150 gallon tank build.

I've had a 12 gallon nano cube for several years, it's time to scale it up; My daughter likes the "nemo fish"We are working on calling it by it's real name but she is one, nemo is hard enough.
This thread will be filled with a lot of DIY type projects, I like to work on things and anything with the word "marine" in it costs extra than a normal part would.
Ordered a 5 stage RO/DI unit from bulk reef supply in Minnesota today. The thought of buying 150 gallon jugs of water from the grocery store does not sound fun or cheap.
Searched craigslist and here for a good tank, plenty of options out there but found one for $100 through a facebook friend. I really wanted a tank for sale on this site but picking it up just wasn't feasible; Iowa is a large state when you have to drive from one river to the other.
Going to pick up the tank this week and get it cleaned up.
The person who we bought the tank from apparently neglected it for a very long time. I hope it can be cleaned and the glass is not etched. It looks pretty bad.There is no water in it. Wish I had a better picture, hard to tell with that cell phone pic what i'm getting in to.
This will be the surface skimmer tonight after I cut it down to size.

 

well when we got there it was actually a 55 gallon tank with a few tiny scratches on one side from when the girl cleaned it out, got it for $35. It's been soaking in the driveway now 10 hours for with a muriatic acid /water solution to dissolve the calcium. I keep adding more acid as the calcium is being dissolved.
I'll paint the scratched side black tonight and probably drill it for my sump tomorrow.
It's an all-glass brand tank with a tempered bottom, stickers are actually still on it on the bottom.

 

I thought the cat might be large as well. Anyway this project is aborted.

There was a sticker on the bottom that said the "BOTTOM is tempered, do not drill."

You all can figure out what happened next.