So I’m new to acrylic and we used the Novus 321 and we also sanded with 1000 and 2000 grit sandpaper and every time it looks cloudy and stuff. Any tips suggestions would be helpful.
For large areas and deep scratches wet sand with an small orbital sander,never in swirls, go back and forth, then up and down. Make sure you completely remove the lines from the previous grit. Keep going up in grit, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2400 and higher if needed. My kit goes all the way to 12000.
Check out Micro Mesh. They have complete aquarium kits.
Novus works well on the outside where the scratches dont go too deep. I recently took out some minor surface scratches with Novus 3, then 2 with a Cyclo polisher.
You might not have to go that far up in grit. The first tank I think I only went to 2400. I used a spray bottle, wet the surface, then sand with the orbital sander, by hand it is too hard to get even pressure. You don’t have to press down, let the grit do the work. I bought my sander from Harbor Freight for about 15.00.
Use of a orbital sander will end up being much quicker and give better results than hand sanding. Do not push down on the sander. Allow it's weight to do the work for you. Don't skip a grade, and take your time to work up through them.