Now that the wife and I are back to work we decided to get another large tank but after a near disaster years ago with a glass we looked for acrylic this go-round.
Found a 182g acrylic with oak stand and 40g sump with pump for 500 and jumped on it. I don't know how old it is but it doesn't leak and looks in pretty good shape. I do have a few questions though.
First I can't find any info on Clarity Plus, I know they were bought out years ago but I'm trying to find out if there's any chance they used extruded acrylic. The tank looks clear but I'm concerned about yellowing in the future as the tank will unfortunately be catching some sunlight and my understanding is cast does a much better job of staying clear than extruded. Anyone have any info on Clarity Plus tanks or is there anywhere on the tank that should be marked?
Also there are some small scratches, can't really notice them at all when the tank is filled but I'm sure there will be more to come. I don't plan on doing anything but a deep cleaning to start, that said, how involved and delicate is scratch removal(both exterior and interior without emptying)?
I'll probably run a powerhead or two and could set one up as a surface agitator but would running airstones in the sump help with aeration any or is my understanding of water aeration completely wrong?
For decoration I'm not wasting my time with plants, fake or otherwise, because the tank will have new world cichlids in it and I know how much they like to redecorate. I'll be using heavy stone and wood only, set directly on the bottom, then add substrate. Is pool filter sand ok with acrylic? Trying to avoid scratches and best I can tell that seems like the best option as long as I'm careful when cleaning. Not going to set any decor on top of the substrate because I watched more than a couple times as one of my NW cichlids would dig the sand out from under a piece of driftwood or stone enough that it would tip over and into the glass.
Found a 182g acrylic with oak stand and 40g sump with pump for 500 and jumped on it. I don't know how old it is but it doesn't leak and looks in pretty good shape. I do have a few questions though.
First I can't find any info on Clarity Plus, I know they were bought out years ago but I'm trying to find out if there's any chance they used extruded acrylic. The tank looks clear but I'm concerned about yellowing in the future as the tank will unfortunately be catching some sunlight and my understanding is cast does a much better job of staying clear than extruded. Anyone have any info on Clarity Plus tanks or is there anywhere on the tank that should be marked?
Also there are some small scratches, can't really notice them at all when the tank is filled but I'm sure there will be more to come. I don't plan on doing anything but a deep cleaning to start, that said, how involved and delicate is scratch removal(both exterior and interior without emptying)?
I'll probably run a powerhead or two and could set one up as a surface agitator but would running airstones in the sump help with aeration any or is my understanding of water aeration completely wrong?
For decoration I'm not wasting my time with plants, fake or otherwise, because the tank will have new world cichlids in it and I know how much they like to redecorate. I'll be using heavy stone and wood only, set directly on the bottom, then add substrate. Is pool filter sand ok with acrylic? Trying to avoid scratches and best I can tell that seems like the best option as long as I'm careful when cleaning. Not going to set any decor on top of the substrate because I watched more than a couple times as one of my NW cichlids would dig the sand out from under a piece of driftwood or stone enough that it would tip over and into the glass.