The Puffer Forum

I've got a 180gallon that I just bought that was used for reptiles (alligator to be exact) and the bottom is scratched all to heck. I picked it up because the guy was practically giving it away. Any ideas on how to get the scratches out?

No way to get scratches out of glass. Acrylic can be buffed. Who would try to keep an alligator at all, nevermind in a 180g tank?!

If it's just the bottom... don't worry... be happy.

Now, mind you, this is coming from a person who has had 18' Burmese Pythons, bred all sorts of Australian Carpet Pythons (Black Head especially), and worked on a habitat project for Timber Rattlesnakes but,I have no clue why on God's Green Earth someone would want to raise an alligator. That could possibly be one of the dumbest things I heard of in a while. Caimans even are a huge risk. I picked up this tank in Chicago, Elk Grove Village to be exact. He had the tank empty and said it became too much for him to handle (ya' think?) so he got rid of it. I was too afraid to ask what he did with it.

Nick wrote:If it's just the bottom... don't worry... be happy.

Yeah, it's just the bottom but I'm a perfectionist. I think I can get over it though, only paid $150 for tank, stand (that barely holds it empty), and florescent light strips.

Dadof4 wrote:I picked up this tank in Chicago, Elk Grove Village to be exact.

Good lord, that's the next 'burb over.

Y'know, there's an "exotic meat" supplier in one of the south 'burbs....

You can get scratches out of glass, but it takes a lot of work. And that's only if they are minor-moderate. You need special compound and an appropriate buffer, so in the end it's probably not worth it for you to have someone buff it out cost wise.

We did drive by this nice big forest preserve heading south on Arlington Heights Rd from I-90. Any missing pets or obnoxious neighborhood kids?

Sheesh, you were right in Pufferpunk's backyard!

Are the scratches bad enough to interfere with the integrity of the tank? Are you sure the bottom is glass and not acrylic? It might be an option to put a second layer of glass over that and silicone it in, but that would be an awfully big piece of glass and to fit it in there *just perfect*, probably not an easy job at all.

Take it to an auto glass place to see if they can use the ding filler technique on it.

I'd be worried the "ding filler" material might not be safe.. could leech something out into the water.

Myaj wrote:Sheesh, you were right in Pufferpunk's backyard!

Yeah, If I didn't have a bunch of guys with me that were on a time constraint, I was going to put it out there and see if people wanted to get together for lunch.

MyaJ wrote:Are the scratches bad enough to interfere with the integrity of the tank? Are you sure the bottom is glass and not acrylic? It might be an option to put a second layer of glass over that and silicone it in, but that would be an awfully big piece of glass and to fit it in there *just perfect*, probably not an easy job at all.

I don't think the scratches are bad enough to mess with the integrity of the tank bottom. They're not gouged out, just an eyesore. What surprises me is there are no scratches on the sides. It is tempered 1/2 inch glass on the bottom and to make sure it's ok I'm going to put some extra support to that end of the tank. I plan in to put a 1 inch thick piece of plywood under it with a 4x4 in the center just to be safe and the normal 4x4 post corners. Should be OK.

Dadof4 wrote:We did drive by this nice big forest preserve heading south on Arlington Heights Rd from I-90. Any missing pets or obnoxious neighborhood kids?

Nothing in any of the local papers.
That's the Ned Brown Forest Preserve, aka Busse Woods, in Elk Grove. It's less than three miles from me. Did you stop and see the elk?

No, we were on to tight of a time constraint and it was an 8 hour drive round trip. Some of the guys that came with had to be back for work that night. Nice neighborhood though, I missed a turn and had to drive around a little.

i'm thinking the bottom will be covered in gravel/sand/something similar... so stop being a perfectionist and GET ON WITH IT!

Now... the real question is..

what's it for, what's it for, what's it for????????

Tank that size, must be for something exciting, tell us, tell us.