Hit me up if you want some tips/tricks. I have polished a ton of tanks (wet and dry).
I used to have a good size car cleaning and new paint refinishing company (we sanded and buffed newly painted cars or sections for a body shop) in NY. I could make cars top coats look like glass, even black cars while under the lights we used to "see the top coat" as best as I can describe it. The lights and you had to learn how to look and used angles to see the top coat... kinda like how you look a diamonds, sides and top facet.
I understand completely. I took my brand new ride and polished the crap out of it. Then 3 coat of ceramic coat lol. I do not like swirl marks or orange peel. Even new cars end up with some. Granted, I did not buy a 150k car this go around, but still. I want it to look good lol.
Played around with grit steps a little. Skipped some in between grits to see how it worked out.
It was a little bit more effort to go from one to the next, but less effort than one to next lol.
Excuse the lights going blue to white to blue. I have them setup for tons of cloud cover/ramp up/ ramp down
All scratches came out using 600, so was happy about that. I ended up using hand power vs the magnet for scratches and feathering, so just did the whole tank by hand. Only being 18" deep made this easy, well at least easy to reach. Arms are a little wore out, as I was able to apply more pressure when sanding.
I still have the 15k to go, remove some scratches (very light) from the outside and then buff the tank. Not bad for a 7' tank (yes it is 18" deep with 16" waterline and 32" wide, but still a large tank lol) to be completed by lunch time. Well 20 minutes form luch, so back to it lol.
600 grit
1000 grit
2500 grit
5000 grit
8000 grit
12000 grit
One of them lol. That is on the list today also. I have to hang the shelf, mark where the holes will be for the bolts I am using for the lights, pull it down, drill the holes, use a counter bit so the heads do not stick up, hang shelf, slip on shades, mount lights and then route all wiring to where you cannot see it. Kristy has plans to put all of our really old bottles and other nick nacks on the shelf. Being as the stand is old barn wood with a white wash on it, I think it will look awesome.
Thanks, I was going to ask about the waste from the sanding. This covers it. Looking good.OK, so 15k is done. Water needs to clear up now. The front panel made cloiuds all n its own.
Trick 1: run skimmers super wet and be ready to dump them a lot. I added 20 gallons of fresh SW to my sump (100g tub, so had room) this made my skimmers wet without changing them. I did have to adjust them as they pulled out all of the powder and tons of water, but worth it.
Check out this nastyness. The acrylic powder skims out super easy and very quickly. And yes I run 2 skimmers. Heavy in (ammonia dosing) and heavy out.
After dumping them.
And now for the front after 15000 grit. Water still needs to clear, but it is done. Outside of polsihing the outside, but that was not in the original plan. This just went so quick and I had time until 2pm set for this, so even after polishing the outside, will still be ahead.
Well aren't you productive today!OK, so I forgot the pre-pics.
Imagine this. The 61" aquatic life fixture installed using 4 of the wall mount adjustable arms that they sell. Not the nice clean looking ones, but the old style with the round rods that stick out from the wall plates about 16". Then you have 3 hydra 32s in it. One with a shade installed and 2 with DIY prism for some better blending of the light.
OK, now that you have that. I will change subjects. @Crabby48 knows how long I have been meaning to do this lol. I moved the supprts for my returns to where the thing is actually somewhat level and you cannot see as much of it. The "tee" was very noticeable and now it is not.
OK, back on track here. I mounted the lights to the shelf after I went all draw happy to get the lights exactly where I wanted them with the shades installed. I then figured out how far in from the side and how far in from the front of the lights the mounting holes were. From there I made a template that allowed me to mark the board to where the front edge of the shade met the front edge of the shelf. The shelf is not as deep as the tank, as I want to still be able to move rock or add rocks, if needed.
Once the template was correct, traced onto the shelf, the screw holes marked, I drilled holes the exact size as the 10/32 bolts. After that, I used a counter sink bit to where the head of the bolt was recessed. From there, I attached the lights with jam nuts at the shelf and the light.
I then routed all of the cabling for the lights onto the shelf. I used some zip tie feet that are proably 10 or so years old. Maybe older, as I have been out of the field for that long lol. I still has come short wood screws from that time also. They are special order screws used to mount boxes under registers in retail stores. Short enough to not bust through the cheap crap they use for the fixtures, but long enough to bite.
Once all that was done, the shelf brackets were mounted and then the shelf.
The view from the couch no longer blinds anyone. I also removed the prism sheets, as the lights are at 10.5" from the water and with 2 gyres, 2 mp40s and 2 mp10s, the water moves just fine and there is no need to blend the light at that height. Only reason they were so low previously was due to the T5 blinding everyone. T5 not needed at this time, as rock structure is almost dead center of tank and not growing SPS on sand or behind rocks lol.
Par is still 150-180 on sand, 200-260 mid rocks and 250-400 up top. Lights are only at 65%, so still room to move them up if needed. Luckily tank has been without T5s for over a month and lights ramping up over that same time. They still have to get to 75% peak, but that will not happen until end of next week.
Either way, crap ton done today. Still have to move the biocube contents to the nem tank, but Damian is home for easter and has a task for me. He is having a ton of friends over and wants wood for a bonfire. So off to the woods I go to cut some ones laying for a year up.
I will snag a full tank, stand and shelf pic once wife gets the shelf how she wants it and I put the stand back together. Until then, have fun. I am off to be a lumberjack lol.
Not a *********, but you and everyone else listening to me gripe about it lol.
