# 7' Acrylic Aquarium Polishing (w/set up pics) & more



## mpowers (Apr 8, 2011)

Restoration how to or how I learned to polish acrylic.

So here is the tank that we purchased used a few weeks back.









Did not take a lot of pics of scratches and the tank before hand, just got down to work on the job at hand.

The instructions here are how I polished this tank. After doing so I would do this a bit differently next time to save time and I'll go over that at the end.

Lets start off with scratches or gouges in the acrylic. The first picture here that you see is where I am using 600 grit wet/dry (all paper grit types used are wet/dry) sand paper from any parts store. 









The pic is of the back of the tank from the inside looking onto the painted back side. The long scratches you see are where the epoxy on the back was accidentally scrapped by yours truly. I am going to focus on the prominent scratch in the center of the pic. This pic was taken about mid way thru the process of using the 600g. I used a palm sander with water and dawn for a lubricant. You'll need to work an area of about 15" for this one 1" scratch to avoid a distortion and move around in all direction. Don't worry, as you can see there are many more around it too that will be tackled at the same time. During and after each sanding I would wipe the area clean of debris with a microfiber towel, once you used the microfiber for the sanding step don't use it for any polishing as it will trap small particles of acrylic and sand that washing will not take out. But do wash them and use them for further sanding clean up.

This pic is after the 600g and 800g. Still can see a tiny pin holes where the scratch is at this point. Again same method used as described above.









After 1000g. That little blotch/birthmark you see on the bottom left corner looked to me where someone was sloppy with weld-on, it was a raised area that help me keep track of the original scratch. Speaking of keeping track of these as you work. On the front and side panels I used a sharpie on the outside of the tank to keep track of the scratches on the inside of the tank. Once you start sanding with the water the scratches will disappear on you and this helps keep track of what you were doing. Do note, I hadn't done the outside yet at this point. So my outside sanding removed the sharpie , my point is mark it with something or you won't be able to see it.









After 1500g. Had to lay the camera lens cap beside where the scratch was. From here I would go over it again with 1500g by a padded hand sander. You can see where the finishing sander left chatter marks. It's a cheap sander that I already had, maybe a higher end one would have done a better job. I stopped here on the back and I'll explain why in a moment.









So now we are off the area I was working on the back of the tank and looking thru the front panel, the spray bottle is placed in the photo to show clarity. I didn't just jump from 1500g to this, I wish! So here is how to end up with 99% clear tank. I say 99% because I didn't want to spend any more time on it (after 40+hrs I was happy to call it good).









From the 1500g I hand sanded 2000g with the padded hand sander, again working in all directions and for some time. Onto 3000g that was done by hand (no sand paper holder) in a Mr Miyagi style with light pressure. By now the tank should look cloudy but uniform.

Time to break out the high speed buffer and mini orbital buffer! So I have all three stages of Novus plastic polish and can say it doesn't work as well as what available to the automotive world. I'll save you a lot of cash and tell you to skip the Novus. I used Meguiar's Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner step 1 & 2 and their PlastX, I can't promise these are fish safe. But I througly washed the tank with dawn and bleach.

How to use the Meguairs paint cleaner; pretty simple, make sure to use a polishing bonnet or foam pad (I used both only to not have to wash them out between switching polish) and with light pressure work an area no larger than 4'-5'sq. Be sure that the polish is well saturated on the pad and the acrylic to avoid burning and you will have no problems. Wipe off in between each stage with a clean fresh microfiber towel (btw the best place to buy these are Sam's club, something like 20 for less than 10 bucks). These you can wash and reuse, just don't let the polish harden onto the towel and your good. After performing stage 1 & 2 it should look near clear with only very, very fine scratches that are hard to see. If your like me and find you missed a scratch here or there during the sanding process, now is the time to repeat from what ever sanding stage you think it would take to remove the scratch out. You'll use the Mequiar's PlastX the same way as the paint cleaner and this should remove all the very fine marks. If you don't have a high a high speed buffer don't worry, my little palm orbital polisher from wally world that's 10 years old worked as well as the high speed buffer, just took more time.

Take your time with each of these steps and the results will speak for themselves.

Now back to a few things I did discover and would like to share.

First, I stopped at the 1500 grit on the back of the tank and just polished it from that stage. While not as clear as the other panels, you will never no when it is filled with water.

Second, when the tank is filled with water about all but the heavy scratches disappear any way, the only way to view them was to inspect the acrylic from multiple angles as the water seems to play a visual trick on the eyes. Another words, if you missed a very fine scratch after all you hard work, you may want to fill the tank and see if you can find it with the tank lights on.

Third, I would have worked in a slightly different order. Wash the tank, polish with 1&2 steps and them attack the larger marks and then polish again. The way I did it was the whole tank from 600g on up which is very time consuming. And if a corner is fine, stay out of it with the sand paper. They can be a pia to get into with a buffer.

Fourth, if the tank is painted on the back with epoxy, don't scratch it! I had to use a 60g to remove the stuff! That took forever to bring it back to ok looking. But the neat part is once painted again with Krylon Fusion you can't see my laziness of not polishing out the back


----------



## mpowers (Apr 8, 2011)

I'll be using a hole saw bit for the hole, but as always start with a pilot hole. In my case an 1/8" bit would be a good guide. Set the drill to high speed and let the weight of the drill be all the pressure you need. I'm sure we have all drilled a piece of wood by now and know if you apply to much pressure you can cause the bottom side to blow out/fracture. Same thing here, don't be in a hurry! 









2-1/8" Hole saw bit, while I don't need a hole that large now, I might in the future.









What the hole looks like about half way through cutting. Stopping frequently (every 10~ sec or so) to add water/dawn for lubricant. If the bit gets hot it will melt the acrylic, again stop and add lubricant frequently. I think the first hole took an hour between letting things cool and recharging batteries. Again high speed and let the weight of the drill be all the pressure you need. The orange color you see is the paint from the bit coming off.









The mini torch, pretty easy to use; Heat up the area moving the torch back and forth while looking for the acrylic to polish up. My reason for doing this step is to smooth out the sharp and rough edges of the hole. 









And here is the finished hole!


----------



## mpowers (Apr 8, 2011)

Parting shots.









Of course everyone is hiding when I come up to take a pic.









And the start of the fish room. Seemed kinda barren with no furniture, so I stuck the dining table in between the lakes, err tanks.









Now to build 3 aquariums stand for the two 20g and the 55g. That should round out the room nicely! Oh and some real furniture.


----------



## fusion (Jun 21, 2012)

Nice work :thumb: 
I looked at the Mguires but was hesitant to use it and went with the Novus as the Novus stated its ok for Aquariums, im sure its ok but i just has a bit of hazing
Your braver than me taking a sander to it


----------



## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

Great looking tank. Nice work!


----------



## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Beautiful end result. We have two acrylics, one with very few marks and the other, well, my husband created a tic-tac-toe board on the inside of the tank by doing a cleaning with a shell caught under the magnet (yikes) so at some point we will have to do the cleanup thing. I'm bookmarking your thread for future reference and thanks for the step by step. Great work!


----------



## mpowers (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks everyone for the compliments! And hope others find it useful, I know I had a hard time finding quality info on how to and most of this was learned as I went.

I had a question on our local club forum and figured I would post up my response here as well since I'm sure someone will ask.
"Did you find a noticeable difference when you buffed the 1500 as opposed to the 3000 (hope that makes sense)?

I'm working a 120 gallon that's pretty scuffed up. I'm going 600 to 1500 and then buffing.

I'm pretty happy with the results so far and was wondering how much of a difference the higher grits would make on the clarity - it's a lot of work (especially if you are a perfectionist like me) jumping to 2000 and then 3000.

Heck 3000 is like sanding with a piece of notebook paper..

Also what type of buffer did you use?

I'm using a headlight restoration pad on a drill and it works pretty good, but it doesn't seem fast enough and it takes a lot of buffing to clear the Plastx.

Thanks"

My response,
Yes, quite a bit of difference. Here is a shot of the back, the same area I took all the original pics from (you can still see the weld-on mark) and a front pic of my hand.

I could have spent more time on the back, but no need to when the water hides the marks. It was polished in the same manner as the front.









Now I probably did give the front more attention while polishing, but can say the extra sanding paid off. The cut is on my finger, not the acrylic,  









Here are the two buffers I used. The variable high speed (from 320-3400rpm iirc) was a bear to use on the inside. The key was to use plenty of polish to make sure the polishing pad stayed wet and lower speed, around 2 (it has a scale of min, 1-5 and max). The pad is still on it now with a bag around it to keep it wet and clean. I haven't done the access lids yet...

The little cheap orbital I used in the tighter spots for all the polishing and for a one more coat of PlastX after all was said in done with the high speed polisher. In reality the orbital could do it all at a much slower pace. I bought it years ago from wally world to avoid hand waxing my cars. It was cheap and worth every penny. I did buy the Mother's power ball headlight restore kit, but soon realized I was better off with my other tools and wasted that money.









Since your onto polishing and your happy with it, maybe just upgrade polishers (little orbital)? A 100g tank with a powerball will take a while

My best advice is don't rush.


----------



## matt121966 (Mar 6, 2012)

thanks for sharing your experience. rather timely as I have my acrylic sheets to build a 120g 48 x 24 in the garage. I love the first picture of the tank. can you share your filtration ? all I see is a spray bar. I want to duplicate your tank. thanks.


----------



## mpowers (Apr 8, 2011)

matt121966 said:


> thanks for sharing your experience. rather timely as I have my acrylic sheets to build a 120g 48 x 24 in the garage. I love the first picture of the tank. can you share your filtration ? all I see is a spray bar. I want to duplicate your tank. thanks.


Hi matt121966! Here are a few more pics of the filtration and plumbing that is rather simple and easy to maintain.

The right side of the tank and spray bar is powered by an FX5. 









The left side of the tank and spray bar/jet is powered by an FX5 and Rena XP2. The exhaust of the FX5 feeds into the intake of the Rena via t with a 5/8" hose barb. I set it up this way for two reasons; the rena does all my fine filtration/water polishing and on the exhaust line behind the tank is an Hydor ETH300 inline heater. Both left and right FX5 are set up with only the outer rings w/pads & the inside baskets housing only bio max and prefilter ceramics. I had used this combo on my 75g with great success with regards to water quality and keeping my maintenance to maybe once every 6-7 mo on the FX5's. The Rena is much easier to quickly clean and replace pads in. The FX5 has enough punch to run the Rena unplugged and still push water out the jet and spray bar with plenty of force. I do have it plugged in tho. 









Lousy pic of the jet and spray bars, camera wouldn't focus. Anyway, the jet came with the Rena, wish it were black but it really only can be seen when the sun hits the tank. The black pvc came from http://www.savko.com , I'll probably order some .5" for a better looking jet in the future. 

















Here is a pic with the curtains drawn and plenty of sunlight, no tank lights. 









The first tank pic was taken at night with no flash. Thats how the tank really does look at night. I had tried several light set ups before I settled on using two single bright leds. One is a 48" and the other is a 20"? Anyway I have these staggered to highlight the main rock and to fade out light towards the ends of the tank. If you look at my room pic you can see the 75g is a lot brighter, it has the double bright led.


----------



## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Nice looking tank and well done on the polishing. The rocks look great very natural, but I would add some smaller ones along the base of the bigger ones, scattered here and there think tennis ball to ping pong ball to marble size but in different shapes. it will add a bit more dimenson to the look.

Kind of like in the foreground of this pic. Just a thought, tank looks great either way!


----------



## mpowers (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks JimA! Yep, plan too add some smaller rocks to accent the larger ones. Unfortunately the landscape place I picked those up from didn't have smaller stones that matched. I'm really wanting to go towards Va-W.Va border to the lakes and streams to do some picking. Probably wait till spring now that it's turned cooler.


----------

