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Scratch Removal from Glass Cerium Oxide

Malawimania

Members
I just finished resealing my 220 gallon aquarium, before I silicone my 3D background in place I'd like to get some nasty mineral deposit stains and some scratches off my front pane of glass. A lot of my time was invested in this background, starting to wonder if I should just buy a new 240 from glass cages.

So I've been using a 5" orbital sander with some glass polishing pads and cerium oxide I bought off amazon. Lets just say it really hasn't worked out so well. I'm not sure if the pad I'm using is the right pad, or if the orbital doesn't have enough RPM rating to buff them out. The scratches are pretty fine but they're in the center of the tank, which is why I'd like to have them gone.

The mineral deposits aren't coming off either. I have tried the cerium oxide with the orbital as well as letting the tank soak in CLR. I even tried bleach all the harsh stuff....lol

Really haven't had much luck removing much of anything at this point. Has anyone used cerium oxide or anything else to successfully remove scratches or mineral deposits/hard water stains/salt deposits from glass?
 

xny89

Administrator
Staff member
Steve,

While I have no experience doing this, from the little research I've just done, it seems to me that the orbital sander is insufficient. Every article I read refers to using a rotary sander/drill. The downside of this is the potential for generating too much heat - the solution appears to be monitoring the temperature and using a water spray bottle to reduce temp. But, gotta be careful of spraying cold water on hot glass (cracked my car windshield once washing car after it sat in the summer sun for a couple of hours). Here is one example regarding automobile windshields, FYI.

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forum...-Glass-Polishing-by-Machine-Defect-Correction

Good luck.
 

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
You might try the Pumie Heavy Duty Scouring Stick. I got one at Lowes. It removes hard water deposits and stains from bathtubs and commodes without scratching. It is much like using an eraser. You think it would scratch it is so hard, but it does not. I just tried it on a glass jar and it did not leave scratches. Would not use it on plastics.
 
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