300 Gallon Acrylic Restoration & System Build

[ZTheBaldGuy]

Ok a quick update. I started buffing the aquarium with the novus 3 and 90 minutes later I was out of novus 3 and hadn't made much progress in removing the scratches. The novus 3 was working but not very efficiently.

So I am going back to the drawing board and taking a different approach. Since the scratches are much deeper than novus 3 can reasonably handle on such a large surface area I will start with 1000 then 2000 grit sandpaper first. After I have sanded out the scratches then I will move onto the novus 3/2 polishing.

So it seems this weekend won't have much progress for me to report on. I will have to order the materials and start again next weekend.

 

[Steve_C]

Yep found that exact same thing out on my 240g acrylic build just recently. The Novus 3/2/1 is really good for clearing up hazed panels or very small sanding marks, but it does not really remove scratches at all. I ended up wet sanding with a palm sander and 1000 then 2000 then buffing with a small palm buffer ($15 from Harbor Freight) and it came out looking brand new. Didn't really take as long as I thought it would either, goes pretty quickly just set aside about 6-8hours total one weekend and that'll cover the job.

 

[ZTheBaldGuy]

Yep found that exact same thing out on my 240g acrylic build just recently. The Novus 3/2/1 is really good for clearing up hazed panels or very small sanding marks, but it does not really remove scratches at all. I ended up wet sanding with a palm sander and 1000 then 2000 then buffing with a small palm buffer ($15 from Harbor Freight) and it came out looking brand new. Didn't really take as long as I thought it would either, goes pretty quickly just set aside about 6-8hours total one weekend and that'll cover the job.

That is a great point. Novus 3 has its limitations. If you are doing a small area then it should be fine but for acrylic on the scale we are working with, it is better to sand and then move onto the novus.

Here is a pic of the acrylic buffing:

 

[ZTheBaldGuy]

It's been a while since I have posted any updates. I have been slowly making progress on sanding the aquarium to get the scratches out. I'm currently still sanding the inside with 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper.



Pictured, it is currently laying on the side on moving blankets while I sand the interior. The scratches run pretty deep so it will take more time to get them all out and cleared up. I decided to not do anything to what will be the rear of the tank as I will be painting it black with plasti-dip.



Here is a shot of the bottom to give you an idea of all the holes that were drilled into it by the previous owner. I ordered and received a new set of schd 40 bulkheads from bulk reef supply for the bottom of the aquarium.

I cleaned up and stripped the sump of all bulkheads.



I also cut out the angled piece of acrylic on the bottom. It served no purpose in my mind so I cut it out with my dremel.

Here is another shot of the sump after cleanup.



I had considered putting in bulkheads for the sump and plugging them to get it water tight but I think I will instead weld a sheet of acrylic on the front and also on that top half circle cutout and finally on the hole cut into the side of the sump. While I haven't used weldon much to weld acrylic together I am less hesitant to work with it on the sump vs. my 300 gallon aquarium. The thing I do need to figure out is if I want to weld individual squares over each hole or try and weld a larger sheet over all of them. I think welding a larger sheet will be more risky and prone to problems as it will be difficult getting the weldon into all of the spaces between the pieces of acrylic. So I am inclined to go with smaller squares for now.

All that being said, I have ordered the following items that I am waiting to get delivered:

2x Jebao DCP 10000 pumps. I ordered them from Fish Street. I plan on only using 1 pump as a return, while the other will be a backup/replacement pump I will keep on hand in case one fails.

I had wanted to get an Ecotech Vectra L1 but I read too many reviews where the pump seemed to fail after 6 months. Not worth spending $449 on a pump that is getting mixed reviews.

Items that I have ordered and received:

Bulkheads for the bottom of the aquarium.
Black Plasti-Dip spray cans to eventually paint the back black.
8 foot by 4 foot sheet of R5 insulation that the aquarium will sit on. This should work to address any issues related to ensuring the bottom of the acrylic aquarium is fully supported.

Things I still need to do:

Aquarium

1. Sand/buff out scratches .
2. Paint the back panel black.

Sump:

Patchup all of the holes.
Create a drip tray for the wet/dry portion.
Setup some kind of sponge setup to filter the water after it leaves the wet dry portion of the sump but before it reaches the return pump.

Once I get the above stuff done, I can focus on setting up the aquarium and getting the plumbing hashed out and doing a 2-3 week test run in the garage before moving it all into the house and replacing my current aquarium with it.

I'm starting to get excited as I feel like I am getting closer to getting everything setup and going. It feels like it has been forever and a day since I bought this tank. I'm surprised with my level of patience throughout this project.

 

[PDRed302]

Looking great, everything seems to be cleaning up well! Keep us updated.

 

[ZTheBaldGuy]

Wanted to post another update. I finished patching up all of the holes in the sump. I went by a local shop and picked up a 3/8" acrylic sheet along with some Weldon #4 & Weldon #16. Prior to welding each piece I cleaned the area with paper towels and rubbing alcohol.



You can see the outlines of the pieces over the various holes. They were all welded onto the inside of the sump. After 2 hours I went ahead and put some Weldon #16 in each hole on the outside as an extra step to ensure everything was sealed up nice and tight. The welds looked good for the most part. I will give it 2 days and then will water test it for leaks.

Outside of a drip plate and welding a couple of pieces of acrylic to hold a sponge in place for mechanical filtration, the sump is pretty much done. Right now I am thinking I will cut 2 pieces of egg crate/light diffuser that will hold pillow batting material between them for the mechanical filtration.

The Jebao DCP 10000 pumps were delivered on Thursday. I will plug each in and run it to confirm they work at the same time I do the water test for the sump.



Here is a shot of the SCHD 40 bulkheads that will go on the bottom of the tank. I'm thinking of not plugging one of them and setting it up as a drain to make draining the tank easier during waterchanges.



Finally, here is a shot of my current setup. It is a 75 gallon long. Think same footprint as a 100 long except it is only 16 inches high. So it is 60Lx18Wx16H.



Not sure what I will do with it once the 300 is setup and all of the fish are moved over. I prefer to have only 1 aquarium running for ease of maintenance.

While I was at the shop buying the Weldon, I chatted with the folks in there for a bit. While I am certainly not a pro at welding acrylic and have never built my own aquarium the idea of building my own 450+ gallon aquarium was intriguing. I might scratch this itch in a few years when the 300 begins to feel small to me.

So overall, I am inching ever closer to getting this all buttoned up. The excitement is slowly building as this project is moving from stuff that still needs to be done and instead moving closer to lets add water and make sure everything works right stage.

 

[ZTheBaldGuy]

Posting another update. I'm pretty much done with my sump. I'll water test it tomorrow to check for leaks but all that is left is to install the bulkhead on top that the drain hose will connect to.

I used eggcrate/light diffuser to mark the acrylic for the holes.



Here is a shot with all of the locations for the holes marked out.



Ignore the side that looks like a chipmunk gnawed on it. I smoothed it out with some 60 grit sandpaper.

I clamped the acrylic to the aquarium stand and used my dewalt hand drill and a step drill bit to cut the holes.



Final shot of the sump. All that is left is adding the bulkhead to the top for the drain hose.



As I mentioned, tomorrow I will water test the sump and function test the 2 Jebao pumps to ensure there are no leaks in the sump and that the 2 pumps work out of the box.

After that, I am back to sanding and buffing the inside of the aquarium.

On a final note for this post, I think I will end up using some sponges from an AC 110 to handle the mechanical filtration in the sump. I will just stack and jam them together to make them fit. The eggcrate/light diffuser pillow batting polisher works but I don't feel like welding any acrylic brackets into the sump to secure it in place.

 

[ZTheBaldGuy]

Water tested the sump this morning. I filled and let it sit for about 2.5 hours. After I filled it, I left to run errands and when I came back home all of the birds within a 2 mile radius were using it as a bird bath...LOL.

Pic of sump full of water.



I filled it much higher than it will be when it is actually running in an effort to exert the most pressure on the welds of the patches to see if there was anything that could leak. I'm happy to report there were no leaks. So I can now say, she may be ugly, but she works!

I also function tested both Jebao pumps. The first one threw off an error code but I hit the feed mode button and it started right up. The second one started right up without any hiccups. I marked the box of the pump that threw the error code and will use it when I water test the entire setup in my garage to see if it was a 1 time thing or if this one will need to go back.

 

[ZTheBaldGuy]

I wanted to post a final update to this thread. The bottom of the aquarium experienced a massive crack that was not repairable. It probably happened during one of the various moves while I was sanding and buffing the interior. The acrylic on the bottom was thinner than the front/sides/top so I guess while being extremely disappointing it shouldn't come as a surprise either.

The aquarium is currently sitting in my garage. I have 2x 96"x30" 3/4" sheets and 2x 30"x24" 3/4" sheets that I can harvest out of the aquarium for something else. I'm kinda thinking that things will end up coming full circle and one of the 8 foot long sheets will end up being the viewing panel for a plywood aquarium.

 

[aotechs]

Have you thought about cutting out the bottom panel and replacing with another sheet of 1/2"? That would fix all of your holes and could even allow you to move the weir location with a little more work.

I've removed a top panel with a router and welded on a new panel in about an hour. Much faster and easier than building a plywood aquarium, but doesn't change the footprint of the tank. If you're going wider or longer on the new build, disregard my last comment.