My brother bought a bearded dragon on craigslist for $50 and they gave him the tank for free. Well the tank is huge, and acrylic. He moved the lizard to smaller glass tank and now the big one is sitting in the back yard. I was examining it and seems structurally fine. I even put water in it to check for leaks and there are none. However it's covered in scratches and scrapes. I heard that you can polish those out of acrylic tanks. I need to know if it's even worth the effort. I don't know what a tank like this normally costs.

It looks EXACTLY like this one in the picture. That's not the tank, but mine is identical in every way. Same size, rounded edges, openings on the top, background.



Is there a way to tell how many gallons it is?

if the tank is 5' or 6' long, likely 125gal. could be 150 gals... lots of potential....

To figure out the size in gallons: measure it up, determine the number of cubic inches. Then divide by 231.

So a 11 X 18 X 24 = 5184 Cubic inches = 20.5 gallons. That's a "nominal" figure because you've got glass occupying some of that volume ...

I dont think its worth it, just send it to me! haha

I would do anything for an acrylic tank like that, so IMO its worth it

Matt

Bearded dragons grow to a pretty good size and need a large tank, 55 gallons or larger. I would keep it for the dragon.

Polishing out lots of scratches is a lot of hard work. If you are willing and able to do the work, I think it is well worth it, if the tank is designed to hold water, and not a reptile tank. I had a 40 gallon tank like that many years ago, and even though it was made for aquarium use, the sides bulged out too much for my comfort with it full of water. I believe they make those with thicker acrylic now, but they may make reptile versions with thinner material.

Forget the bearded dragon, it has a big tank. It's a fish tank.

lol it looks like a sea clear tank...

i dont think its a land acrylic tank at all, the holes up top where a HOB type filter would go is a dead give away...

polishing acrylic is painful... requires a very fine grit sand paper, and then a heat gun to smooth and clear it out...

is it worth it? That tank looks expensive, the stand itself would make it super expensive id estimate new value well into upper 600 dollar range...
if you have time, then yes its worth it... but it will be EXPENSIVE to stock fully.

I've had great luck polishing acrylic with fine sand paper followed by plastic polish on a rotary tool. I would specifically avoid the use of a heat gun as it would be very easy to bubble the surface.

Man! it would take a while for him to be large... meanwhile, lets have another planted tank.

A buddy of mine picked up a 300 gallon acrylic a couple of years ago, while it had nothing in it there were scratches to be seen everywhere.

When he filled it with water you had to SEARCH for them.

Might be worth filling it to see how bad it looks then, before going into what would appear to be a HUGE job.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I wouldn't bother with it unless it's deep scratches...and even then you can't really do much.

I've got a tank that looks just like that one except with a black back. Mine is a Sea Clear and is 60x18x20. Acrylic tanks with these dimensions are sold as 100 gallon tanks, but they calculate to 93.5 gallons. I also got it used and full of scratches.

I am in the middle of polishing them out and it really is a lot of work. Very expensive tank to replace though...so I am going to keep at it. I did one end so far, but didn't have a fine enough grade of sandpaper and it came out hazy. So I will be doing it again. I've kind of put the project on hold for the time being while I finish getting another tank up and running first.

Really only you can decide if it is worth it. Personally, I think, from the little that I did, that it can be done. It is going to be a big effort though.

i really dont like polishes.. cuz it leaves a layer on top.

But i really dont know what polish is safe for aquarium, so if this is what you guys do, then im all in for it.

But on reserviors for PC... typically after the center is milled out they take a flame to it, and it clears the acrylic.

Google it on youtube: Flame polishing acrylic...

The reason why i suggested it is because as i said, i dont know what polish would be defined as "safe" for the aquarium, because a polish by definition is applying some form of a clear coat on top to even it out vs heat polish is melting the top layer so it becomes like glass.

^Polishing is smoothing a surface with an abrasive glued to the work wheel (sandpaper). Technically I actually meant buffing, which uses an abrasive applied to the wheel (compound+cloth wheel). Most buffing compounds are easily removed with some soap and water. Rinse a couple times to get the soap out and you're clean. Gap fillers leave residue behind, but that's not what he wants.