Novus 1-2-3 plastic polishing kit

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Update and breakthrough, as there always seems to be one (breakthroughs) whenever trying new never before done things as an individual. I had read that using wet/dry sandpaper is used for polishing acrylic tanks before using Novus but never caught on and never read as to why other then it being personal preference.

After today's mediocre results with the inside front using the polisher & Novus 3 for an extended period of time, on the outside I decided to be brave and use the 1000 grit automotive wet/dry sandpaper on rubber hand block. Long story short it was like someone had given me a warp-drive device becasue what had taken me an hour with a polisher and Novus 3 was accomplished in 5 minutes looking much more uniform, cleaner and less opaque.

Needless to say Im off to Autozone to buy some 2000 wet/dry sandpaper becasue I know Im on the right track especially since after doing a test spot with Novus 2 where I had wet/dry the difference was like night and day. But not wanting to short chnage myself I will follow-up with 2000 wet/dry and then use Novus 3,2 & 1 for the final polishing.

I could have saved myself a lot of time using the wet/dry first but that is what is great about DIY, you really learn valuable skills the hard way but the best way.
 
Update. just wanted to bring this thread to some sort of conclusion. The 1000 to 2000 automotive wet/dry sanding with water was absolutely a necessary prerequisite to achieve any sort of progress as the Novus system by itself would have had me growing a long beard before I made any progress. The photo you see below is after finishing up using the polisher and Novus 3 followed by 2. Novus 1 did very little to add any polishing effect and in fact is sort of slimy, a very mild solution of RO & dish-washing liquid as recommended by Acrylic manufactures works far better IMO.
ClearTankalmost005.jpg
 
It ain't wrong if it works. Good for you. Looks Good.
 
This thread is very helpful for me cause ill be the same thing in about 3 weeks. My 180 I got off off CL is not even close to being as bad as your was. It also was a salt tank but I want to bring it back just alittle.

Thanks for your involuntary help!!!
 
Your welcome! One thing I might add is that that the whole process of using wet/dry sand paper in grits of 1000 to 2000 is only going to prepare the majority of the scuffed or oxidized acrylic for transparent buffing so that Novus can do its job.

In order to get scratches out the size you can snag your fingernails on you are going to have to use your fingers as small sanding blocks with small portions of higher grit sandpaper starting with 220-400-600-800-1000-2000 then Novus. You wouldn't want to block the entire tank this way to get a long center view scratch out so you would feather it with your fingers.

Here is what the tank looks like when you use a sanding block with 1000-2000 grit and water. Notice the white cream which is actually acrylic dust being taken off mixing with water. You need the water while sanding. Not so wet that its runny and not so dry that its caking but more then damp. Doing it this way saves allot of Novus and sandpaper is relatively cheap, one block sheet 4"x6" coasting about $.025 to do an entire 93 gallon tank inside and out.
SandingAcrylicTank001.jpg

SandingAcrylicTank003.jpg
 
Glad it worked out. I got my225 with a huge gouge in the front, was able to mostly remove it it with wet sandpaper, then used then used novus 2 to finish it up. They guy at the acrylic shop advised against using novus 1, and honestly I don't see what it could possibly do. I will let you know that if you clean it with anything, water included, it will slowly make the areas hazy again. Just a quick rubdown with more polish solves the problem though. After the first polish it was about 6 months before the spots showed up, cleaning it about once a month.

Novus IMO is a must have for acrylic tanks.
 
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