Terrible Advice Tuesdays: Scratched Aquarium Glass Can Never Be Repaired
Terrible Advice Tuesdays (T.A.Tues): Scratches in a glass aquarium can never be repaired.
The rest of the story: Glass that is scratched lightly can be repaired. By “lightly” I mean a scratch that won’t catch your finger nail when you pass your nail over the scratch.
If you’ve got light scratches that annoy you enough to make you want to fix them, you aren’t out of luck. You’ll need to drain your tank (yes…take everything out), get this scratch repair kit, then take your time. Fixing the scratch isn’t easy, but it can be done so don’t think if you’ve got scratches you are 100% out of luck.
For those of you with deep scratches, you’ll either have to deal with it, or use the scratches as a convenient excuse to upgrade your tank!
(Special thanks to Ben from Captive Aquatics Ecosystems for the info on the glass scratch repair kit)
Browse the Store! Questions?
A third option is to hire a professional glass repair company. I had some decent scratches in my starphire glass tank that I thought would be permanent. I was able to locate a company that did onsite glass repair. I had to empty the tank out and they were able to repair it for less than $100.
Some deep scratches can be repaired, but I may out weight the costs of a new tank. I had some in my 55 when setting it up. I remember how dreadful it looked but now that it has coral, rocks and fish I don’t even notice them.
My tank’s glass has a haze that will not clear after scrubing. I tried everything after a good cleaning it seems to clear but affter I fill with water it clouds up again.
Great to hear this works.. I was thinking of trying this same method just wasn’t sure which glass polishing kit to purchase. My tank has several light scratches mostly at the top of the tank. I’ve never been able to feel them with my fingers, so I did try as you suggested and ran my finger nails across them, I couldn’t feel any of them so I think this will work.. I’ll let you know how it turns out Mark after I try it. It may be several weeks or even months before I get to it. Finding a place to transfer my fish, rock, sand etc… won’t be easy. 🙂
Fingernail? I doubt a truck will run over some of the scratches in my tank! Ah well… guess I’ll have to go with plan B 😀
There is a company called Glass Technology where you can buy the stuff to repair glass scratches yourself. They even have a tutorial video.
Can anyone say sump with old scratched up tanks make an ideal sump or refugium
Why spend money for a new aquirium for a sump if you have a old scratched up one and a second thought selling it let em know there are scratches and would make a good sump /refugium and getting some money back for the purchase of a new tank
Regarding the comment that Jason did, I just picked up a 100 gal rimless starphire tank that has several scratches on the front glass and wanted to know how did everything go with the repair company? I have emailed several companies but none have gotten back to me yet.
A California company named GlassRenu sells glass tools that can remove some serious scratches, their tools are in the $100’s of dollars range. You can repair scratches that you can catch a fingernail on. Hope this helps!