# glass scratch repair kit



## joshvito (Apr 6, 2009)

has anyone repaired scratches on the inside of their aquarium before?
I have a couple 3" scratches on the inside of my rounded glass aquarium, and was wondering if was repairable.

see many different repair kits, but wonder about their safety in aquarium applications.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

Depends on how bad the scratches are. Baking Soda (make a paste with water) as well as toothpaste will sometimes polish out the scratch.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

any attempt to polish a scratch will leave a feathering pattern behind in the glass that's far worse then the scratch itself. you can fill a deep scratch with a clear resin, similar to what people do with their car windshield, but that may also leave a visual mess behind. I go through this same drama every time my grandpa scratches his reading magnifier. _glass is not a mineral that can be polished, it's a very high viscosity form of liquid silicate, and the only way to truly "polish it" is to melt it back into a less viscous form, then cool it back solid, and no, you can't blowtorch the scratch out, since that will only warp the visual plain of the nearby glass._


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## joshvito (Apr 6, 2009)

I definitely don't want to polish the scratch out.

I was wondering if anyone had good results fixing a scratch with an aquarium safe clear resin, and if so, which brand.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

In principle, resins may not be able to improved visual results - here is why.
light will pass thru the resin and thru your glass differently because of their
varied density, so while you may fill the scratch, you may still see the scratch.

resins are used in windshields to bind the sides of glass between a scratch together,
to keep a scratch, pit or fracture from growing larger from air pressure and vibration.

The dozens of products on the market that claim to repair glass scratches,
profit from people's ignorance about the limitations of fixing a common problem.
_sort of like how billions of dollars are made from pointless vitamin supplements._


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## joshvito (Apr 6, 2009)

Thanks spypet!

I was thinking about the refraction of light as I wrote the last post.
I think i will live with the scratches.
I just thought I'd ask, while the tank is in a dry start stage.


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