new 125 buildup

[scubabum1983]

So I have had my 90 for awhile and as I have done this for a while now I have learned new things and seen new ways of doing things. Ive been itching to do a small upgrade in size and change the color of my stand combo. I ended up getting a scratched up 125 for 175 bucks. Its acrylic so the scratches could be buffed and i wanted to try the acrylic thing to see the color difference. I buffed the tank out and got most of the scratches out. Pain in the butt and took me two days but its done. I decided to go with a lee mar stand after seeing the wood prices at the wood workers supply. I had the stand made 35 inches, instead of the usual 30 inches, and the canopy 2 inches taller to 12 inches to get the halides further off the acrylic tank. I also like the two big doors for access. below are the early pics of the scratches and the stand it came with and the new stand. more to come.

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[ray0266]

Great job with the tank. Seemed like it had lots of circular scratch patterns. Pain to take those off. Keep the pics coming.

 

[scubabum1983]

built this equipment stand and made it a bench so someone can sit on it and watch the tank up close. i got the stuff from home depot to make it for about 40 bucks. The wood was the stuff that's on the end of the island its ply that's straight and mostly free of knots. a little more pricey than regular sanded ply. got the trim from the trim isle. if i you wanted to make it a fish stand the same design would work with 2x4s in the corners and for a longer tank you could do some in the center with a 2x4 brace in the middle with one along the roof of the stand atop the two vertical 2x4s. I'm going to stain it with minwax and sealer to match my new stand.

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[scubabum1983]

new overflow and painted the back black. also im painting at least the inside with Marine Spar from Dunn Edwards to keep moisture damage to a minimum

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[scubabum1983]

Working on a new power strip system that's not so rustic. I got a box at home depot that has a gasket to keep moisture to a min, and ill add another similar box for a total of two, the boxes are run off a appliance cord. through a sealed port also for moisture resistance. two outlets on each box will be switched for pumps and other things that need be regularly turned off.

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[scubabum1983]

Had problems seeing things at night when the fuge lught was off, so i had an old set of rope lights laying around so i mounted them to the stand.

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[scubabum1983]

Painted the entire inside of the stand and canopy with the marine spar. its both UV and water resistamt to help keep the stand and canopy lasting much longer under the salt water and halide abuse.

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[scubabum1983]

Got a used 50 gal sump, im going to redo the baffles with a bubble trap and a mid sump fuge with deep sand bed

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[cerreta]

Get water in there already!

 

[SWSaltwater]

Turn those bulkheads around They never hold water in backwards like that.

 

[scubabum1983]

thanks for the heads up. i was trying to get more room to shoehorn a pump in.. i thought they may hold water the way they are oriented now, guess its back to square 1. For water i still need to get the hole saws to cut out the holes for the 1.5 and 1 inch bulkheads. also need the bulkheads, on the acrylic, and i need to patch a hole the size of my finger someone drilled in the upper left hand corner of the tank. im not sure if it needs a patch or a ultra small bulkhead.

 

[scubabum1983]

holding water after the tap water test. half lit with a loaner 250 W bulb. sump is in. Lots of bubbles with no sock andd no rubble in the overflow yet. and yes had to keep the bulkhead that direction to have enough room for the pump. although I used a ton of silicone to keep the water from walking up the threads.

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[outcastjra]

Looking Good!

 

[FlyNpLeCosToMuS]

How did you buff the tank, and where did you get the stuff?

 

[scubabum1983]

I bought a buff kit off of marine depot and then went to a aito finishing shop and got extra grit sizes fof the micro finishing papers and got some novis one and two for the final buffing. took me a couple of days to buff and finish and i didnt get all the haze and scratches out just the majority.