6'x6'x2' DIY tank

[joey02]

You heard it from the man himself. I'm sorry to hear about your rays that's a tough loss.
May favorite days of the week are Thursday and Sunday! Love watching your videos

Thanks pal. I appreciate it.

Joey! Thank you! I will start gathering some supplies, or at least pricing it out. It might take a while to start on this project since I don't have access to a truck for transporting the supplies.

What would you suggest using as a spacer for the direct silicone injection?

You will need to practice this first. Try it with a couple pieces of wood if you have to.

Try to use anything 1/8" thick.... finishing nails are about that size. They will just insure the space is the same from top to bottom. You will have to brace the glass and hold it firmly in place while you do it. You can make wooden squares to clamp on if you have to.

Black silicone tends to have less viscosity than clear... Which can be easier to inject.

Cut the tip off and clamp the output of the silicone so that you can inject it into your seam.

Once done, remove the pins.

OR you can set the panes up and inject a SMALL amount of silicone (just a dab) to the top and bottom seam. Liet it cure 24hrs and it becomes the spacer.

 

[Blisco]

Joey, i have a couple of q's if you don't mind. I too am getting ready to make a tank and considering this base.

1) Would it be fine to route a channel into plywood to hold the glass without a seam as with a PVC base? I can get 1" or 1/4" plywood, i can't get sheets of engineered straight grain timber. I figure the channel will be too weak on a laminate like ply?

2) Is the upper bracing needed for this kind of base if you size the glass for a rimless build? I recall someone saying it is needed because the load is distributed differently. I was hoping to do this on a 6x3x2 [lxwxh] rimless build in either 1/2" or 5/8" glass.

3) Would coating a sheet of ply with epoxy and bonding it in the same way i would a regular sheet of glass also work? I am told that the bond will hold, but have concerns over expansion rates.

Cheers

 

[Psylant]

Thanks pal. I appreciate it.



You will need to practice this first. Try it with a couple pieces of wood if you have to.

Try to use anything 1/8" thick.... finishing nails are about that size. They will just insure the space is the same from top to bottom. You will have to brace the glass and hold it firmly in place while you do it. You can make wooden squares to clamp on if you have to.

Black silicone tends to have less viscosity than clear... Which can be easier to inject.

Cut the tip off and clamp the output of the silicone so that you can inject it into your seam.

Once done, remove the pins.

OR you can set the panes up and inject a SMALL amount of silicone (just a dab) to the top and bottom seam. Liet it cure 24hrs and it becomes the spacer.

Thanks again for the response. I appreciate your input so much. I've never really done any major DIY in this hobby before, but I felt inspired because I've watched so many of your videos. I like the idea of using small amounts of silicone to hold the tank together. It just seems easier this way. You can ensure it's all true and square before it becomes nearly permanent by injecting silicone on all seams fully. Would you say this video is a good representation of this technique? Also, would you recommend getting an electric caulking gun? I imagine it's very tough on your hands to do a 6'x6'x2' manually!

 

[M3AN ONE]

How thick should the glass be on a 6x6 build assuming the height is 24 inches? Also should it be tempered or non tempered glass.

 

[Psylant]

How thick should the glass be on a 6x6 build assuming the height is 24 inches? Also should it be tempered or non tempered glass.

I think joey used 1/2" plate glass. I intend on using the same.

 

[millerkid519]

Tempered/non tempered does not matter and yes he used half inch from some old 125 gallon tanks. If you do use 1/2 you need to euro brace the tank

 

[M3AN ONE]

Thanks

 

[Ocean Railroader]

It would be easier to use acrylic sheets and build a pure acrylic aquarium. In that I used one of his videos to build a 30 gallon long aquarium out of water and it held water fine and didn't bend.

 

[Smokeytheausbandit]

Hey joey I'm a huge fan I'm in the process of building a tank using your videos and I have 2 questions would you be able to use normal wood instead of ply? If you sealed it with epoxy? And does the heat and humidity matter a huge deal we get dry hot weather where I live in Australia and I was wondering if the ply wood shrink and expand in the heat? Or would this be like a wine barrel when the liquid inside causes it to swell up? Thanks heaps.

 

[millerkid519]

It would be easier to use acrylic sheets and build a pure acrylic aquarium. In that I used one of his videos to build a 30 gallon long aquarium out of water and it held water fine and didn't bend.

Are you meaning a hole 6x6x2 acrylic tank? If so the reason for doing it with glass and plywood is because when you go to that size of tank and the thickness you would need the price of acrylic would build the hole diy tank with filters