Scratch removal cerium oxide

[Mr.Weathers]

So just got a cerium oxide scratch removal kit and practiced on a little old 20gal for about 2hrs and ended up way worse than I started lol..I do construction for a living and have even done a lot of glass work but being tempered it’s just all new to me. I ended up with a cloudy scratchy area that I was doing that literally only had a few little straight scratches. It now looks like I took a metal bristle brush and swirled it in circles which is pretty much what I felt like I did but with the oxide. I tried going through the pads and ended with the fluffy ones but still didn’t touch it...any advice? Did I start with too coarse of paper? Maybe too long? I’ll post a few pics of what I got.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I've built a number of tanks, but I've never tried to remove a scratch from glass.

I'm just bumping this in hopes of helping you get an answer.

I assume tempered glass is able to be polished just like ordinary glass?

 

[DCR]

I tried the cerium oxide on a 180 that had been used for catfish or reptiles and found that it is only effective at removing hazy type of light scratches (like from sandpaper). If you can clearly see a scratch line, it is probably not going to remove it (at least in any reasonable amount of time and effort). No way it is worth doing on a small tank like that. My attempt did not make the situation worse. I only used the felt pads and cerium oxide and I never used any of the sandpaper that they provide in the kit. Ultimately I just replaced the front pane of glass.

I suspect the sandpaper made the haziness. You may be able to remove that with the felt pads and the cerium oxide, but you have to work it for hours, not minutes.

 

[mfinn]

I put some scratches in a new tank I built a few years back.
I bought a kit and I spent 5-6 hours and was only able to remove some hazy in a small area.
Did nothing for the scratches I could feel with my finger nail.

 

[Silver14SS]

My guess is the sandpaper did it, I thought only a buffing pad was used to apply the cerium oxide? Very good decision practicing first!

 

[hmmmmm]

I tried this for over 8 hours on a junk aquarium, never got the results I was hoping for. Every scratch that you can feel with your nail? Forget about it. Smaller scratches can be minimised but it takes hours to get acceptable results. If you value your time, buy a new panel and have it glued in. Or upgrade the whole tank ;Smuggrin