Polishing scratches on overflow. Am I crazy?

[the professor]

Been a 9 months since I've had a tank, after moving to FL. Bought a beautiful rimless 70G tank (used), the only issue I'm having is with some scratches on the center overflow. Surface scratches in the black acrylic...but they bother me (See my horrible picture below). Didn't see them as they were covered with vermetid snails, coraline, etc.

I really would like to have a bit cleaner minimalist look, so I don't plan to let that growth get out of control. Am I crazy for wanting to buff them out? What I'm thinking for the aquascape won't really block them out.

I have some 1500 and 2000 grit sandpaper and Novus 123. Should I get to buffing? Will this even work on black acrylic? I could also order and install a new overflow, that can't be that hard, right? Or should grab a beer and relax a bit? How do I ensure that I don't scratch it in the future?

Thanks in advance for your opinions/advice!

 

[Dom]

Yeah... that would bother me too. But I don't know that you will be able to polish scratches out of acrylic. Are you willing to live with it if you make it worse by trying to buff out the scratch?

 

[lolgranny]

They have compounds you can buff acrylic, but, yes, you’re crazy. Lol. It’s going to be covered in coraline eventually. Get a beer and relax

 

[Mjrenz]

I know of several products for automotive finishes that you could use to polish it nicely but I don't know that I would trust them for use in the tank

 

[Captain Quint]

@the professor now is the time to do it if you are going to. I completely removed all scratches with the same grit paper and used all 3 Novus products on a 220g Acrylic I had. It worked nicely but took forever.

If you do this, just do not use the same cloth for each of the Novus steps as it will defeat your positive outcome.

 

[redfishbluefish]

The question is, are those pictures with or without water in the tank.

The reason I ask is that I have a Glass-Holes overflow that's 13+ years old that, over the years, was cleaned of coraline using a razor blade scrapper. Never saw any scratches on it.......UNTIL I pulled out all the water to do a tank transfer. Here's what my overflow looks like dry:

When filled with water I see a smooth black piece of acrylic with no scratches.

 

[the professor]

The question is, are those pictures with or without water in the tank.

The reason I ask is that I have a Glass-Holes overflow that's 13+ years old that, over the years, was cleaned of coraline using a razor blade scrapper. Never saw any scratches on it.......UNTIL I pulled out all the water to do a tank transfer. Here's what my overflow looks like dry:

When filled with water I see a smooth black piece of acrylic with no scratches.

No water in the Tank...Good thought. Thanks

I'll fill it up and see before I get to work. I need to water test anyways.

 

[the professor]

@the professor now is the time to do it if you are going to. I completely removed all scratches with the same grit paper and used all 3 Novus products on a 220g Acrylic I had. It worked nicely but took forever.

If you do this, just do not use the same cloth for each of the Novus steps as it will defeat your positive outcome.

If i do go this route...hopefully it won't take more than a few hours as its pretty concentrated...I'm going to see how it looks with water first.

 

[the professor]

They have compounds you can buff acrylic, but, yes, you’re crazy. Lol. It’s going to be covered in coraline eventually. Get a beer and relax

Haha! I'll get a strong one.

 

[Captain Quint]

If i do go this route...hopefully it won't take more than a few hours as its pretty concentrated...I'm going to see how it looks with water first.

It probably won't look bad with water.

You're right, on just an OF would be much faster than the misery I went through. lol

 

[dadnjesse]

Mines covered in coraline and yours will be too, I would leave it alone.

 

[the professor]

I couldn’t get over my obsession, So I decided 10 minutes of elbow grease couldn’t hurt. Let’s just say I’m more than happy with the results. The overflow looks good as new.

I didn’t use sandpaper, only novus 123 and the scratches are so hard to see now. I’m sure if I used sandpaper it would look better. With water on it I can’t see a thing.

Thanks for the advice/encouragement. Should have my tank running this weekend!

 

[Captain Quint]

Great job!

It looks like a new OF and you'll need not to scrutinize and have regrets down the road.