acrylic tank?

[spiffyfish]

ok so i found a 180g on craigslist, i am wanting to look at it tomorrow. since i have never owned an acrylic tank what should i look for? the guy says it doesnt leak and has no major scratches, just some swirl marks. is there anything in paticular i should look for?

[strawberryblonde]

Just to be safe, buy it and ship it up to me in Idaho. I'll do a thorough test of it for a year or two and let you know if it's a good tank. :D

If it was me I'd just check very carefully for any small cracks or chips. Other than that, acrylic tanks are every bit as good as glass ones...and lighter!

[a volar]

Ask seller to fill it up to check for leaks.

[discus6628]

Most of time will have scratches. Then it will depend on how deep the scratches and can it be removable. Without water fill up, you can see the scratches more easy. but you also need it to fill up so that you can test for leak. I would said at least fill about 10-25% if it leak it will be at the bottom than less on the side. good luck

[spiffyfish]

i will see if he can do that, im hoping all goes well i will finally be stepping up from my 75g, which i have been trying to do for a while now. the only thing i didnt really like which i guess isnt a big issue, is that the overflow is on one of the sides and 2 holes drilled on the bottom one for drain and one return. if i do get it i may plug the 2 holes one the bottom and run the return from the top so there isnt a pipe sticking up through the tank, unless i can come up with a way that would look good. i just thought it was weird that it was setup that way.

[discus6628]

I have the similar setup. the overflow on the top and one hole drill on the side (about 1/3 of tank height). I ran hot/cold/drain right behind the tank. So WC i just just turn value to drain water out about 75%. Not sure if your is on the side drill or at the bottom. If it is at bottom so have pvc stick up about level that you want water drain down to. For example if you want 75% drain then u have the pvc stick up to 25% then wc will only drain 75%. if you don't have drain run behind the tank then I would suggest connect with hose with shutoff value along with quick connector. When you do WC you could just run water hose to connect to quick connect. After WC then remove the hose.

[spiffyfish]

It has the overflow directly on the right side of the tank, a bulkhead right in front of the overflow encloser on the bottom of the tank and one bulkhead on the left bottom side of the tank.

[bonginator]

Check and make sure it still has a front to back cross member on the top of the tank. On acrylic tanks,it is this crossmember that gives the tank support..

[spiffyfish]

well here it is, i went ahead and got it. for $250 i couldnt pass it up. now i just have to figure out how to buff the entire thing so it is clear again. i will also be gluing some acrylic over the 2 holes drilled in the bottom on the outside of the overflow box as they were for a closed loop which i will not need.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s155/EATSLEEPJDM_album/20130320_210040_zpsa06b5883.jpg
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s155/EATSLEEPJDM_album/20130320_210017_zpsc816e687.jpg
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s155/EATSLEEPJDM_album/20130320_205959_zps2c25174e.jpg

[BigWave]

Have you seen it filled with water yet? I have had 2 acrylic tanks and both looked MUCH better with water in them than without. I spent some time trying to buff the scratches out of my 125, only to find once it was filled with water they basically disappeared. So try filling it first atleast, you might save yourself some time.

For covering the holes on the bottom look at getting some "Weld-on 16" http://www.amazon.com/Weld-On-16-Acrylic-Cement-Oz/dp/B004AS70UG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1363875810&sr=8-5&keywords=weld+on

Weld On actually melts 2 pieces of acrylic together.

Then I would find a plastic shop and see if they will let you get some scraps from their scrap bin, to cover the holes. After using the "weld on" you could add some silicone, but I would use the weld on first.

Hopefully that helps!

[spiffyfish]

i havent filled it up yet, only because of the holes in the bottom. i am going to see if i can get some acrylic from a hardware store and some weldon and try and cover them tonight.

[tonytheboss1]

:bandana: Don't know how bad the 'swirls' are but this is an EXCELLENT product. http://www.novuspolish.com/ Have had much success & recommend highly. "T"

[BigWave]

I would look up a little bit about using weldon on YouTube. I got lots of good tips for its use from there.

Also be sure to get acrylic, not plexiglass. Acrylic will hold up better, and is easier to work with.

[a volar]

I'll not glue anything on those holes, they can be useful for water changes...... just get a bulkhead and istall it... JMO

Also, I second that you should fill it first before anything, again just my opinion

[spiffyfish]

ok so ivespent hours buffing this tank with plastx and buffer ball. it looks so much better still have maybe an hour or so worth of work on it and it will be done. someone had previously panted the side that the overflow is on with black paint and it looks like crap. i want to remove it and redo it, how would i go about removing the old paint?

[spiffyfish]

that would be great keeping the to drain the tank, although it will have sand in it and the only thing i can think of to keep the sand out of them would be to run a small stand pipe. then i would have to try and hide those.