600 Gallon Upgrade Build

Got some goodies. Well started to get some goodies.
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The store owner politely informed me that I had to drain the tank and clean it before moving it. After it was all said and done, and by the visual scratches that are visible, I have a lot of work ahead of me but I am ready for the challenge.
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nice current & nice project ahead of you...
Talk about a hookup...man 600 gor $600.00 you winning can't wait to see the final phase
 
Setback

Setback

Short and to the point, I screwed my stand up. I have to re cut boards and lower it a whole 7 inches. New pics to come later when I calm down. Sorry for the delay.
 
Holyreefer said:
nice current & nice project ahead of you...
Talk about a hookup...man 600 gor $600.00 you winning can't wait to see the final phase
Click to expand...

Well the tank itself is around 478 gallons. With the sump I made total water volume will be around 600 gallons. I guess you could say I went Charlie Sheen huh? LOLOL
 
Final Product

Final Product

The stand is finished. Shaved 7 inches off the whole stand. Now it sits slightly over 42 inches.

Before -
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After -
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Confirmation, tank will be delivered to the house on Sunday.
 
Newbie Aquarist said:
Thanks for tagging along.



I don't know which grade to start with. I will be buying the novas package I know that for sure. The large package.
Click to expand...

Suggestion on cleaning up acrylic tank scratches. To start while the tank is empty, I'd use Novus 2 liquid with a car buffer, keeping the surfaces wet.

After filling it and having live stocking it, I'd follow the instruction I gave on another site earlier. Your are cooing to see scratches you missed when you fill it and probably make a few new ones. I've been able to keep my acrylic tank looking like new using the following steps. It had some pretty bad scratches that slowly came out. Good luck...looks like it will be a nice reef tank set up.

Scratches in an acrylic tank. My tank is a 50 gallon 1/2 round acrylic and I have had my share of scratches while installing the live rock column. It is impossible not to end up having some scratches. When the live rock or an SPS touches the sidewall when being installed, or when a piece of sand or snail gets under the magnetic cleaning pad and you end up with scratches in the acrylic.

After a lot of thought, I have developed the following procedure and method to remove them without needing to empty the tank and polish it. It does a good job of taking the scratches out of my acrylic tank and keeping it scratch free. It isn't a fast process, like the old wax on wax off procedure, but you will see them slowly vanish.

I modified my little Magnavore 6 magnetic cleaner by super gluing a 3x4 inch sheet of Micro-Mesh sanding sheet on top of the mesh pad. This allows the sanding sheet to be easily replaced by peeling off the mesh pad. The Micro-Mesh sandpaper comes in ultra ultra fine grits, 1500 to 12,000. This is much finer grit than the normal automotive wet-dry emory paper. I use a 6,000 grit for general cleaning of the inside of the tank every few days.

A newly installed piece of 6,000 will initially show some very slight abrasion on the acrylic if you look very close, but that stops after it is used for 10 or 15 minutes as it breaks in. It doesn't appear like anything is happening when you are doing it, but after 30 or 40 rubs you will see the scratches slowly fad. If you have a deep scratch you can use coarser grits and then go back one the area with a finer and finer grits. You can actually see the fine acrylic dust as you clean and polish. You don't need to use any coarser than 3200 or finer than 8,000, unless the scratches are very deep.

It is a slow manual process but it works very well. You will seen fewer and fewer noticeable scratches, as you use the 6,000 grit in place of the fiber pads, for general tank cleaning. I have never had any of my SPS or Softies coral or fish adversely effected by the fine acrylic dust that develops in the water while doing it. It clears up quickly. Like the fiber pads you need careful not to get a small snail or grain of sand between the paper and the tank surface or it can do more harm than good.

When doing this, I first wipe lightly down the tank outside with Novus 1 or 2 liquid fine scratch remover. Then I cover the outside magnet surface with a piece of paper towel, changing it frequently. It does a great job of polishing both side of the acrylic when doing it in this manner, and it acts as a lubricant to allow the magnet surface to move across the outside of the tank with less effort.

You can buy what is called a Micro Mesh introductory wood kit with one of each of the 3x4 grits samples on Amazon. The sheets aren't cheap, but they work. I buy full size sheets of the 6,000 grit material from http://www.sisweb.com/micromesh/mmr_sheets.htm and cut it to size to save a few pennies. It is used in woodworking in finishing and polishing varnished furniture.

Hope this helps to take care of a problem we all have with acrylic tanks.

GrahamJr
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