# scratch. . what to do?



## jas1313 (Dec 3, 2012)

Getting a tank ready, a used 125. I knew it wasn't perfect but I noticed some big scratches. I tried buffing and nothing. What to do.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Bad news is there really is not a lot you can do to remove scratches from glass, I've tried just about every way ever mentioned with very little luck. The good news is most scratches become much less visible once there's water in the tank.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

That is an ugly scratch. Can you position the tank so that is on the back? Otherwise, it may really be a "fishroom" tank, as opposed to a display tank.


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## jas1313 (Dec 3, 2012)

It is ugly. I was sooooo mad when I started cleaning it up and saw em. Bad part is the back is worse. He had rock leaning up on the back glass and it has more of the little scratches. I don't really remember noticing the front being horrible. (I saw it set up) 
As much as I would love a new one this was free and my wife would NEVER allow for a new or even a better used one. It is more of display but it is in my basement. I guess I will just have to deal with it.


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## Off_register (Feb 5, 2015)

Maybe this video will help you from the DIY King, Joey. Sounds like you already tried to buff it out and that scratch might be too deep but maybe you can try the compound that he suggests, Cerium oxide. He talks about Acrylic and Glass but the glass portion starts at 6:25.


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## flamesfan255 (Aug 26, 2014)

super glue and a razor blade


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## Handyjoe (Jan 11, 2015)

With that deep gouge, you are not going to be able to buff it out with Cerium oxide. Just a thought. You may want to try using wind shield chip repair resin from an auto supply store. This is a resin used to repair chip on you vehicle's wind shield due to it having the same refractive index as glass. Once it filled in that groove and cured, the scratch is invisible. Good luck!


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## jas1313 (Dec 3, 2012)

That is my next step... resin, super glue, fingernail polish. Gotta try something. It just really sucks. But what do u want for free I guess. I spent a lot of time doing the 3d background for this tank and i know that scratch will be jumping out at me everytime i walk by. :x 
Thanks for all the replies.


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## SrsSarcasM (Jan 28, 2016)

You say the back is worse with a lot of little scratches.

Little ones usually become non visible once the tank is full, have you tried filling it with water and seeing which side is actually worse? I think you'll find the big scratch will be worse than all the little ones, and the littles ones might be much easier to buff out.


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## Machismo (Feb 24, 2016)

jas1313 said:


> It is ugly. I was sooooo mad when I started cleaning it up and saw em. Bad part is the back is worse. He had rock leaning up on the back glass and it has more of the little scratches. I don't really remember noticing the front being horrible. (I saw it set up)
> As much as I would love a new one this was free and my wife would NEVER allow for a new or even a better used one. It is more of display but it is in my basement. I guess I will just have to deal with it.


I just bought a used 125 last Sunday. At the time I was more worried about the tank not leaking and the drilled holes for the Bulkheads not having cracks. As soon as I got it Home I started looking, low and behold it has some scratches. I got the drilled tank with dual 1" Dual overflows, a nice stand, 2 Jager 300 watt Heaters, a Mag Drive 9.5 Pump, lots of Bio Balls, air pump and other stuff for $300 This Tank was set up with a lot of Rock as well. I didn't see them when it was full either, of course I wasn't concentrating on Scratches at the time. It had a thin layer of brownish green Algae covering them up too ( The Guy I got it from clearly didnt maintain it very well). I've been stressing it too, my wife said " You didn't see them it will be OK, people will be looking at the fish inside, they wont see then unless they are looking." I haven"t cleaned it up yet but I'm not going to sand, I'm afraid of making it worse. I've decided to polish with my orbital I use to wax the Vehicles with and am looking into Resin as well, here is what I've found. I'm definitely going to order the polish, it has great reviews. https://www.gtglass.com/windshield-repa ... ack-repair

https://www.gtglass.com/glass-scratch-r ... er-remover


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## jas1313 (Dec 3, 2012)

Thanks for input machismo. The back is not pretty with the small scratches. When light hits them they jump out plus I already have the background siliconed in. The resin is my next step. If it doesn't work then.... oh well. I have used 1500 - 4000 grit wet paper, and a series of buffing compounds, fingernail polish, scratch pen, etc etc. If it were a piano it would be ready for a museum. I have made some pretty cool things in my days but this has totally beaten me. Deep scratches in glass = a permanent scratch in glass. So the resin is next and I will do a water check again and see how horribly visible they are. I would hate to junk the tank and background, the bg took awhile to do so I guess I'll live with it.


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## jas1313 (Dec 3, 2012)

Well here's an update: my last effort was the windshield resin. Didn't work perfect. I think the scratches, although looked very deep for fish tank standards, we're not quite deep enough for the resin to work perfectly. (They needed to be deeper - go figure.) It may have helped a tiny bit. I then took some 2000 grit wet paper on an orbital sander and then buffed with some compounds (again). The big ones are still there,however I added water to check everything and I can definitely live with it. If this was in my living room as a show tank it might be a different story. But, I'm happy it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. Thanks for all the imput. The background looks good in there, my diy hidden corner filter works perfect so I'm getting close to putting it in the wall!


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Ya know I have had a few tanks with really bad scratches. My last one a 165 gallon looked like someone cleaned the glass with sand paper. What I found works really well is changing to LED lighting. With the old T5 scrathes stood out like a sore thumb, with LED you can move the light back and even tilt it towards the back and you won't see them in the front for the most part. Never had any luck fixing scratches in glass and I have tried many things.. LED worked the best at hiding them.


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## jas1313 (Dec 3, 2012)

Good point jim. Led will be going on this tank and I'm not doing a big strip so I can position them anyway I want. I have a small scratch on a 55 gal that did become less noticeable when I switched to led. Didn't pay much attention until you just said it.


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## Machismo (Feb 24, 2016)

I'm planning on getting an Current Satellite Plus 48'-60" for my Tank. I'm very glad to hear that LED's will help with hiding the Scratches. From the research I've done its sounds like its just not worth the trouble and effort to tackle scratches, trying to do so may make it worse. I"m just going to clean mine up really good with Bartenders friend, re- seal it and call it good. The scratches I have aren't that bad, Friends and Family wont even notice.


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