Scatched My 5 Gallon Tank

[Rhykiru]

I made a stupid mistake.

My 5 gallon acrylic corner marineland had a very bad case of gsa so i took it outside for a scrub. I have those sponges used for washing dishes that are yellow on one side and green (course) on another. I tried using the yellow but the algae was stuck on really good so i used the green.

Now, my tank's front bow part is all messed up ><. And gsa is returning again...

Does anyone know how i can fix this?

I would really like to fix it up and make it a planted tank for my lone resident in that tank, a betta, so that the plants may battle the algae.

Thanks for any help!

 

[littlest]

as part of my old job I had to get scratches out of acrylic, but its far from easy. It involved a lot of sanding with very fine sandpaper and then a lot of buffing on a professional buffing machine, so it's not a viable option for a tank.

are the scratches on one side or all sides of the tank? If it's just one or two sides you could maybe change the position of the tank so those sides don't show (maybe use backgrounds on one or two sides).

are the scratches all over the sides, or in patches? If in patches you could cleverly position plants to make it less noticeable.

 

[Rhykiru]

well, the tank is a bow shaped tank. And only the bow is scratched although there is a little tiny scratch on the left side panel.

The dimensions are a bit wierd though, it goes like this.

The back of the tank is parallel to the front (if you connected the ends of where the bend starts together). Thats 7 inches long
Then it turns on both sides into a 45 degrees angle, and that piece is 5.5 inches long.
Then it turns again so that the 3rd panel is at a right angle to the back piece. its 2.5 inches long
After that, the bow starts and the tank is 14 inches across but if you measure the bow, its about 17 inches.

heres a pic.

Do you think it would look wierd if i turned it around.
I would have to take the filter off and the light. Pretty much make it rimless and then put a filter on the back somehow because i dont know if it will fit on the bow.
Then would have to reposition the light.

Its a thought though. Time to brainstorm for diy light ideas XD

 

[smmetz]

If its a corner tank with a bow front ,there is only 1 option for which side faces out I don't know how to get it out, but since it sounds like they are not deep, maybe what the other guys said can be done, if you can get ahold of a buffer. Perhaps there is a drill attatchment that could buff it up well enough after sanding?

 

[littlest]

In terms of shape, I don't think it would look that weird having it the other way around. There are tanks that are very similar but have a straight panel where your bow is, which are meant to be viewed from the other way around, so it would probably just look like that.

How does your filter attach at the moment? Why do you need to reposition the light? (sorry, just trying to understnad how things are attached)

re: what smmetz said: the type of buffer machine I mentioned wouldn't work because you couldn't buff the inside of a tank with it (where I assume the scratches are). A buffer attachment to a drill/dremel may work, but I don't know effective that would be.

 

[Rhykiru]

the filter is part of the hood.

The tank has a black trim on the top which holds the filter inplace. The intake can only be in the back since that is where the bracket is that holds the filter.

The light would have to be repositioned because if i turn it around, it would look very ugly since the wires are supposed to go out that end and be hidden. Also, if i did turn it around, opening the lid for the tank would be backwards xD

Best bet is to just take the whole thing off and try to diy the light to a piece of wood.

 

[Gazoo]

I'm afraid I don't have any recommendations on removing your scratches, but I can recommend a scrubbing pad. I've been using Aquarium Pharmaceutical and Penn Plax algae acrylic pads for 17 years and they haven't caused any scratches on my acrylic tanks. I have found they are even tough enough to remove green spot algae when a little elbow grease is used.

 

[Rhykiru]

is it like a stick that has a white course thing on the end.

I have something like that but its for glass.

I think i should have bought a white one...

 

[Gazoo]

Here's a couple images of the two API scrubbers I use.

 

[tomchurchman]

While I'm not an expert in aquariums, I take a keen interest in machine polishing cars and would hope that I can offer some advice. As you have found out your tank scratches easily so I would rule out any aggressive polishing with a drill / dremel unless you are very expirienced with using them for that purpose. Because they only rotate at very high RPM the centre of the pad gets extremely hot and I would imagine this could seriously damage your tank. A safer machine polishing option would be a random orbit polisher, they both rotate and oscillate so not concentrating on one area, I've got one for use on cars but they are around £150+.
First off I'd try a product called PlastX by Meguiars, Its sold in many auto factors (halfords may also sell it) It should be applied by hand and I'd also splash out another £3 for an applicator sponge / pad. Basically dampen the sponge, apply a pea sized amount of PlastX and work it over say a 15 x 15cm square. Keep working until the PlastX has disappeared and wipe off with a very soft cloth (microfibre) The PlastX works by being bigger particles to start with, with more 'bite', as you work it the particles get smaller and smaller therefore making the finish better and better. Make sure you work it long enough though if you wipe off before the particles have broken down the finish will probably look worse.
Worth checking out this website: http/www.detailingworld.co.uk/
Try asking the same questions on there, I'm sure you will get some helpful advice, there maybe someone nearby willing to try machine polishing for you.
Tom

 

[Gill]

what about that fine wire wool used for smoothing the edges of glass tanks, that might work