Trash to treasure 93 gallon

[BrandonS]

Hello my name is Brandon and this is my first build thread. I found a 93 gallon aquarium getting thrown out at work and thought it would be fun to document bringing it back to life. I already have a 40 gallon breeder with attached 30 gallon frag tank and the wife okayed the upgrade[emoji2].

I have to move my saltwater out of the bedroom in the next few months so when I do I hope to just transfer to this aquarium.

I plan to re use as much as I can and to diy as much as I can. Nothing high dollar but it will hopefully work and grow coral!

The tank was used as a sump and has a lot of scratches. I hope to buff them out.

 

[Ron Reefman]

This is a great thread idea, bringing a thrown away tank back to life. Good luck, take your time and have some fun with it!

A year ago a neighbor of mine (a block away and I don't know) had a 40g, 20g, 10g and 5g glass tanks at the curb with their trash cans. There were a couple of reptile things there as well, so I surmised they aren't reefers. All 4 of the tanks were like new condition and hold water. I'll be using them when I tear down my 40g rimless cube and replace it with the new 90g rimless tank I'm currently building.

 

[jaxredsoxfan]

There are several acrylic buffing compounds that will help with the scratches. I've used Novus before and works pretty good. Pretty cool to bring one back from the brink! Good luck with it.

 

[siggy]

I bought a 20 gallon acrylic from a LFS garage sale for a QT, It needs buffing. Following along

 

[BrandonS]

This is a great thread idea, bringing a thrown away tank back to life. Good luck, take your time and have some fun with it!

A year ago a neighbor of mine (a block away and I don't know) had a 40g, 20g, 10g and 5g glass tanks at the curb with their trash cans. There were a couple of reptile things there as well, so I surmised they aren't reefers. All 4 of the tanks were like new condition and hold water. I'll be using them when I tear down my 40g rimless cube and replace it with the new 90g rimless tank I'm currently building.

The wife and I have a rule. If it's free you can have it so the curb, junk pile and craigslist are my best friends

 

[BrandonS]

I bought a 20 gallon acrylic from a LFS garage sale for a QT, It needs buffing. Following along

So far there has been a lot of good youtube videos on this. Sounds like you just need wet dry sandpaper up to 2000 grit or more and some plastic polishing compound. Found sandpaper for my sander on amazon. Just have to get some time.

 

[Blutspitze]

Sounds like a fun project! Looking forward to seeing how it goes!

 

[link81]

looks interesting, following.

 

[BrandonS]

So I discovered why it was getting thrown out. There is a crack in the corner. I filled it with water and it weeps a little. I went ahead and cut a piece of scrap acrylic I had from a craigslist pickup and glued it in place. It is holding water with no leaks now.

I did do some measurements and unfortunately the overflow box has to go. The space I have to fit the tank is big enough for the tank but not the overflow. I'll probably make a corner weir. That should keep the foot print to 30x30.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Wow. Novus acrylic kit is the best.

 

[Blutspitze]

Nothing quite like a trash tank able to be made to hold water, I imagine

 

[BrandonS]

Nothing quite like a trash tank able to be made to hold water, I imagine

It is definitely satisfying

 

[BrandonS]

So I picked up some wet dry sandpaper for my little random orbital sander. 800 grit to 2000 grit in 4 stages. It took a bit with the 800 grit to get the deeper scratches out but after that I took everything to 2000grit.

Not gonna lie it was messy. Kept it wet and used small circles. Took about 3 hours for the whole tank.

I stopped by my harbor freight and found a cheaper plastic restore product for like 6 bucks and it worked pretty well. One of these days I'll have to pick up some Lugo's to compare. I buffed it out with my 10 inch car buffer no issues.

I'll have to get some better pictures once it's setup but so much better. This picture is through the front panel and the back. I admittedly didn't polish the back because I plan to paint it black.

 

[Blutspitze]

Wow! Looking great for sure! Awesome job with the buffing.

 

[BrandonS]

Thank you! It took longer than I thought for the deeper scratches but once that was done it only took 15 minutes to get it the rest of the way to 2000 grit.

 

[Peace River]

Great job so far! Acrylic scratches a lot easier, but the scratches clean up a lot easier than glass. Keep up the great work and congratulations on the new tank!

 

[BrandonS]

Thank you, very excited! Now just have to build a corner weir, stand, and sump. Lol

 

[BrandonS]

Started on the weir. I have another acrylic tank I got on Craigslist I am going to turn into a frag tank. So I decided to borrow some acrylic from it for the weir.

Have to do some measurements and get a few bulkheads first but I have acrylic now!

 

[BrandonS]

Long weekend and hoping to make some big progress!

Got the stand mostly done. With my daughter helping. Got to start em young Just have to either get magnets or hinges for the front panel.

Also cut my wier on the table saw. I really need to make a jig, lol. Going to paint it black using krylon fusion.

 

[BrandonS]

When they say they just replaced a bunch of valves and threw away the old but still good ones. #checkthetrash #onemansjunk