Is this acrylic crazing? Calling all acrylic experts!

[bengeeee]

Hey guys, I finally cleaned up an old acrylic aquarium I bought a few years back and never got around to cleaning out.  It was apparently used in a restaurant until the guy I bought it from got his hands on it and ran it into the ground in his apt.  Apparently with little maintenance.  It had an archaic under gravel filter set up which I removed, no bulkheads near the pvc just tons of silicone which I scraped off, and some weird black paint or glue.  I must have pulled out 20 pounds of dried cement like detritus from this thing.

 

Anyways, is the first picture crazing?  It looks like snowflakes and is unfortunately located in two spots on both sides of the aquarium close to the edges.  It's not too pronounced, but this is intended for an in wall setup and I would rather not install something for a build that complicated that isn't perfect.

 

Also, any Idea what this black paint is near the drilled hole in the bottom.  It was applied to a piece of pvc as well as attached to the same drilled hole.  Again, their were no bulk heads used and the only thing keeping it from leaking was a pound or so of nasty silicone (and perhaps the 20 pounds of packed in detritus).  It's a miracle this guys apartment never flooded.

 

Finally, I know the black stuff on the sides is some type of black paint.  The genius painted the stand black while the aquarium was on it.  Any ideas how to safely remove paint from acrylic?  Can I use some type of special paint thinner or should I just try very fine sand paper and then use a novus like polishing product?  I plan to polish the entire thing anyways if I decide to do anything with it.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Ben

Edited September 22, 2013 by bengeeee

[smallreef]

Truthfully I can't tell, there's so much haze from waterspots and such ...

Is their a way to clean it up and get a better picture?

[Origami]

I have similar "crazing" (little localized stars) on my acrylic frag tank where coralline algae has grown for a long time untouched. The only way that I know of to remove this is to use an acrylic polishing kit comprised of successively finer grades of sand paper and, at the back end, an acrylic polish. While the polish adds clarity when the tank is empty, but I've not found it really necessary for a tank full of water.

[bengeeee]

"Truthfully I can't tell, there's so much haze from waterspots and such ...

Is their a way to clean it up and get a better pictuere?"

I'll do my best to clean it up more and take a macro pic with a real camera. Sorry I guess the quality isn't so great.

[bengeeee]

"I have similar "crazing" (little localized stars) on my acrylic frag tank where coralline algae has grown for a long time untouched. The only way that I know of to remove this is to use an acrylic polishing kit comprised of successively finer grades of sand paper and, at the back end, an acrylic polish. While the polish adds clarity when the tank is empty, but I've not found it really necessary for a tank full of water."

Hmmm what kit did you use and or recommend?

[zygote2k]

If it's an older (10+yrs) tank, it's lived it's life expectancy. Buy a newer one. Older acrylic boxes have this nasty habit of exploding when they get old.

[bengeeee]

"If it's an older (10+yrs) tank, it's lived it's life expectancy. Buy a newer one. Older acrylic boxes have this nasty habit of exploding when they get old."

Not sure how old it is. I would guess at least 4+ years. Seems a shame to just throw it out but of course I'm not willing to risk a flood just to save some money. Seems solid though and well constructed besides the noted issues.

[Origami]

Hmmm what kit did you use and or recommend?

I think that it was a Pentair kit. Google acrylic polishing kit aquarium and you'll come across it.

[bengeeee]

I think that it was a Pentair kit. Google acrylic polishing kit aquarium and you'll come across it.

Thanks I'll check it out.

[Origami]

Looking at your pictures again, my comments were directed towards the white "spotting" in the corner of the last picture. It's hard to see into the joint and discern what's going on on the edge surface of one panel versus the other. Plus, the deposits make it difficult to see what's what. The panel does look a bit scratched up, though. Crazing to me has always had a more random but uniform, geometric pattern. That makes sense as they are micro-fractures caused by stresses being released. You will sometimes see it when trying to cut into or drill into old acrylic that's seen salt water for a long time, or when gluing up similarly old and exposed acrylic.

[Coral Hind]

flame polishing looks good when first done but can cause micro fractures with age. We no longer flame polish the edges but use buffers now where I work. The fractures cause by flame polishing are normally just surface types and should not have a big impact on the tank. If you are worried you could laminate corner bead strips along the seam to add strengh.