Prep and Planning

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.

 

i can't wait to see this. it will be impressive.

it looks as though you copied those links with the url tags into the link box, so they don't really go anywhere.

 

you're truly a DIY"re...

 

FYI

This month's issue of FAMA has an article about building a
fiberglass and plywood aquarium. Might be a few helpful ideas
in it............

Doug N

 

Humble beginnings

A photo album thread without photos is a bit sad.

Previously I had mainly worked with plywood. Once dimensions go beyond 24", this starts to get really expensive. So I studied some of the excellent DIY stand threads, and started with a number of 2x4s. These have the annoying tendency to look fairly straight in the store, and start to twist as soon as you unload them from your car.

My wife let me borrow her office to assemble the top and bottom frame. Continuing in the garage, I screwed and glued the stand together. I followed this design and made some modifications to support a plywood tank (rather than a glass tank with a frame).

So far, so good.

 

Cool!
I always enjoy a good build thread.
And Large tanks just add to the cool factor.
Good luck with your project
MD

 

Awesome! I was gonna say it looks like you used rocketengineers stand, but then I saw your link. Awesome job! I hate how 2x4s are always so twisted (which is why I used 1x4s and 1x6s to build my 40 breeder stand, hand tools and twisted wood don't work out well). If you have an 84 lumber near you, or some other lumber store, you can usually get better wood there, for about 1/2 the price.
I can't wait to see this beast built!

 

If you have an 84 lumber near you, or some other lumber store, you can usually get better wood there, for about 1/2 the price.
I can't wait to see this beast built!

the Home Depot is unfortunately the most convenient lumber source for many people and unfortunately has the most maliciously twisted, contorted and knotty wood on Planet Earth.

 

O man, I am totally following this thread! *subscribed*

 

That's the way it is here, at least for 1x4s And of course, I'm comparing to Lowes
An 8 ft 1x4 is around $5 at lowes and only $2.80 at 84 lumber (I only buy 8 footers because that's the max I can fit easily in my corolla, I could probably get a 10 foot board in there, but it would have to sit on the dash board.

 

Plywood

With the stand skeleton completed, it is time to add some plywood. I used a circular saw and some twisted 2x4s to cut them to length.

I purchased some cheap plywood for the back and sides, reusing some from my former 100gal stand, and for the front, one nice sheet of oak plywood.

The tank will sit on a 1.5" plywood base. Should be sufficient...
Honey, these are real bulk heads. Exciting, no? Six for filter inlets/outlets, and one to be able to connect cables and airlines and such from the stand underneath the tank to the area above the tank.

Next I'll need to cut a rectangular hole for the viewing pane, and connect it to the bottom panel. Then glue/screw back and bottom, cut the sides, and add them as well.

 

Looks like this will be yet another awesome creation.

My one major problem with plywood tanks is a lot of the time people make them and the viewing pain has a center brace... Please tell me you're getting thick enough glass for one single pain.

I figure you probably are, but it still is the first thing that comes to mind...

-Andrew

 

Viewing pane center brace? Not sure what you mean exactly... There will be one single glass in front, and honestly, I have not seen many tanks with multiple viewing panes, aside from superhugemonster tanks.

For the first plywood tank I built, I used a steel angle across the top in front and kept it completely brace-less for easiest access. With this one, I go for ultimate security, and will use a threaded steel rod that keeps back and front from bowing out. Much better than the fat glass/plastic center brace on the 100gal tank that will be replaced.

 

Did you use a hole saw for those? I assume that they don't make spade bits over 1"

 

Yep, used a 1.5" hole saw bit. Works better than spade bits, which remove a lot more wood, and therefore need more effort. My hole saw bit is only 1" long, so I started on one side, then flipped the plywood and finished it up from the other side. That way there was also no splintering at all.

 

wow, i can't wait till this monster is up and running.

 

*sigh* Oh to have a spouse like yours... and a basement... and your skills...

OK, I admit it, I'm totally jealous! :help:

 

I loved your last thread....cant wait to see this one turn out.

 

Thanks guys... I wish we had a basement too, but you are right, I can't complain about the spouse. :smile:

Ran a bit into a snag. The "oak" plywood that I bought for the front doesn't seem right. After cutting out the viewing window, it feels like balsa wood covered with oak veneer. Duh! So I am contemplating after all going to the lumber place and spending another $40 on a heavier sheet of better 7 or 9 ply.

 

Have you considered "Baltic Birch" type plywood? It is made of 100% birch, all plies, and the quality is much higher. If you want an oak outer face, just veneer it with oak veneer. If you can do laminates you can do veneers. It usually comes in sheets that are not 4' x 8' though, since it is a European plywood.

 

congrats on your enormous DIY.
i would never have anywhere near that much guts to build my own tank (let alone such a massive one).

 

Looks like a fun project. Can't wait to see how things progress.

 

Where do you buy that? Lumber place?

Shows that I am still a beginner. I thought "Oak Plywood" is made out of oak, but apparently it is just a reference to the veneer (which I don't care about at this stage). While the plies are very good, hardly any holes/spaces, it just feels way too light and flexible.

 

There is a hardwoods dealer near me, where I can buy walnut, mahogany, oak, etc., plywood veneered with many different woods, and Baltic or Finnish Birch Plywood. The birch plywood seems to all come from Russia, but it is the best quality plywood I have seen for years. Most of it is in metric sizes, arout 5 feet by 7 feet, as I recall, but they had 4 foot by 8 foot sheets the last time I bought some, about 5 years ago.

 

Uuuuuuhhh..
We have all waited for this one to start! *giddy*
I can't believe I missed the first few days of this...
Good luck Wasser.

 

Thanks Reg, glad to have you in this thread. roud:

Well there is some progress. I made up my mind and purchased another sheet of plywood from a lumber place. The guy who cut it must have been hungover from the weekend, and didn't get it straight. Second try, now it is straight, but a 1/16 smaller than I wanted. Okay, no big deal.

This is 7 ply pine plywood, AC exterior grade, after cutting out the window I can compare it to the "oak" sheet I mis-bought. It's not all bad though, I think I can use the wasted viewing window as the front for the stand.

Also, I just picked up the 1/2" Starphire sheet. Man is that sucker heavy! $234 for a nicely beveled 25x65 panel. Well I hope... I haven't measured it actually.

The Sweetwater paint just arrived as well... so I should be pretty set with materials, just need a bunch of time to put it all together. Yesterday I glued the back panels to the stand. Next will be the front to the base, and then the sides.

 

Glad to be here

I already have a question. You had mentioned the you had some moisture/leaking issue with the plywood tank in the garage. Have you figured out what the problem is? Would be great to be able to incorporate the lessons learned from that into the new tank, seeing as that will be placed on the wall-to-wall carpet in the living (or was it dining) room

Are you planing on using fiber glass layup this time? Or are you not using rocks again

Some of these may already have been answered in your references threads. I didn't go back and re-read them all. I apologize for any repeat questions.

 

I think the problems are caused by the little compartments that I built to hide filtration and such. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but made it very difficult to apply epoxy. I think I might have missed some corners. Perhaps when draining the tank I will be able to tell for sure.

This tank will be simpler... just a box. Plus covering it with another layer of epoxy paint should seal it securely.

I am not going to use fiberglass. The Coat-It epoxy is really too syrupy to allow laying down the glass mats, and yes, I will avoid large rocks. Thinking of getting some dead Manzanita tree from the mountains.

Planning to do two layers of Coat-It (or maybe just one thick one) and then two or so layers of Sweetwater epoxy paint.

 

Trying to keep track of costs, since that is always a point of interest.

Prices include shipping and taxes where applicable. Note that I am re-using some materials and many accessories from my discontinued 100gal tank, and I have some things on hand that are not mentioned here. Also, this isn't final, just what I have sunk into this so far.

Other than that - the viewing panel is connected, need to cut the sides and glue/screw them, and double them up with more plywood. Then add some 2x2's to reinforce the corners, sand the whole thing, and then it is almost time to get started with some epoxy. Hoping to get to that point sometimes this coming Sunday.