300 acrylic with bar

[murfman]

Here is my long awaited 300 build. For those who don’t know the planning behind this build this is a 300 gallon acrylic tank built by Quarterback Killer up in Denver. It is ¾” acrylic, all around with a black back and two built in over flows. The tank will be viewable from the front and right sides and built in to a wall. There will be a 12” bar rail at the bottom level of the tank made from African Mahogany that wraps around the wall. I was inspired by several builds, 1st by McCliffy in Chicago;

Builld at; http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1271003

And a build from our neighbors to the north;

My tank was drilled for a closed loop with 3 returns in the bottom and 9 in the back. There are two 2” holes for the inlet on the dart and two 2” holes drilled in the back where the overflows are, for drains in to the sump. The sump returns will have an external durso set up. Why 2” returns outside the overflows? This is in case some critter or unforeseen event clogs up one of the returns the other return will be able to handle the flow in to the sump and not over flow the tank. The return pump is a Reeflo Snapper, that pumps out at 2400 gph at 0 head. The closed loop will be powered by a 2 Darts and supplemental flow will be with a Tunze wave box.

 

[murfman]

The stand is the 1st thing to get going . 1st of I want to thank Scott (Aquaman2000) for giving me two of his old metal stands from the store and to Stacy (Stacy7127) for building it. Scott and I came up with the design. The 1st stand was 6’ long by 24” wide, and 5’ tall. I needed the stand to be 8’ long, 24” wide and 40” tall. The 2nd stand was 6’ long by 18” wide and 5’ tall so it was not any help, except for the 2x2 angle iron.

Here is a pic of the two stands with some cutting done on them;

Here is the stand cut down to 38” tall;

 

[murfman]

30 Sept 08: Stand is almost complete, Stacy just has to finish weld the legs and double check all the cross members and supports for complete welds. He will be adding 4 brackets 1” down from the top of the front of the stand that will support the African Mahogany bar rail.

 

[murfman]

I moved the tanks to my house so I can start working on them. Here is what they looks like;

Drilled back for closed loop;

Left Front;

 

[murfman]

I cleaned them up, scraping all coralline and green algae out of the sump and washing out the left over sand from the 300 and wiping down the glass on it. The next major step is to get some acrylic polish and start working on the scratches. Here is what the viewing panels look like;

 

[murfman]

I painted the left end of the tank as it will be up against the window;

 

[murfman]

I also have my water storage tank built, using one of the food grade tanks that I acquired a few months ago;

It was easy to clean. I cut the top off, just below the ring and the top separated from the ring;

I discovered that if you leave the top out in the sun, it will warp as the plastic is very soft. I put it back in place and had to let it sit for a few hours in the sun to regain its shape;

I then found a plastic epoxy at Lowe’s and used that to glue the top back on to the ring. It did not fill the whole way around the ring. I used some silicone, on the inside and the outside of the ring to finish securing it in place. There is no pressure on the top, it is just to keep dust out of the mixing vat.

 

[murfman]

Stand was delivered to my house on 12 Oct. We moved it in the garage and here is what it looks like;

The arms to support the African Mahogany bar rail;

Support legs;

Welded in nuts for adjustment on the leveling legs;

Box reinforcement on the two center and end braces at the bottom;

Vertical box reinforcement on the center posts;

 

[murfman]

I painted the stand with POR-15, http://www.por15.com/ This stuff is almost like doing your own powder coat but in a can and a lot cheaper. It is a very thin paint that you can paint right over the rust or bare metal and then it self levels. It is very mess and you have to get off your skin right away or it won’t come off for a few days. It is very glossy and provides a very nice finish. It does come in other colors too.

I sanded the inside panels down with 600 grit, 400 on some of the more scratched areas, and then 800, and up to 1200. Here is what the tank looks like when you look through 1200 grit sanding;

I used Novus #3 after the 1200 to polish it out. I will go over this 2-3 times to make the scratches as fine as possible before stepping up to Novus #2. Here is the difference between the 1200 grit and Novus #3;

Notice the difference on the legs of the saw horse?
End view;

View of the right side, before I polished the front;

 

[murfman]

The two tanks and the stand were moved in to the basement today, thanks to all those who helped and those who helped supervise, you know who your are!!!

We had to take the glass sliding door off to get the stand through the door. Removing both sides made our lives much easier with that beast;

5 of us carried the stand from the garage, through the front yard, over the fence and through the gate and in to the basement;

We placed the stand in its location and then placed the bottom ½” plywood, painted with Kilz primer, and ½” insulating Styrofoam;

We moved the 125 gallon sump into place;

 

[murfman]

I placed the ½” plywood base with ½” Styrofoam glued to it on the top of the stand. I had pre drilled and cut the holes for the bulkheads. This was my snafu. I cut one of the bulkhead holes in the wrong location. I made a few cuts with the jig saw and we were back in business;

We carried the 300 through the gate and on the back deck, into the house;

 

[murfman]

Some final adjustments;

Tank in place;

 

[murfman]

I leveled out the stand and tank. Here is what it looks like up against the window and wall;

 

[murfman]

I decided that I wanted more return flow from the overflows so I capped off the ¾” return to tank and will use the 1” over flow to sump as my new return. The top ¾” hole had to be made bigger to support a 1” eyeball socket bulkhead;

I built a jig out of some plywood and added some scrap so I could get my bar clamp to hold it in place;

I used the hole saw to make the hole big enough for a 1” bulkhead;

Here is the new, bigger hole;

 

[murfman]

Here are the bulkheads, the one on the left is 2” and the eyeball is a 1” bulkhead;

Close up of the eyeball return jet;

Installed in the overflow box;

Close up of installation;

 

[murfman]

Completed the plumbing for the returns that go through the over flows. I used 1” PVC and cut it in two pieces about 12-13” long. The total length of the return is 26”. I then took two 45* fittings and put them together but 180* out from each other. This gives a 3” jog to the side. I put them on each of the long pieces and then added a 90* that fits in to the upper bulkhead.

Here is what it looks like installed in the overflows. Nothing is glued, just press fitted.

 

[murfman]

Getting ready to install the plumbing for the open loop and closed loop. Here are some pictures of before and after the scratch removal and polishing.

Side before;

Now;

Front Before;

Now;

 

[plyr58]

I think you might have mixed up those two pictures hehe. You know you have to change your signature now, right?

 

[murfman]

Mixed what up????? (thanx) I will change the sig once I get water in it, I don't want to jinx it!

 

[plyr58]

Lol. Good luck. You did an AWESEOME job fixing up that acrylic. When I first saw it I was like OMG I hope that was free... but it looks great now! Did all the scratches come out or just the most noticeable ones?