Another dumb move by me!

[pledosophy]

So yesterday in cleaning I seemed to have scratched the bageezers out of my new tank. O.K there is like 4 or 5 scratches, but to a new tank that constitutes the bageezers to me. I'm pretty sure I did it with a Kent Pro Scraper, guarenteed not to scratch acrylic, based on where the scratches are. I guess I need to learn how to buff them out.

 

Questions:

 

Do I need to drain the tank?

 

Is it something I can screw up to the point of needing a new tank? ( if it can be screwed up you can count on me to do it)

 

Thanks.

 

DOH!

[acrylics]

I'm assuming the tank is acrylic, if so - no need to drain the tank. Get a Micro-Mesh kit www.micro-surface.com kit # NC-78-1 should run ~$40. Completely safe to use in a fully stocked tank though will take some elbow grease on your part.

There are a coupla other kits out there, most notably one made by 3M, however I have no experience with it so can't comment on it's effectiveness and can't recommend it for the same reason. I do have plenty of experience with the Micro-Mesh kits and they are quite good.

 

To prep for the use of Micro-Mesh you first have to get rid of the scratch by blending the surrounding material down to the deepest part of the scratch. In general Micro-Mesh will not remove enough material to do this on a bad scratch so coarser grades of wet/dry sandpaper should be used. It is important to use sandpaper that is *just coarse enough* to blend the scratch and not go too far. Going to far will not destroy your tank but will make the remedy that much more difficult and tedious.

In practice; get your kit, just using the smallest area of 1200grit Micro-Mesh (like wrapped around your finger), lightly rub the scratch to see if it will blend. If not, you'll have to try 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper, if this won't do it - try 800 grit, if this won't do it - try 600 and so on until the scratch is blended. This *may* produce a haze in the affected area, if so - DON'T PANIC. Once you have the scratch blended, start back up the chain by using the next finer grade so if 600 grit blended the scratch, use 800, to sand out the haze left by the 600, you will have to sand a slightly larger area to fully cover the previous grade. Then repeat all the way up through the Micro-Mesh kit which will be 12000 grit. At the end of this, there may be a slight deformation of the area when viewed from an extremely acute angle but that's kinda to be expected - you did afterall remove an amount of material.

 

HTH,

James

[pledosophy]

James you're the man. Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.

 

I think I will get a piece of scrap acrylic and "practice" on that first.

 

Thanks Again. Very thorough advice, I think I can do this.

[Guest Mbeef61]

let us know how it goes...was thinking the same thing

[WAVES]

Kevin one thing I have found that James touched on,,, you have to keep increasing the size of the sanding area as you get finer and finer. Because you have to "cover" the area you previously sanded. Because of this I would be careful to keep each round of grits as small as possible, otherwise by the time you get to 800 your 1" scratch will require a 10" sanding area (a bit exagerated, but you get my point).

[pledosophy]

Thanks Joel.

 

You still sell that sratch removal kit at your store right? I'll see you Wednesday (surprise surprise)