Acrylic tank owners!!!

[mopar9012]

I just bought a 25 gallon acrylic tank, Im having to downgrade due to some unfortunate finacial events.
Its a pretty cool tank, it has a built in overflow on the left and all sides are black except the front. the dims are pretty cool too. its actually 36inches long.
anyways this is my first acrylic tank. What should I NOT do with acrylic as far as cleaning.
can i use the mag float or will it scratch? what about the razor cleaners?
should I buff it? if so what wouild you recommend?
remember i dont want some high end buffer If i get one. remember i had to downgrade because of money issues....

 

[florida joe]

easiest way to avoid scratches is to keep your algae scraper or magnet away from sand or substrate

 

[cranberry]

I use plastic scrapers, scraps of acrylic and "for acrylic" scrub pads.
No buffer needed.

 

[dive girl]

My friend's youngest son just cleaned his new acrylic tank. He got the pad near the sand and got a grain inbetween the pad and the acrylic. He now has some terrible scratches in it.

 

[mopar9012]

which is why im going with barebottom!
haha
most of the small fine scratches you cant see when filled up right?

 

[kylev]

Originally Posted by Dive Girl
http:///forum/post/3220912
My friend's youngest son just cleaned his new acrylic tank. He got the pad near the sand and got a grain inbetween the pad and the acrylic. He now has some terrible scratches in it.

Same thing happened to me a few years back with a 60g freshwater tank, a little rock was stuck on the magnet pad and left a nasty scratch right across the front of my tank horrible day

 

[cranberry]

You can buff out the scratches made to acrylic even when the tank is filled.

 

[rlablan]

Take care when placing/moving your Live Rock.
Dropping a pieces while adding it to the tank will leave some severe damage.
Also, I would not be too bold with your aquascaping. If you want to "stack" or create cliffs, make sure that the rock is REALLY interlocked and I would suggest using some sort of putty/epoxy to get it to the stay so there are no rock slides. This was one issue I had with my tank, more so that the magfloats or scapers.
And just because it says acrylic safe doesn't mean that it won't scratch. Always be careful.

 

[jackri]

I would get an acrylic scraper. They have the magnet scrapers for acrylic. Go slow when you use it and yes I would also go bare bottom. My frag tank I built is like that and it is very easy to scratch but use plastic scrapers and be cautious with the magnet and you should be ok.

 

[dive girl]

Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3221011
You can buff out the scratches made to acrylic even when the tank is filled.
Really? Do you know the name of the product that you can do this with? I'll pass on the information. Thanks!!

 

[saxman]

i've buffed both filled and empty tanx. for ease of getting everything together in one package, the Lifegard Scratch Removal kit is a good deal (comes in a blue plastic case).
you can also get the "crystal bond" polishing cloth from places like Rockler's woodworking stores.
with a filled tank, you'll want to stop at 12,000 grit (you obviously can't use the slurry in a filled tank).
hints:
do small sections at a time.
polish at a 90* angle to the scratch till it's gone. then go to the next finer grit size, and polish 90* to the scratches from the previous grit until they're gone. repeat for each finer grit.
the reason for this is you will always know when your "old" scratches are buffed out before moving on.
HTH

 

[florida joe]

the reason for this is you will always know when your "old" scratches are buffed out before moving on. [/QUOTES saxman saxman saxman you better sleep with one eye open

 

[florida joe]

you will always know when your "old" scratches are buffed out before moving on.
saxman saxman saxman you better sleep with one eye open

 

[mjm889]

make sure you get a mag float made for acrylic and they make scrapers for acrylic tanks.