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I thought some people might be interested in this stuff, so here goes:
I bought all the materials from tapplastics.com. Purchased Saturday night, arrived Tuesday morning. I spent $29.10 including shipping for 3 8oz bottles and a pack of wipes. The bottles are stage 1, 2 and 3. Stage 1 is for polishing and general cleaning, Stage 2 is for light scratches and fogging, Stage 3 is for heavy scratches. Here they are:
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Step 1: Wipe the surface with a clean cloth to remove any debris or dirt.
Step 2: Put a small amount of the Stage 2 compound on a clean cloth and apply in a circular motion. A little goes a long way, and you can tell when you need to apply more because the surface of the acrylic will be rough instead of smooth. This does a GREAT job.
Step 3: Apply a dab of the Stage 3 compound to a clean cloth and rub over deep scratches perpendicular to the scratch. I found that this worked REALLY well on some scratches and did a pretty decent job on others.
Step 4: Go back over areas that you used the Stage 3 on with Stage 2 to remove any scratches from the coarse compound.
Step 5: Apply the Stage 1 compound with the spray nozzle and wipe.
I was a little bit concerned that the small 8oz bottles would not be enough for my 180 gallon tank. I did not need to worry. I used approximately 1/3 of the stage 2 bottle and a negligible amount of the Stage 3. Tap sells the compounds in 1oz bottles as well and I think that would be plenty for anything under 55 gallons. I would say add another 1 oz bottle of Stage 2 for anything up to 100 gallons. The 180 gallon tank (6'x2'x2') took less than an hour to do the front and both sides inside and out.
Here are a couple of before and after pictures to demonstrate the job this stuff does. The first picture is after wiping away any dirt and debris. Much of what you see is simply water stains, but you can also see the fogging from lots of light scratches:
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The second picture 2 minutes later after using the stage 2 compound:
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I absolutely recommend this process if you are thinking about doing it. It made SUCH a big difference to the tank.
Any questions?
I bought all the materials from tapplastics.com. Purchased Saturday night, arrived Tuesday morning. I spent $29.10 including shipping for 3 8oz bottles and a pack of wipes. The bottles are stage 1, 2 and 3. Stage 1 is for polishing and general cleaning, Stage 2 is for light scratches and fogging, Stage 3 is for heavy scratches. Here they are:
Step 1: Wipe the surface with a clean cloth to remove any debris or dirt.
Step 2: Put a small amount of the Stage 2 compound on a clean cloth and apply in a circular motion. A little goes a long way, and you can tell when you need to apply more because the surface of the acrylic will be rough instead of smooth. This does a GREAT job.
Step 3: Apply a dab of the Stage 3 compound to a clean cloth and rub over deep scratches perpendicular to the scratch. I found that this worked REALLY well on some scratches and did a pretty decent job on others.
Step 4: Go back over areas that you used the Stage 3 on with Stage 2 to remove any scratches from the coarse compound.
Step 5: Apply the Stage 1 compound with the spray nozzle and wipe.
I was a little bit concerned that the small 8oz bottles would not be enough for my 180 gallon tank. I did not need to worry. I used approximately 1/3 of the stage 2 bottle and a negligible amount of the Stage 3. Tap sells the compounds in 1oz bottles as well and I think that would be plenty for anything under 55 gallons. I would say add another 1 oz bottle of Stage 2 for anything up to 100 gallons. The 180 gallon tank (6'x2'x2') took less than an hour to do the front and both sides inside and out.
Here are a couple of before and after pictures to demonstrate the job this stuff does. The first picture is after wiping away any dirt and debris. Much of what you see is simply water stains, but you can also see the fogging from lots of light scratches:
The second picture 2 minutes later after using the stage 2 compound:
I absolutely recommend this process if you are thinking about doing it. It made SUCH a big difference to the tank.
Any questions?
