Large tank acrylic polishing

[akwtampa]

Hello all.. I've been lurking about lately, kind of sulking about a recent problem with my reef tank.. But I've got everything back up to speed and I'm actually going to be upgrading soon..

My quandry is that I'm hoping to be buying a used acrylic tank and I'm wondering how difficult it's going to be to do a thorough in and out polishing on it? Should I rent a buffer, what compunds to use that are reef safe, etc? I'm wanting to get the acrylic back to perfect or as close as one can come and having no previous experience, I'm hoping someone here can help..

Thank you!

Aaron

 

[dmbedard]

Ted's your man! He buffed the heck out of his tank before refilling it.

 

[akwtampa]

I was considering Novus product.. I'm getting a kick-butt deal on either of the tanks I'm trying to buy.. One is a bit more scratched than the other, but neither have serious scratches..

The other issue I have is that one had an overflow on the side, and I'm not 100% sure how it was set up.. I'm trying to get pics of it now..

Aaron

 

[akwtampa]

Well, I went ahead and bought a tank... It's 96"lx32"wx25"t and Very good shape.. The only problems I'm thinking there are going to be are plugging the numerous holes in the bottow that were used for a closed loop, and getting a nice polish on the inside of the tank, and then on the outside of the front panel..

Otherwise, I'm buying some lumber to start my stand this week, and getting the room prepped, as this is going to go through the living room wall, and into my office.. This basically just means giving the room a very thorough cleaning, which it needs anyway..

Any advice is very appreciated!!

Aaron

 

[Dude23455]

why not just install a closed loop?

 

[akwtampa]

Because I'd rather install a pair of Tunze on a controller.. Even with a Dart, I'm only going to get like 3600 GPH, and that's pulling 160 watts.. 2 Tunze 6101 will get me 4600 GPH on 72 watts.. Bascially, I'd rather not spend the extra money..

My other fear is sand in the pump.. But that's a smaller concern to me than the watts / gallon of flow..

 

[Dude23455]

I gotcha. Let me know how you end up polishing it. I've got a 240gal acrylic sitting in my garage that I need to get polished.

Remember not to use treated lumber on the stand.