Ok, sorry folks it's been over a week since my last post. I got the polishing about as done as it could possibly be on Saturday morning, took Sunday off due to excessive celebration on Saturday night, then filled the tank on Monday in 2 shifts, 115 gallons in the afternoon and another 90 gallons after business hours, which put about 20+ in the sump, so I guess it's a 180 instead of a 225. Oh well, another incorrect thread title but who cares.
I rinsed and added 1/2 of the gravel and a full box of salt (200g mix) on Monday and the second half on Tuesday, and added another 1/2 bag of salt today to bring salinity up a bit.
I spent some time today on the LR in my tub (which threw off about 0.5 ppm ammonia in 1 week). I drained the tub & took all the rock out, then sprayed it down with hot water via a hose connected to the laundry room sink, then went a couple rocks at a time, spraying with straight bleach, letting it sit for a very short minute, then hot water spray thoroughly, and following that with spraying with straight Prime. I had to go buy more and got lucky my LFS had a 2L bottle. I think I went through about 750ml in total. I then filled the tub and put the rocks back in, put 4 power heads and a heater in, and more Prime of course. I'm going to buy a Chlorine test kit from Leslie's tomorrow just to make sure, but that should do it I believe.
Tomorrow I'll test the salinity, add salt if needed, and maybe go put the rocks in at night.
The only thing right now that concerns me a little is the bowing of the front of the tank. I didn't measure it before the sanding/polishing, but to me it looks excessive. I called my LFS and talked to someone very knowledgeable and came to the conclusion that it might be OK. The tank has rounded corners, which he said will lead to more bowing than normal. Also, the sides of the tank are pretty tight against the drywall cavity it is built into, so those can't bow that much, which to me would lead to the front bowing out more that normal. If I get a chance, I'll put a stick across the front and measure the distance at the edges, as well as taking a caliper reading off the top piece.
LFS guy told me that the first signs of acrylic failure is cracking/crazing at the joint at the top, and it those get longer than 1/2" to 1", it's time to throw it out. Hopefully, the sanding did not weaken the material to that point, but only time will tell.
Pics when I get time, I have other fires. The 125 reef I maintain hit 85 degrees today. Very much bad.