600 Gallon Upgrade Build

[Newbie Aquarist]

I buffed the first side of the tank. I had to start with 600 grit and worked all the way up to 1200 grit. Now I have to buff it until it becomes clear.

Before


After


Three more sides to go.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Originally Posted by five O

This is a cut and paste from a previous thread, but should get you in the right direction on polishing. Also, make sure you use quality sand paper (3m). It will last ten times as long.

Polishing acrylic 101
I'm going give everyone a a few tips and hopefully show a few of you guys how to polish out some of the old acrylic tanks we all have sitting around. Maybe even give you the confidence to remove that big scratch in our main display tank. I would first like to say that I'm not an acrylic expert like Lee. I don't work in acrylic everyday, nor have I ever. I gained my knowledge from owning a detail shop in Lake Havasu City about ten years ago, and master my skills by polishing boats and cars. I realized when I got in aquariums/reefs a little over a year and half ago that all the same principles to polishing paint transfer over to acrylic for the most part.

Lets get started
Step #1 WET SANDING
There are a few different ways to do this. I have found the most efficient method is a D/A sander with a 1000 grit sand paper. I will basically wet sand the entire inside of the tank with the D/A and 1000 grit. If you dont have a D/A sander. You can use a rubber sanding block. Just make sure you dont use just your fingers behind the sand paper. If you do, this can lead to grooves in the surface your sanding & you will not be happy camper. I try to stay away from the corners if possible since its hard to get a polisher in the corner. I'll cover that a little more in the future. If there is any deep scrathes (one that you can feel if you slide your finger nail across it), I'll take a sharpie and draw a line in the scratch. This will help you know when the scratch is gone. Basically the sharpie high light the scratch. The scratch/shapie mark will slowly disappear/fade as you wet sand the surrounding area down to deepth of the scratch. If scratch's are too deep, sometimes they need to be left alone, or polished out only slightly. The only reason I would ever leave a scratch, is if the scratch is so deep that it would create a visual distortion if it was sanded out. This is very rare instance. Let me go back a little. The second reason I use the sharpie is because once you start wet sanding, the water will turn into a white milky solution, and the acrylic will turn into a white haze. The scratch's will get lost in the haze & only seem to re-appear once you start to polish. Then you have to go back and wet sand that spot again. This creates the one step forward, two steps back effect.

If you dont have a D/A sander, I would highly recommend buying one. You can pick up a cheapo one at Harbor Frieght for about 30 bucks. Your arms will thank you for it & you'll save yourself a few hours.

I know everyone has thier own opoins on what grits to use. I dont really recommend using anything more then 1000 grit. If you use a 600 or lower you'll blow right through the scratch's, but you will also be creating additional steps by having to remove scratch's from the 600. I use 1000 then 1500. I don't really see the need for anything higher since the high speed buffer will remove the scratchs from the 1500 with ease.

So now you have wet sanded out all the scratchs with the 1000 and 1500 grit. Your tank should look like a smooth white haze that's difficult to see through. All the scratch's should be gone. Now your ready for the next step.

Step #2 POLISHING

There are a few tools that most of us already have, and few you may need to purchase. They are all pretty reasonable prices, unless your buying MAC or Snap On.

#1- cordless drill
#2- varible speed polisher with a velcro backing plate
#3- wool/foam polishing pads
#4- Mothers Power ball or cone
#5- polishing compound (NOVUS works well)

I start by putting a wool pad on my 7" varible speed polisher. I start with a wool pad over foam since wool has the most cutting action. I then put a little compund on the pad, and smear it in a little. I smear the compound to prevent it from slinging off the pad once the buffer starts spinning. Start with the buffer on the slowest speed. You can increase the speed a little once you get going. It does take practice to get comfortable with the polisher. I'll go over the larger surfaces with the larger polisher. The large polisher will give you the best results. It works pretty fast compared to the other methods. Just make sure you keep the polisher on a low speed, keep the polisher moving at all time to avoid heat/compund build up. Make sure you keep the pad tiled at a slight angle. The rest you will just have to figure out by trial and error. I also keep a squirt bottle filled with water, I will mist the surface I'm working every few minutes to get a little more work time out of the buffing compound, and keep the tempature down.

You want to make sure that you don't get too much heat build up, the heat can cause crazing.

Once your done polishing. You'll find some spots you missed, or some scratchs you didn't notice. Just go back and sand them out and polish that spot again.

I like to use the Mothers power cone and my cordless drill get into area's where my polisher could not reach. You'll find that the corners are a little difficult to get into. The cone gets in there pretty good, but the results are a little less than that of the polisher. Once your done polishing, you need to was the tank out & get rid of the compounds that were slung around.

All in all, polishing out acrylic is not rocket science. It is labor intesive and takes some time. You'll get better with time, but can save yourself a ton of cash. I Think ATM charges like $75 an hour. If anything, go slow, take your time and you'll be happy with the result

Thanks for the information. It is very helpful.

[Newbie Aquarist]

The first eight foot side is done. A lot of sand paper was used on that side.



It its what it is and how it should be.

[Newbie Aquarist]

I finally got the inside of the tank sanded and finished. Taking the rest of the weekend of to party tribute to my fellow and fallen comrades. Will buff the inside out next week.

It its what it is and how it should be.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Before:



After:





What am I doing wrong?

[Newbie Aquarist]

I sanded and buffed the tank and pretty much removed all the scratches. Then I polished.

Before:



After:





What am I doing wrong?

[Newbie Aquarist]

I'm going to take a break from the tank. The bending and sanding has caught up with me. So to take my mind off I decided to get the heatsinks made for my LEDs. The heatsink is 28"L x 10"W and will hold 45 LEDs. I will give you the quick version.

This:


Plus this:


Equals this:




One down, five more to go.

[Newbie Aquarist]

All the heat sinks are done. Just have to get the LEDs, wire, solder, and flux.



6 of these heatsinks from Heatsink USA would have cost me $513.78. My total cost for the project, $187.00.

It its what it is and how it should be.

[noplay180]

Originally Posted by Newbie Aquarist

All the heat sinks are done. Just have to get the LEDs, wire, solder, and flux.



6 of these heatsinks from Heatsink USA would have cost me $513.78. My total cost for the project, $187.00.

It its what it is and how it should be.

[evilvelle]

Great build I love the center overflow. It's good to see someone using some elbow grease to clean that tank up instead of buying new,we all can't go out and spend that kind of money. Good job can't wait to see it finished.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Originally Posted by evilvelle

Great build I love the center overflow. It's good to see someone using some elbow grease to clean that tank up instead of buying new,we all can't go out and spend that kind of money. Good job can't wait to see it finished.

Thanks. I got a good deal on it so I know it was going to be a challenge. Once the hard part is over, its easy street.

It its what it is and how it should be.

[trickedout900]

When I sanded and polished mine I realized it was hard to tell when the scratches were out from the previous paper. If you jump from say 600 too 1000 it is difficult to sand out the 600 grit scratches. It's hard to tell in the pics but the hazy look leads me to believe you may have done what I did the first time. Just my 2 cents. Good to see you are still working at it.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Originally Posted by trickedout900

When I sanded and polished mine I realized it was hard to tell when the scratches were out from the previous paper. If you jump from say 600 too 1000 it is difficult to sand out the 600 grit scratches. It's hard to tell in the pics but the hazy look leads me to believe you may have done what I did the first time. Just my 2 cents. Good to see you are still working at it.

For me it was worse. When I sanded the first time I went from 600 grit to 2000 grit then I polished it. I saw I missed some scratches so I just sanded with 800 grit paper and them polished it again not realizing that I should have did the 1000,1200,1500, and 2000 before polishing again. So I just finished sanding the inside again properly and doing the outside later. I do appreciate your input. Good to finally get some advice.

It its what it is and how it should be.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Originally Posted by noplay180

noplay180

Local metal manufacturer up the street from where I live. Got a nice deal. Cut them all to my specifications.

[Newbie Aquarist]

I am looking at these skimmers for my setup.

http://www.aquacave.com/skimz-sm-251...mmer-3324.html

http://www.reefspecialty.com/virtuem...n-skimmer.html

http://www.aquacave.com/skimz-sm-302...mmer-3329.html


Unless you have other suggestions.

[nuccadoc]

Here's my suggestion.

http://www.aquacave.com/turboflotor-...edic-1059.html

Have you gotten the scratches out? I wet sand with 800-1000 by hand with a block, depending on the size of the scratch, the use a DA sander with foam pads using Novus 3. Works great! HTH.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Originally Posted by nuccadoc

Here's my suggestion.

http://www.aquacave.com/turboflotor-...edic-1059.html

If I had a fish room that skimmer would work.


Have you gotten the scratches out? I wet sand with 800-1000 by hand with a block, depending on the size of the scratch, the use a DA sander with foam pads using Novus 3. Works great! HTH.

So fast I wet sanded the inside down to 2000 grit. I am doing the outside the same way. I got the novus kit but most people say its a waste of time. Is it?




It its what it is and how it should be.

[Newbie Aquarist]

After making the rookie mistake on my tank. I started all over from scratch and sanded the inside and outside of the tank. All the way from 600 - 800 grit with an orbital sander, and hand sanded it from 1000 - 2000 grit. Next move is to clean and move tank inside of house. I would take pics but its nothing but a light to medium haze inside and out. I will post pictures once the tank is inside the house.

[Reefnooblet]

I don't see your homemade heatsinks being efficient enough to cool your led's.

[nuccadoc]

I have used the Novus 3 with my Porter Cable DA w/ foam pads for the past 2yrs to polish the wetsanding marks out with great success. The key to my success is the DA machine, you wouldn't get the same results doing it by hand. Also I wouldn't use a wool pad. I know Five 0 recommended it, and for someone with a lot of experience using one, they can be great, but for the novice, you can get into a lot of trouble quickly if you don't know what you're doing.

[1978sooner]

Looks awesome!

[Newbie Aquarist]

Originally Posted by Reefnooblet

I don't see your homemade heatsinks being efficient enough to cool your led's.

There will be fans incorporated. I will know more once I conduct the test to see how many fans or what type of fans I will need. I am still in the beginning and learning phase. Any suggestions?

[Newbie Aquarist]

Originally Posted by nuccadoc

I have used the Novus 3 with my Porter Cable DA w/ foam pads for the past 2yrs to polish the wetsanding marks out with great success. The key to my success is the DA machine, you wouldn't get the same results doing it by hand. Also I wouldn't use a wool pad. I know Five 0 recommended it, and for someone with a lot of experience using one, they can be great, but for the novice, you can get into a lot of trouble quickly if you don't know what you're doing.

So I should use the polishing pad for it. And after I am done do I use the Novus 2 or go straight to Novus 1?

[nuccadoc]

Yes, use the novus 2, then 1. If your final sanding is with 2000 grit paper, you will have a flawless finish.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Originally Posted by nuccadoc

Yes, use the novus 2, then 1. If your final sanding is with 2000 grit paper, you will have a flawless finish.

Thanks. I will try that.