'Cleveland' Rocks!

[Parka]

Hi again, it's me again, Parka , and I started building the stand for my 3rd plywood aquarium last Tuesday and I spent 2 easy days putting the stand together, it sits 28" tall, 30" wide and 133" long.

Last July I had cut and machined all the plywood panels and then the project got sidetracked and then on last Thursday, I assembled the panels for the main shell in just a few hours, it was like putting a pre-built kit together and no project is ever perfect including this one but oh my, it went together so nice, it makes me so happy! Today and tomorrow I will finish the second layer and then it will be ready to prepped for the high quality non toxic 2-part Pond Shield brand epoxy.

Here is a picture from last Friday, just the shell.

 

[Parka]

Good evening, I was hoping to use this thread to track the build 'Cleveland', and I have more pictures too.

I did not finish the top brace because I will use that wide opening to more conveniently install the glass.

So I want to post a pic, say a few words, and do that about 5 times.

This is the back and the entire tank is two layers of 3/4" plywood glued and screwed together... Except for thos 4 sections seen, those 4 areas are 3/4" thick.
I used really high quality plywood on this build. On my other two builds I used good decent furniture plywood but my last order, I got the nicest, flattest and probably the strongest plywood I ever worked with. Cleveland will be the Show Piece of my City Series of Aquariums and that is why I got the good stuff this time!


Here's that top brace, unfinished. This is NOT a difficult project but it is large, my point is that it is not a complicated build at all and a motivated beginner at woodworking would be able to do this with instruction.


I was just showing off how I could see Cleveland in Chicago. Now here is what I wonder about. These two tanks will be facing each other about 10' apart and I would like to keep a planted tank with Pike or Chain Pickerel in the 'Chicago' and all my pretty Goldies in the 'Cleveland'... I wonder if the Pickerel will be eyeballing my Goldies as sustenance and nutrition??? I can't wait to see for myself!

Tank Dimensions, inside:
131.5" long
32" tall
28.5" front to back

Exterior Dimensions:
133.5" x 35" x 31.5" and at a slim sub 32" wide footprint, Cleveland and the separate stand will fit through almost any normal doorway.
With all the materials, I guesstimate it cost about 1,200 dollars, 75 bucks per sheet of plywood but it sure is good stuff.

Okay then, Good night and tomorrow will be a prep day for the Pond Shield. It's just like painting! With pudding!

If anybody has any questions, I May or May not have the answers, Good Evening!

 

[Parka]

Good Morning! I sorta forgot how long all the prep work takes because after I had the main shell put together in one afternoon, It felt like I was almost finished!
So after a week of daily work, I finally applied the first coat of my old Charcoal colored 2-part non toxic high quality epoxy. I just wanted to use it up and I think I have enough to do the fiberglass work and then I will put the final coats on with the color, Competition Blue.

The stand will get a cabinet finish with 4 large drawers in the middle sections and a pair of doors on each end. The outside of the tank and stand will be painted white. It will be stunning and I will DIY a Handsome Hood to top it all off.

The 'CLEVELAND' will be a true Show Piece. I promise!

I got SO many ideas too... So Fun!

 

[celebrist]

That overhang would make me nervous but I also have no experience building plywood tanks, your all look great

 

[M1A1]

I think the tank is just shifted on the stand so that all the sides can be worked on, there looks to be room on the stand in the back of the pictures? The tank looks very well built and I'm really liking your bracing and lips on the top side to contain water and presumably have room for some lids/tops. That's a lot of screw and pocket holes to fill!

 

[Parka]

I think the tank is just shifted on the stand so that all the sides can be worked on,

That's EXACTLY what I was thinking, too! And it moves fairly easy if I sneak a few dowel rods under the tank. And the same for the stand, get some rods under it, moves easy. So yeah, being my third build, I'm not bragging or being over-confident, but this build is under My Command! My work is getting done, a little bit, every day.
Thanks for the kind words celebrist and M M1A1

So today i got fiberglass in all the corners and seams, and I got a second coat on the floor and that was the last of the Charcoal Pond Shield. Tomorrow, I will lay a sheet of FG on the floor. Fiberglass and epoxy on a plywood deck, 1 1/2" thick, it makes that tank floor So Tough. You could drop a great big jagged rock right on it and it won't even notice it!

I was SO Sloppy when Fiberglassed in Chicago... Today I was neat as a pin doing those corners, doing the floor tomorrow will be next. I will do it in 3 separate pieces, fingers crossed for a smooth and flat roll out.


I got a huge beef though, and nobody to beef to about it! I specifically ordered Competition Blue, and I ordered it back in july and I never bothered to check but I received Sky Blue instead. I'm gonna go ahead and use some of it anyway and I already ordered more of the Comp Blue. Stay tuned.



I will have another update tomorrow evening, Good Night!

 

[krichardson]

Outstanding,I'm always impressed with these plywood builds!

 

[Cal Amari]

What an exciting build! Why the name Cleveland?

 

[Parka]

Outstanding,I'm always impressed with these plywood builds!

Thank you! it was a few years ago and I watched a guy on youtube build a plywood aquarium and I was almost flabbergasted at how simple these builds are... Because there are no fancy joints, every single joint is a butt joint, however, when that second layer is applied, it laps over every seam and the corners and seams all get sandwiched, and the same thing with the top brace, it becomes one solid and very strong structure.

But his was only 8 feet long, and when I saw how it was built with 2 layers of 3/4" plywood, with enough room, it could be built 100 feet long, so anyway, that was my thinking.

I got the fiberglass floor 'poxy'd in this afternoon and it went Swimmingly Well! I had company this time, I had to show off! My Goldies were watching from Chicago.
Here is my nerve center, AKA Mix Station, under My Command! See my pretty swimmers?



Here we go, time to perform!




The temp in the basement is between 54 and 58 lately and that is an advantage using the 2 part Pond Shield because it takes longer to set giving me more time to apply. I was able to do a very good job with minimal aggravations and or mistakes. When I laid the fiberglass in Chicago about this time a year ago, it was a mess and I had to do it twice, with a ton of additional clean-up prep work, it was just a mess. Not this time, it went every bit as smooth as I hoped for, satisfaction x 10!




And here's the other end, this evening I plan to mix another small batch and coat the rest of the tank. This Sky Blue will be getting coated with Comp Blue when I get it delivered. The Comp Blue is actually a deep blue, maybe a few shades lighter than Midnight Blue and I plan to mix some of the Sky and Comp Blues to see if I like it better.






I named this one 'Cleveland' because it is part of the City Series of Aquariums and I already built 'Akron' and 'Chicago'.

The 'Cleveland' will be a true Show Piece.

I grew up in a scrappy, rough an tumble part of Akron, and then I ran away and joined the Army when I turned 18 and when I came back home I was 21 and I would put fancy clothes on and go to Cleveland to see Rock bands, I had The Very Best of Times in Cleveland... Almost every time!

 

[krichardson]

Your work is inspiring,I may have to try doing one someday.