After seeing Slapshot's beautiful glass display tank and finding out that this very clear, scratch free tank was actually Acrylic, I decided to buy the scratch kit he uses to give my 240 mess a last chance before I drop a grand or more on a glass tank. I don't have a clue of how to get started, so...
I just received the pentair acrylic scratch remover kit for my 240g. I'm most concerned with the upper 1" and the lower 2" or the 8' long tank. They are scratched and caked with coralline. I'm doing this with the inhabitants in, so I'm wet sanding. Not doing anything to the outside surface.
I'm just looking for the right way to do the job from people that have already done it or have seen it done. I looked on youtube and it was pretty vague and didn't show how to use the magnet to hold the sandpaper.
1. My sandpaper starts with a 1200. Should I go out and buy something coarser to get the coralline off? I had a guy try for 7 hours with plastic scrapers and he barely made a dent.
2. How do you get the sandpaper to stay on the magnavore evenly without coming off or slipping? Can't remember what he told me.
3. Is there a specific technique that works best or should I do the straight back and forth and then opposite straight back and forth for each section of sandpaper?
4. How will I know when I'm done with each grade of sandpaper? What will the acrylic look like after each stage? Should I see scratch lines or will it always be just foggy?
5. Any do's and don'ts that I don't want to overlook? Besides not using a circular motion.
6. If anybody's seen a link of a video showing how to do this, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks for any help,
Tom