I'm joining in the Build Thread - at the encouragement of the moderators - and as Val Kilmer's Doc Holiday said in Tombstone - "I'm your Huckleberry!"
My build thread will start with a what not to do. Or, if you do attempt to do this be prepared for what you're getting yourself into. Read on - it will make sense.
This story actually started about four years ago - we've been on a stall for quite some time. Like many I suppose, I started in the hobby with a freshwater tank - 55g. I enjoyed it and thought I'd delve into a saltwater tank. I hit Craig's list and found a 150g set up for sale for a $100 bucks. Not even lying - $100. I jumped on it. It had everything except for the stock. I checked it out - it was legit. I got the equipment home and was ready to put the kit back together and get started. I took a look at the tank when it was on its stand and immediately didn't like what I saw. The tank was heavily scratched - if not finely. I'm guessing it was from years of cleaning the inside of the glass. This set up I bought was 10s of years old. I found a tag on the tank with a mfg date of 1986 - or there about. So, decades of cleaning the glass left it very scratched.
I decided I would refurbish the tank. I posted several pics. I was going to reseal the tank and polish out the scratches by using glass paper and sanding/polishing them out. This is a thing. If you don't know about it, just Google, or Duck-duck-go if you don't Google, "glass polish" - you'll find products much like sand paper, but designed for removing scratches from glass. You use varying grits of paper along with an angle grinder and just like wood, progressively "sand" the glass until magically the scratches disappear.
What I thought would be a couple weekends of work turned into weeks and weeks. It was back breaking work and I built up quite a sweat. I was up on a ladder, bent over at the waist, hanging into the tank working the angle grinder. I'm in pretty good shape for a guy north of 50 - I compete in Ironman triathlon. But this was a different beast and it was taking its toll. At some points, I climbed in the tank and worked it. The sides went pretty easily and I got those bad boys crystal clear again (you can see that in at least one of the posed photos). I impressed myself. I even drilled the tank - see the pics. I did that without breaking the tank. I did not bother with polishing the back since I was painting it black. The front of the tank proved to my undoing. It was taking forever. While I made great progress, the scratches were deeper than I thought and I wasn't giving it enough time with the more coarse grit paper to polish to clean glass (you have to be sure to not overheat any spot on the glass less it crack). To add insult to injury, every once in a while, the grinder would skip and dig into the glass - adding even more scratches - and deep ones. On top of that, instead of just being random they were a nice arc - very visible. For every step forward I made I took several back. I took a break.
Our family is a sponsor family for US Air Force Academy cadets. We're their home away from home family while they are at the Academy. Why is that relevant? In order to provide a way of anchoring this story in time. This year (2021) in our group of cadets we have a Senior. When he was a Freshman I was excitedly showing him my reef tank project and walked him through my plan - including the scratch abatement work. He asked me when I would be done - I told him by Thanksgiving. That was 2017 - if I'm remembering correctly. It is a running joke now - I never said which Thanksgiving. Looks like it will be Thanksgiving 2021.
Which brings me to today. My tank project sits idle in the basement. I already have nearly $1000 invested in kit for the setup. I decided to replace the aging equipment with updated replacements - sump, pumps, skimmer, Apex controller, etc. Over the ensuing years I actually tried to sell off the new equipment at half of what I paid and even tried to give away the tank to anyone who would come get it. Nobody wanted it. Even had a guy who wanted a tank just for a quarantine tank - any condition as long as it was free - nope, didn't want mine.
So now - I've got the bug again. I've decided that I will dispose of the old tank and get a new one. Rather than give up and try to get as much of the $1000 back as I could, I'm going to go the other direction and invest in a new tank, build a new stand (the current stand I have is the wrong dimensions for the tank I want to get (my current stand is 72x18 - the new tank I want to get is 60x24. I thought of just putting a Corian top on the existing and use it, but there would too much space on the sides and too much overhang), and complete the rest of the equipment I need (lighting and powerheads is all I'm lacking). This will be my continuing story.
This thread will pick up where my project stalled. I haven't bought the new tank yet and I haven't started the stand (that will be this weekend). I still need to get rid of the old tank and stand.
I am glad I found this site and forums - as I will be reading and taking in as much info as I can as get this party started.
I do realize - now - after I started this whole "polishing' adventure - I could have just left well enough alone and the scratches would have not been noticeable when filled with water. Just like I couldn't see them when I examined the tank before I bought it. Live and learn. This lesson is going to cost me about $1100 ($1000 for the new tank + $100 that I paid for the original tank. The good news - I did reseal the tank quite nicely!
All comments, suggestions, chides, encouragement, or requests for information on how to polish glass - are welcome.
My build thread will start with a what not to do. Or, if you do attempt to do this be prepared for what you're getting yourself into. Read on - it will make sense.
This story actually started about four years ago - we've been on a stall for quite some time. Like many I suppose, I started in the hobby with a freshwater tank - 55g. I enjoyed it and thought I'd delve into a saltwater tank. I hit Craig's list and found a 150g set up for sale for a $100 bucks. Not even lying - $100. I jumped on it. It had everything except for the stock. I checked it out - it was legit. I got the equipment home and was ready to put the kit back together and get started. I took a look at the tank when it was on its stand and immediately didn't like what I saw. The tank was heavily scratched - if not finely. I'm guessing it was from years of cleaning the inside of the glass. This set up I bought was 10s of years old. I found a tag on the tank with a mfg date of 1986 - or there about. So, decades of cleaning the glass left it very scratched.
I decided I would refurbish the tank. I posted several pics. I was going to reseal the tank and polish out the scratches by using glass paper and sanding/polishing them out. This is a thing. If you don't know about it, just Google, or Duck-duck-go if you don't Google, "glass polish" - you'll find products much like sand paper, but designed for removing scratches from glass. You use varying grits of paper along with an angle grinder and just like wood, progressively "sand" the glass until magically the scratches disappear.
What I thought would be a couple weekends of work turned into weeks and weeks. It was back breaking work and I built up quite a sweat. I was up on a ladder, bent over at the waist, hanging into the tank working the angle grinder. I'm in pretty good shape for a guy north of 50 - I compete in Ironman triathlon. But this was a different beast and it was taking its toll. At some points, I climbed in the tank and worked it. The sides went pretty easily and I got those bad boys crystal clear again (you can see that in at least one of the posed photos). I impressed myself. I even drilled the tank - see the pics. I did that without breaking the tank. I did not bother with polishing the back since I was painting it black. The front of the tank proved to my undoing. It was taking forever. While I made great progress, the scratches were deeper than I thought and I wasn't giving it enough time with the more coarse grit paper to polish to clean glass (you have to be sure to not overheat any spot on the glass less it crack). To add insult to injury, every once in a while, the grinder would skip and dig into the glass - adding even more scratches - and deep ones. On top of that, instead of just being random they were a nice arc - very visible. For every step forward I made I took several back. I took a break.
Our family is a sponsor family for US Air Force Academy cadets. We're their home away from home family while they are at the Academy. Why is that relevant? In order to provide a way of anchoring this story in time. This year (2021) in our group of cadets we have a Senior. When he was a Freshman I was excitedly showing him my reef tank project and walked him through my plan - including the scratch abatement work. He asked me when I would be done - I told him by Thanksgiving. That was 2017 - if I'm remembering correctly. It is a running joke now - I never said which Thanksgiving. Looks like it will be Thanksgiving 2021.
Which brings me to today. My tank project sits idle in the basement. I already have nearly $1000 invested in kit for the setup. I decided to replace the aging equipment with updated replacements - sump, pumps, skimmer, Apex controller, etc. Over the ensuing years I actually tried to sell off the new equipment at half of what I paid and even tried to give away the tank to anyone who would come get it. Nobody wanted it. Even had a guy who wanted a tank just for a quarantine tank - any condition as long as it was free - nope, didn't want mine.
So now - I've got the bug again. I've decided that I will dispose of the old tank and get a new one. Rather than give up and try to get as much of the $1000 back as I could, I'm going to go the other direction and invest in a new tank, build a new stand (the current stand I have is the wrong dimensions for the tank I want to get (my current stand is 72x18 - the new tank I want to get is 60x24. I thought of just putting a Corian top on the existing and use it, but there would too much space on the sides and too much overhang), and complete the rest of the equipment I need (lighting and powerheads is all I'm lacking). This will be my continuing story.
This thread will pick up where my project stalled. I haven't bought the new tank yet and I haven't started the stand (that will be this weekend). I still need to get rid of the old tank and stand.
I am glad I found this site and forums - as I will be reading and taking in as much info as I can as get this party started.
I do realize - now - after I started this whole "polishing' adventure - I could have just left well enough alone and the scratches would have not been noticeable when filled with water. Just like I couldn't see them when I examined the tank before I bought it. Live and learn. This lesson is going to cost me about $1100 ($1000 for the new tank + $100 that I paid for the original tank. The good news - I did reseal the tank quite nicely!
All comments, suggestions, chides, encouragement, or requests for information on how to polish glass - are welcome.
