Last year I built another large plywood (double) tank for two reasons - to temporarily house plants and fish from my to be discontinued 100gal tank, and to gain some experience with plywood/epoxy tanks. Sitting in the garage, it wouldn't be a huge disaster if something failed. Now, with that experience, I am ready to take on the "ultimate show tank" that will be inside the house, hopefully for a long time.
With the
previous plywood tank, I cheaped out on many things. To keep risks low, this time I am going for more safety. Instead of $0.38 sprinkler extenders, I am using real bulk heads. To further prevent any leaking, I am going to add some expensive Sweetwater Epoxy paint over the Coat-It epoxy.
I did some research on various related things earlier this year:
General design
Optimum size
Water change options
Glass choices
Thanks to all that helped making decisions. Basically I settled down with 70 x 30 x 28 (tall) dimensions, non-tempered Starphire glass, and a water change system that incorporates a passive overflow.
Besides the standard things that would go into a tank like this, I thought up some new ideas, hopefully they will work out. For example, I am planning to exhaust the hot canopy air into the garage, both to keep temperature in the room down, and with the fans running in the garage, I should be able to quietly enjoy the tank. I will post things in detail as I build them.
First pictures to follow soon.