600g DIY plywood build

Rgreenfield3

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 20, 2017
25
6
8
35
Northwest indiana
Haha, don't be sorry, questions are good, better to ask questions than to just assume and mess something up. The plywood is 3/4 inch (birch?) Pretty standard high quality finished wood. 4 sheets of that with 3, 1.5 quart kits of pond armor and of course the glass panel and a lot of screws and silicon. Pictures of the exact brands and types I used should be in the first couple pages if you are trying to follow step by step.
Thanks a million. Yeah I love your tank it's absolutely beautiful. I will probably try to replicate the tank as best as possible though I'll probably leave the back blank because I am nowhere near that artist lol. Amazing job on the tank man and thank again for the help.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MASTERTANKER

nzafi

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2008
2,177
1,236
179
USA
I'm doing more digging on glass thickness. It's crazy how much more expensive 3/4in glass is than 1/2in. More than double.

How come you did an overflow box? Is it necessary? Never done a sump before so busy researching that too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MASTERTANKER

DIFish

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jul 30, 2015
158
217
61
St. Louis
Thanks a million. Yeah I love your tank it's absolutely beautiful. I will probably try to replicate the tank as best as possible though I'll probably leave the back blank because I am nowhere near that artist lol. Amazing job on the tank man and thank again for the help.
Thanks I appreciate it, let me know if you have any more questions, and just shoot me a msg if you need something. Always happy to help

I'm doing more digging on glass thickness. It's crazy how much more expensive 3/4in glass is than 1/2in. More than double.

How come you did an overflow box? Is it necessary? Never done a sump before so busy researching that too.
Yeah glass starts to get crazy once the thickness increases. An overflow box gives surface skimming, helps prevent the tank flooding in a power outage, and keeps the plumbing hidden. So while they are not neccisary, I 100% would recommend them, also I am a believer that sumps are the best way to filter large tanks hands down. There are also a 1000 different ways to do a sump, so find one that makes your maitnence life easy and build it! Because of my sump design and filtration media I end up doing less than 1 hour of maitnence a week. It's nice being able to spend more time feeding your fish than actually working on the tank.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MASTERTANKER

nzafi

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2008
2,177
1,236
179
USA
I always saw the purpose of the overflow box to skim the surface and hide the drain pipes. As long as you drill intakes at a certain level and have enough space in the sump, flooding shouldn't be an issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MASTERTANKER

nzafi

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2008
2,177
1,236
179
USA
One other question I had for you was what did you use for framing. I saw that you wrapped the tank in a 5in frame top and bottom. Was that just left over pieces from your 8x4 plywood? This way your frame is only 3/4in thick also?
 
  • Like
Reactions: MASTERTANKER

DIFish

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jul 30, 2015
158
217
61
St. Louis
Sorry for the late reply, been planning some updates to make the tank a little better.
I always saw the purpose of the overflow box to skim the surface and hide the drain pipes. As long as you drill intakes at a certain level and have enough space in the sump, flooding shouldn't be an issue.
An overflow box is kinda just an easy thing to do for multiple purposes and if you hide it well, changes nothing in your tank. But no an overflow box is not even close to neccisary if you plan your rank right.
One other question I had for you was what did you use for framing. I saw that you wrapped the tank in a 5in frame top and bottom. Was that just left over pieces from your 8x4 plywood? This way your frame is only 3/4in thick also?
Yes before I cut the plywood I planned it out to use all the scraps on the tank so that I wouldn't have to buy another sheet. So those areas are just 1.5 inches thick. Same with the overflow box and the top bracing just being made of leftover pieces.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MASTERTANKER

nzafi

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2008
2,177
1,236
179
USA
Thanks!

Also, when you did the overflow box did you just glue it or did you connect it some other way? How come you didn't do a coast to coast? Always hear folks say thats the best way to go.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MASTERTANKER

DIFish

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jul 30, 2015
158
217
61
St. Louis
Thanks!

Also, when you did the overflow box did you just glue it or did you connect it some other way? How come you didn't do a coast to coast? Always hear folks say thats the best way to go.
Glue and short screws just like the tank framing. Coast to coast is better, I didn't do it 1 because top water space is a premium for my arrowana and I wanted to take up as little as possible, and 2 because it was easier to cover up a small overflow with a background without looking too out of place. I was also running out of wood scrap and didn't want to buy another sheet just for the overflow, so I got a little lazy there towards the end but it is working out pretty well!
 
  • Like
Reactions: MASTERTANKER

DIFish

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jul 30, 2015
158
217
61
St. Louis
Here's a quick video of the fish eating today. I plan on doing another once I have made a few changes/ improvements to the tank. Sorry for the poor quality, the camera I am using is only good at taking pictures, not videos. Enjoy!
 

FisherMcFishy

Black Skirt Tetra
MFK Member
Jun 15, 2017
35
9
13
34
Great build! Looking to do a build just like this without the over building. I can't get my head around how you used just 4 sheets, can you share how cut your sheets to get full use of each sheet?
 
  • Like
Reactions: MASTERTANKER
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store