing my best to have a positive attitude and have so far removed all the scratches but am struggling a bit w/ getting it all polished. QUESTION: how did you deal with the acrylic tank "bowing out" that the weight of the water creates? My sanding block is tending to only smooth things on the edges of the sander since it's like sanding a round bowl with a hard edged square sander ... if that makes sense! :-) I ordered a Mighty Magnet kit that will hopefully help. Did you put some type of softening cushion or foam between the sand paper and the attachment?

[@slief]

In the case of this tank, there was no bowing or deflection in the viewing panes. That said, the sand paper was bonded to the floss like scrubbing pads included with most magnetic cleaners. It’s the white stuff that looks like scotch brite pads. Those pads will help a bit with the deflection but not sure how much.

[@thehotkid123]

Great video

[@yayitsdar]

Thanks for the great info! I got some super glue splotches on the back of mine so I'm going to try this sanding method to see if I can get it off!

[@darrennew4499]

well done..nice tank

[@denneboomguy]

Thanks for the helpfull vid!

[@StanTheObserver-lo8rx]

I found that as you drain the tank down way low...you can use toothpaste on the inside to get rid of swirl marks from the sandpaper. Just wipe it off ( non toxic of course,unlike outside polishers) and then fill the tank. Yeah,I swirled..my mistake. But,the toothpaste did a great job and smelled up the room really good..ha.

[@mikeystokes9403]

Good work keep it up

[@kiayodo]

excelent video. what kind of coral is the big green with clow fish?

[@anthonysmalawipredators8794]

you 2 have the greatest heads of hair on the internet

[@lafishguy]

+Anthony Parente you mean one head of hair and one pony tail *lol*

[@fisheon24]

I have a 60 gallon that has little scratches everywhere with a few bigger ones mixed in too could I do an entire panel at once? Or is that too much

[@lafishguy]

If you have the energy I would work on all the scratches at one time.

[@TyrantScorn]

Love the new Tech Talk, keep them coming ! One question in regards to removing scratches. Won't you thin out your acrylic panels when you polish it ? I know its fractions of the thickness but you are removing layers. I don't think you can do this too many times with thinner aquariums, or am I wrong about that?

[@slief]

+Apistogramma Dwarf Cichlids That is a very good question. The amount being removed is going to be relative to the depth of the scratches. Generally the deeper scratches are near the bottom of the tank where the sand is. This is one reason why you work a narrow area with the first step and work your way out each progressive step. You aren't imacting the thickness of the seams since your not sanding those areas. As such, the small amount of material being removed will have very little if any impact on the tanks structure and certainly wouldn't cause any deflection in the panels.. Also keep in mind that we are removing such a thin layer from the surface that it's almost immeasurable. We are talking thousandths of an inch vs mm's. Also keep in mind that there are some scratches that you just not going to get out because they are too deep. Of course not everybody has those kinds of scratches but since each tanks condition will vary, not every tank will come out like new because you may have to remove too much material to remove certain scratches.

[@TyrantScorn]

+slief Thank you for answering my question.

[@mrzswalker]

Wish I could do this with glass aquariums!

[@pmrossetti1]

So how many steps/grades did you use?

[@slief]

+Peter Rossetti That was covered in the first part of part 1. It was around 12 or 14 different grades of paper I think.

[@slief]

+Peter Rossetti I'm pretty certain it was 12 steps.. Hello, my name is scott and and I'm a reefaholic.

[@slief]

+Peter Rossetti, Check out the Do It Yourself section on Reef Central. I just started a thread there with these videos and I also included pictures of each step including the info on each grit used and photos of the hazing improvements from each step. It was also covered in my build thread there in the large tank section.

[@magwarblood]

Tunze care magnet is what you need to use with that tank now

[@slief]

+reef roid Unfortunately, there isn't a Tunze care magnet that can handle my 1.5" thick acrylic. Otherwise, I would have bought one. They work great from everything I've heard.

[@xpectz]

So I was told by a "professional" on craigslist that he recommends doing an entire panel vs. small areas of scratches here and there because the end result will look wavy and ugly. Is this true?

[@airjaff]

I'm setting up a screen at my work and there is an sd card in the screen with pre loaded content. There is an advert for "lickety stick" , is that you doing the voice over? It sounds just like you!

[@pmrossetti1]

When's the next video? :)

[@StanTheObserver-lo8rx]

If its freshwater? You can drain up to 80% of the water to sand the panel..just dose with plenty of dechlor and slime protector - be liberal -and water of the right temperature when you refill.

[@SantaMonicaFiltration]

I now feel so... polished :)

[@AGUILAR3]

Is this for the faint at heart?

[@StanTheObserver-lo8rx]

No..stick to very fine paper like 3000 grit and while it might take longer period of sanding..it will work. Removes scratches,not adds to them.

[@aquaReefInterior]

What is this ?

[@abc-coleaks-info]

Sweet deal!

[@airjaff]

I'm setting up a screen at my work and there is an sd card in the screen with pre loaded content. There is an advert for "lickety stick" , is that you doing the voice over? It sounds just like you!