Glass Scratches
Printed From: Utah Reefs
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Forum Name: General Discussion
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URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=84222
Printed Date: May 13 2025 at 9:53am
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Topic: Glass Scratches
Posted By: Reefer5640
Subject: Glass Scratches
Date Posted: March 27 2018 at 9:16pm
I thought I would share my experience with this and hope someone else can benefit from it as I have. I bought a used 120 Gal reef ready tank to start a new build for way cheap last summer. It had some pretty good scratches in it but I figured I could get them out myself and save a bunch of money. Not knowing what I got myself into I found there are a lot of debates on wether you can even get scratches out of glass. I tried a bunch of the DIY/home remedies; baking soda paste, tooth paste, metal compound... and non of them did much at all. So I went online and did more research and found an option that looked promising. I ordered a powder compound called cerium oxide and some felt pads for my drill and grinder. It took hard water and calcium buildup off no problem and it actually took off a bunch of little superficial scratches. The stuff works pretty good for scratches that you can’t catch you finger nail in. It will take out the scratches that sometimes accumulate from old mag cleaners and scrapers. But it doesn’t touch the scratches that you would deem a tank trashed over. The ones that a peice of sand gets stuck between the glass and the mag, the ones that are the only thing you can focus on... I was about to give up and sell the tank when I stumbled across this new process where they grinde the surface off and refinish it. It’s called glass renu. There’s a video on YouTube you can check out. I tried to buy the stuff from their website but they don’t sell it to the public. They gave me the name of a company that provides the service. I called them up and they were awesome! It actually got these super deep scratches out. The glass looks brand new. I’m stoked this worked out and I don’t have to ditch the tank. I’m going to start a build thread soon. Here are some before and after pics. They’re not the same angle or background but they are the same scratches, hopefully you can see in the first pic how bad they were...  ------------- 30 g softie, 30 g frag tank, 65 g HT/QT, 75 g mixed reef, 55 g FOWLR, 75 g live rock curing tank, & a 120 gal �consolidation� build in progress |
Replies:
Posted By: Ryan Thompson
Date Posted: March 28 2018 at 2:24pm
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Can you share the cost and the company that did it? Did they come to you? Is the process reef safe? Sorry, I haven't researched it yet but plan to watch some YouTube videos about it. You can message me if that is easier. Thanks |
Posted By: knowen87
Date Posted: March 28 2018 at 3:56pm
| I am also interested in how much it cost. |
Posted By: Reefer5640
Date Posted: March 28 2018 at 7:19pm
It was $150 minimum and they prefer to come to you. They said it wouldnt change the cost. They charge per surface so I just did the front panel and then cerium oxide on the sides by myself. They said if the scratches aren’t too bad then $150 usually covers the sqft of a sliding door. They will come out and give an estimate though before they do it. My scratches were pretty bad, you could catch your nail pretty good and he didn’t seem to think they werent as bad as I did... he came out three different times. He said if you find scratches after I leave I’ll come back for free. It’s partially my fault he had to come back though. I told him not to use cleaner on the inside of the tank so it was kind of dusty on the surface and hard to see the scratches. The first time he ran out of time and had to come back to finish so technically he only had to come back once from missed scratches. The last time I gave him some RODI water in a spray bottle to clean with between steps and after that he got every scratch out. His name is Dustin and he works for Wadley Services. He was an awesome guy, definitely has a lot of experience working in people’s homes. Very professional and polite. I don’t have the number for Wadley Services but I do have Dustin’s number who asked me to hand it out to anyone interested 480-772-6695. I told him I was going to give it out on the forum to a bunch of crazy reefers and he was okay with that  ------------- 30 g softie, 30 g frag tank, 65 g HT/QT, 75 g mixed reef, 55 g FOWLR, 75 g live rock curing tank, & a 120 gal �consolidation� build in progress |
Posted By: Jesterrace
Date Posted: May 16 2018 at 2:32am
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I had a 90 gallon that was scratched up, I actually sold it off as is and bought a brand new replacement. Here is how bad the tank was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7CeI7GsXKI" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7CeI7GsXKI
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Posted By: Reefer5640
Date Posted: May 17 2018 at 11:54am
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They could have gotten those scratches out even as bad as that was. Their process is pretty cool. ------------- 30 g softie, 30 g frag tank, 65 g HT/QT, 75 g mixed reef, 55 g FOWLR, 75 g live rock curing tank, & a 120 gal �consolidation� build in progress |