Craigslist Acrylic Aquarium find - Questions

[Steven Hunter]

Hello R2R.

First post here, however I have been following the forum and researching certain topics in anticipation for my reef build for a while now... which leads me onto my newly acquired tank. I found a quarter cylinder 60 gallon 1/2" acrylic aquarium for a sweet deal on Craigslist. It was hard to pass up for the price, it does need a lot of cleaning, however... I have never seen an overflow set up anything like this, and I am hoping that it can work correctly for a reef tank.

It has a bottom intake, which appears to flow up and over a divider, then back down into a pre-drilled hole. It also has another pre-drilled hole for the return, which appears to dump back into the display area of the tank via the circle on the top right of the overflow. This is how I am assuming (hoping) how this works, and my question is: is this compatible with a reef tank?

If anyone has seen this before, would you happen to know what kind of model tank this is? Unable to find anything remotely like it online. Any help or advice that anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Daddy-o]

Odd, Is it a factory or homemade corner? In 30 years I have never come across a tank like that. It looks like the slots are for output. If you sucked water through the slots, you would suck up all kinds of crap including livestock. Perhaps the circle hole is where you put the pump return from the sump to allow air bubbles to float up???? To set it up maybe an overflow box to feed the sump?
Cheers! Mark

 

[Labridaedicted]

Sounds like you got it figured out. Big hole is return. Water enters the slots and flows up over the baffle and once over the baffle enters the main compartment of the overflow box. Looks custom to me. Should be a neat tank! Congrats on the find!

 

[Steven Hunter]

Odd, Is it a factory or homemade corner? In 30 years I have never come across a tank like that. It looks like the slots are for output. If you sucked water through the slots, you would suck up all kinds of crap including livestock. Perhaps the circle hole is where you put the pump return from the sump to allow air bubbles to float up???? To set it up maybe an overflow box to feed the sump?
Cheers! Mark

I did not think it was homemade due to the quality, however the more I think about it the more I think it could have been custom and whoever did it did a real quality job. Hard to say at this point unless I find the model somewhere. I took a closer look at the tank today, and it appears that the hole sits about a 1/2" above the baffle which I originally thought was the intake, however I now believe that it is the return and it dumps out into the bottom through the slots. I believe the only way I will be able to figure it out though truly is to just go ahead and test it once I build the stand Thursday. Thanks

Sounds like you got it figured out. Big hole is return. Water enters the slots and flows up over the baffle and once over the baffle enters the main compartment of the overflow box. Looks custom to me. Should be a neat tank! Congrats on the find!

After looking closer at it, I found that the baffle is about a 1/2" lower than the return which I now believe could be the intake. I just need to test it to figure it out. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Freddy0144]

Well nothing like a water test to get things figured out, this will allow you to test the tank and the function of the over flow. Worst case scenario plug the return holes drill the back put in an overflow box and return and away you go.

If you decide to repolish the acrylic make sure to add a drop or two of dawn to the water bottle when wet sanding the panels start with 1000 Grit, unless there are bad scratches. I did 1000 then 2000 then Novus 3 then 2. make sure to take your time and be patient, use very clean towels and different ones for each step.

 

[Steven Hunter]

Well nothing like a water test to get things figured out, this will allow you to test the tank and the function of the over flow. Worst case scenario plug the return holes drill the back put in an overflow box and return and away you go.

If you decide to repolish the acrylic make sure to add a drop or two of dawn to the water bottle when wet sanding the panels start with 1000 Grit, unless there are bad scratches. I did 1000 then 2000 then Novus 3 then 2. make sure to take your time and be patient, use very clean towels and different ones for each step.

I figured worst case scenario I could plug the bottom slots and rig up an overflow that I have experience with, but the return and intake holes are actually threaded at the bottom of the tank so I don't think it would take much to make it work.

When I bought the tank I bought it under the impression that I would have to polish it. Funny you mentioned the Novus as I've already ordered a kit on Amazon, just waiting for the delivery! The scratches do not appear to be deep but they are numerous, so I will definitely try the dawn trick as well. Thanks for all the tips