SonicsDC25
New Member
Here are the before, after sanding and the final product pictures. Now have to strip the paint off the stand, sand and repaint it to my wife's liking, hopefully will have the tank up and running by Tuesday or Wednesday night.
New Acrylic Aquarium, how should I buff it?
- Thread starter SonicsDC25
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SonicsDC25
New Member
Well finished sanding/painting the stand and got it and the tank in the living room now. Now, I just got all the plumbing re-connected and glued, but the one thing I'm worried about is that inside the PVC pipes, there's some salt residue from the old system that the previous owner had for his saltwater tank. I'm going to be running a cichlid tank (African to be exact) and was wondering if there was a way to flush out all the salt? Maybe have the tank running then do a water change, then re-fill the tank and put the fish in?
SonicsDC25
New Member
Yeah I was thinking to let the salt dissolve back into the tank and do a water change to get the pH down a bit, but if the pH stays at around 8.0-8.2, I'd may as well leave it at that.
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Anonymous
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:iagree:DMD123 said:
SonicsDC25
New Member
Aquarium Co-Op said:
Thanks Cory
In that case I'll put my media in the sump instead of just running it for a day or two
SonicsDC25
New Member
Took the measurements, it actually comes out to 139, but with the internal overflow it's a bit less since the overflow obviously isn't... Overflowing lol
SonicsDC25
New Member
Actually I was wondering, aside from manual removal, how would the waste be collected since there's no intake? I'm guessing some powerheads or wavemakers to push them towards the overflow, but that's a pretty far stretch?
Worst case, I'll position wavemakers to push the waste to a specific corner so I can spend 30 seconds a day to remove them via turkey baster.
Worst case, I'll position wavemakers to push the waste to a specific corner so I can spend 30 seconds a day to remove them via turkey baster.
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Anonymous
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Forgive me me if I am off track with your question. What I see is 2 water returns. For me they are in kind of an odd spot. I am thinking someone custom drilled those holes to be positioned in the center. The way my mind is taking me is eventually you'll invest in a power head or two to aggravate and create surface current.SonicsDC25 said:
The way it is set up now you would point the jets angled down. The water current would spread across the substrate kicking up waste. The current would then curl up the sides and the overflow would suck debris toward it. Large debris would get caught in the teeth of the overflow. Small debris would stick in the prefliter sponge.
The way this is currently set up would be a planted tank nightmare but would work out okay in a rock type environment. You may end up with dead spots (still water) depending where you position rocks.
SonicsDC25
New Member
Yeah there are 2 outlets in the very corner to return water from the sump, then there are 2 other outlets and intakes drilled into the tank that hooks up to a 2nd pump, which is a bit odd. I don't use it though because the pump is EXTREMELY loud. Also the flow from the sump's return outlets aren't that strong, plus I point them towards the surface for agitation and I just hooked up my 750GPH wavemaker to the left side, did clear a lot of debris from the center and the waste is now primarily on the outside by the left/right walls =\
SonicsDC25
New Member
Anyone know how long I should wait after spray painting the canopy before putting it onto the tank? Don't want to risk anything after all this work to have something potentially harmful from the canopy ruin it all O_O
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Anonymous
Guest
okay, I see all the water returns now. This is typical in salt water set ups for optimal water movment. Technically with an open sump you don't need much surface agitation. Aeriation happens in the filtration process in the sump. I used to play around a lot with my returns for optimal water circulation and current. You will have to play around and make adjustments according to "were you want waste to end up", to eliminate dead spots and of course make your fish comfortable.SonicsDC25 said:
Maybe 24 hours. I waited 2 days for the stain to dry on my stand.SonicsDC25 said:
SonicsDC25
New Member
Sounds good, thanks Glad you clarified about the aeration in the sump, now I'll move those outlets around to figure out the perfect circulation
Glad you clarified about the aeration in the sump, now I'll move those outlets around to figure out the perfect circulation
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Anonymous
Guest
Your welcome. I've spent about 6 years messing with my tank. My tank is 7 foot long and only 16 inches from front to back. The current set up - the overflow is at one side of the tank, water return 7 feet away on the other end. There is 2 power heads attempting to create a smooth flow from one side of the tank to the other. All debris end up on the overflow end where I net everything out. This is a fully planted tank so there is a lot of debris.
I've tried every combination of overflows and water returns you can imagine. In the end a natural flow from one end of the tank to the other seemed to fit the fish I house the best.
I've tried every combination of overflows and water returns you can imagine. In the end a natural flow from one end of the tank to the other seemed to fit the fish I house the best.
tazeat
New Member
I did a similar job when I got my used 55g, keep one of these on hand for any minor scratch repairs down the road:
http://www.marinedepot.com/Lifegard_Aqu ... CK-vi.html
http://www.amazon.com/Lifegard-Aquatics ... B00019HKBC
If you use a magnetic algae cleaner and a rubber band you can easily do it under water without bothering the fish
http://www.marinedepot.com/Lifegard_Aqu ... CK-vi.html
http://www.amazon.com/Lifegard-Aquatics ... B00019HKBC
If you use a magnetic algae cleaner and a rubber band you can easily do it under water without bothering the fish