To restore or not to restore?

Well I did it once again! Picked up a 40 gallon acrylic tank with stand for FREE!

However its pretty rough!

Inside and out is scratched pretty bad and deep. Plus the top panel has small pieces cracked and missing and duct tape residue too.

I was thinking about cutting the top off completely, sanding and buffing it out good, and then just buying a new sheet of acrylic for the top. Or .... do you think the acrylic could handle the water weight without the top entirely? Or maybe just add a brace in the middle? The acrylic is pretty thin however I did do a water test overnight and it doesn't leak one bit.

Anyone have experience restoring acrylic? I have wet sanding a buffing experience but with paint.

Opinions?

Keep it as is and sell it or restore it and maybe use it?

I have really never been a fan of acrylic but, then again I have never had one that was in good shape.

 

I don't know anything about acrylic... but maybe you could use it as is for a plant tank or fry?

It's always useful to have extra tanks around... I've always been into picking up damaged glass tanks and repairing them... I don't think the fish or myself mind too much whether the tank itself looks pretty...

But that looks like a real decent size... what are the dimensions?

 

You can propably.clean it up pretty good with some acetone. Look into wet sanding/buffing the scratches out. I wouldn't attempt to.modify it unless you have had some practice in working with that specific material.

 

If you're worried about the strength with the top gone, you could always just use it as a mudskipper tank, then you won't need to have very much water in it. Otherwise, you could just use some thin, flat aluminum to make a brace (or two) and maybe even some aluminum angle iron for a frame around the top. Its cheap and easy, and works extremely well for glass tanks, so I would assume it would work just as well for acrylic.

 

Well I said heck with it I traded it for a nice piece of driftwood attached to slate. Was a $100 piece. Now it's my center piece in my 50 gallon hex and it barely fits