mine looked great with a wet sand color.. it's sadly gray now because the batch i got was free from sherwin williams to make up for the bad batch of tub epoxy. they had a bad color mix on this stuff and just gave it to me. so gray it is. but i really did love the wet sand color.
plywood paludarium
- Thread starter jereosbou
- Start date
got the basic frame for the bottom done.
2x10s on the end 2x4s on the long section and 4x4 legs. will do the same on the bottom of it but got distracted today. decided to go with a 30 inch base height. was originally planning 24inches but decided thirty gave me more clearance for my filter and a better viewing height. some of the more perceptive of you are asking about eh problem with the bulkheads being tight in the corners over the 4x4s. well stupid is best cured with large doses of brilliance. so i took my router and cleaned out a perfect fit for the bulkheads and will use 90 degree elbows to connect the tubing instead of straight adapters. still have plenty of 4x4 left too. and better yet its concealed under the tank so none will ever see. oh im also using another piece of 3/4 inch plywood as a top for the bottom stand to give even better spread of the load over all. will skin it all in 1/2 inch plywood tomorrow. thinking that once its ready to be finally in place in the hopuse i will run a 1x4 trim around the seam between the two.
also did some bondoing and sanding to everything today on the outside . then two coats of kills primer.
then as promised pics of my drift wood roots. pieces from 12 inches long to three feet so should be interesting when i get them ready to go in.
okay tomorrow i go to sherwin williams and get my epoxy also i will get the rest of my fiberglass resin. and silicone. any ideas on how many tubes of silicon im looking at 5? 10? 50!!!!
oh alos found some nifty old neon light ive had laying around for some evening lighting theyre gren which isnt ideal but will still look cool. theyre designed for under car use and so splash resistant etc. but ill clean them up and silicone them to make for a good install.
for lighting im still leaning towards the flourescent fixtures from walmart for 10dollars a piece with grow bulbs in them. theyre 36 inches i think. or i have a 48inch shoplight i could get one grow bulb and one regular for it i guess and make it into the hood but just undecided. also have a bunch of ceramic sockets for regular bulbs thought briefly about building them up to make say an 8 or 12 bulb setup and run compact flourescents up top. but i just dont feel right about it for whatever reason.
other then that its all pretty firm in my mind what i want.
2x10s on the end 2x4s on the long section and 4x4 legs. will do the same on the bottom of it but got distracted today. decided to go with a 30 inch base height. was originally planning 24inches but decided thirty gave me more clearance for my filter and a better viewing height. some of the more perceptive of you are asking about eh problem with the bulkheads being tight in the corners over the 4x4s. well stupid is best cured with large doses of brilliance. so i took my router and cleaned out a perfect fit for the bulkheads and will use 90 degree elbows to connect the tubing instead of straight adapters. still have plenty of 4x4 left too. and better yet its concealed under the tank so none will ever see. oh im also using another piece of 3/4 inch plywood as a top for the bottom stand to give even better spread of the load over all. will skin it all in 1/2 inch plywood tomorrow. thinking that once its ready to be finally in place in the hopuse i will run a 1x4 trim around the seam between the two. also did some bondoing and sanding to everything today on the outside . then two coats of kills primer.
then as promised pics of my drift wood roots. pieces from 12 inches long to three feet so should be interesting when i get them ready to go in.
okay tomorrow i go to sherwin williams and get my epoxy also i will get the rest of my fiberglass resin. and silicone. any ideas on how many tubes of silicon im looking at 5? 10? 50!!!!
oh alos found some nifty old neon light ive had laying around for some evening lighting theyre gren which isnt ideal but will still look cool. theyre designed for under car use and so splash resistant etc. but ill clean them up and silicone them to make for a good install.
for lighting im still leaning towards the flourescent fixtures from walmart for 10dollars a piece with grow bulbs in them. theyre 36 inches i think. or i have a 48inch shoplight i could get one grow bulb and one regular for it i guess and make it into the hood but just undecided. also have a bunch of ceramic sockets for regular bulbs thought briefly about building them up to make say an 8 or 12 bulb setup and run compact flourescents up top. but i just dont feel right about it for whatever reason.
other then that its all pretty firm in my mind what i want.
okay went to sherwin williams today. was met by three complete idiots. i told them i was looking for a two part epoxy for potable water. forgot to write down the exact stuff rivermudd told me to get. figured that for sure i wouldnt need it as these guys are paintfessionals right?
wrong. the guy was messing with a mop on the countertop and told me that sherwinn williams only has one product like that. asks how much i wanted i said half a gallon or so. well they only sell it by the gallon. 60dollars for each part. so 120.00. okay so then is it tintable oh yeah it is but not here. have to drive an hour and a half to austin to get to a store that could tint it. they can only give me gloss white.
i started to try to explain to him what im using it for to see if he could think of an alternative but he was too busy playing with his mop. so i kicked the dust off my heels and left never to return. nothing i hate worse then someone who sucks at there job.
so went ot homedepot and picked up the other rein i needed along with four tubes of type 1 silicone which seems to be the right stuff. also got some lights i think will do the trick. and decided on chalkboard paint for the exterior of the tank. sounds funny but will look like a nice satin black normally and i think she will get a kick out of being able to scribble on her tank in her dorm. anyway wont get anymore work done until sunday night.
any thought on dry lok for my cause?
wrong. the guy was messing with a mop on the countertop and told me that sherwinn williams only has one product like that. asks how much i wanted i said half a gallon or so. well they only sell it by the gallon. 60dollars for each part. so 120.00. okay so then is it tintable oh yeah it is but not here. have to drive an hour and a half to austin to get to a store that could tint it. they can only give me gloss white.
i started to try to explain to him what im using it for to see if he could think of an alternative but he was too busy playing with his mop. so i kicked the dust off my heels and left never to return. nothing i hate worse then someone who sucks at there job.
so went ot homedepot and picked up the other rein i needed along with four tubes of type 1 silicone which seems to be the right stuff. also got some lights i think will do the trick. and decided on chalkboard paint for the exterior of the tank. sounds funny but will look like a nice satin black normally and i think she will get a kick out of being able to scribble on her tank in her dorm. anyway wont get anymore work done until sunday night.
any thought on dry lok for my cause?
thanks ive done fiberglassing before in speakers boxes and the like. and done some primitive woodworking lol. but never built something quite like this before.
http://protective.sherwin-williams.com/detail.jsp?A=sku-26170:product-6841
thats the stuff i used. Though since you won't be going back to that store it's a moot point. However, the product is amazing and well worth the 120 total price if you are wanting to make a plywood type aquarium. Other products will work, I've heard too many bad tales to recommend drylock. Some have had success using hardi backer along with drylock. ymmv.
Hopefully you can find something you want. I find it odd that they wouldn't offer to have it shipped to their store as they have done so for me. GL at any rate.
thats the stuff i used. Though since you won't be going back to that store it's a moot point. However, the product is amazing and well worth the 120 total price if you are wanting to make a plywood type aquarium. Other products will work, I've heard too many bad tales to recommend drylock. Some have had success using hardi backer along with drylock. ymmv.
Hopefully you can find something you want. I find it odd that they wouldn't offer to have it shipped to their store as they have done so for me. GL at any rate.
yeah i found it odd too. like i say i wasnt impressed with the people in the store. they made it very obvious they didnt have time to spend with me. and made no offers to ship anything from austin to them for me to pick up. he told me i could buy it then take it to austin. ill be going to sanantonio a major city in another week so ill find something there for sure. just hating to be held up by something that should be so simple.
however i will try to get everything else done by then so its just pain that stuff on and then on with business.
i was reading up on drylok last night to and didnt see much success. although i had some thoughts. yesterday whilst i was looking around i came across a product called spreadstone http://www.daichcoatings.com/elastolock.html
there are two avenues of approach im considering one is the elasto barrier you see in the link. the other is to use spreadstone the masonry product then coat with drylok which should then not be a problem. but im just not 100% sure.
