Need plywood tank advice and input

Protek

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 20, 2017
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I have been keeping fish for over 10 years and a year ago I took everything down when I moved into a new house with plans to set it back up. However the lack or upkeep made me decide not to keep fish any more. Well I've been watching The King of DIY and think I may have to start again. This time I'm only doing one tank and it needs to be large with all the plumbing for simple water changes. The house I'm in now has a concrete basement (garden level) so I finally feel safe going over 130g. I'm going to finish the basement over the next year or two and have a corner dedicated to a tank/room. Plan is to put an 8ft plywood tank a few feet from the wall and frame it in as a mechanical room with drywall so nothing from the outside will be open.

So the input I'd like to figure out.
1. Sealant. What should I line the tank with? I need to do this so there is no chance of a leak and I hear about coating's flaking off over time or cracking. (the house was built in 1971 so the floor shouldn't be moving)

2. Window size and type. What size would be the most cost effective to build? Figuring out a window seams to be the most expensive part, going off random google searches the panels that are recommended can easily cost $1k. I'm thinking 8x4x4 or smaller to keep it all inside of a sheet of wood. Window only on one side and I don't mind a thick border around the window. What thickness and type. Also advice on finding an affordable window would be nice.

3. Construction advice. I would like to build a 2x4 frame on every side of this tank and fasten the plywood to it for extra insurance against a leak.

4. Filtration. I just went through an old PW thread and the OP had a section of the tank separate with an overflow and internal filtration. I like this idea to keep the tank sealed to prevent heat loss. Otherwise I was thinking of a 75g fluidized filter.

Sorry if this stuff comes up a lot but it's very hard to find information and I don't want to wing it when there will be hundreds of gallons ready to end up on the floor.
 

stempy

Dovii
MFK Member
Sep 8, 2011
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Galloway, OH
Instead of spelling all this out, click on my link to my tank build. It's been up over 5 years with zero issues. As a matter of fact it still looks just as good as the day I filled it. There are also MANY tank build a on here with more than enough info. Once you figure out what you want, start your build on here to ask questions as specific issues arise during the build.
 

Protek

Feeder Fish
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Aug 20, 2017
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Ok thank you, that's what I needed. I tried to look through the collection of plywood tanks only to find threads that had pic's missing and went through 50 pages of comment's only to find out that particular tank was only up for a year at a time with no long term information. Very inefficient.
 

Protek

Feeder Fish
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Aug 20, 2017
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I went through your thread and really liked it, I'm going to take a lot of what you did into consideration. I don't remember but how long has yours been running now? My biggest concern is in a couple years the lining or something else wears out and I have a problem.

I really like the coating you put outside of the tank, Before I made this post and saw your thread I was thinking about way's to enclose the tank into a small room and how I would go about avoiding humidity issues, looks like you have a good idea on that.

I think I'll just need to look at several builds to get ideas and put them all together and hope the combination works outs.
 

stempy

Dovii
MFK Member
Sep 8, 2011
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Galloway, OH
It's been up for over 5 years and still looks like the day I filled it. I'm getting ready to empty it and make it saltwater and when I do I'm going to completely enclose it. I'm going to build a 2x4 from from tank to ceiling and put a bathroom exhaust fan in the top vented outside. It'll be on a timer to run for 30mins every 2 hours to keep the air above the tank fresh and humidity out of the house. Not that humidity is bad, because it isn't, but better safe than sorry.
 

Protek

Feeder Fish
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Aug 20, 2017
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How do I determine glass or acrylic thickness to use? I'm planning anywhere from 8x3x3 to 8x4x4 with a 6ftx2.5ft window

edit: how would I find a local shop to get this from or should I just have something shipped?
 

Homer Siped

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Aug 30, 2015
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I built a 2x4 framed plywood tank, used fiberglass on inside of tank. Wasn't horrible to do
 
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Protek

Feeder Fish
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Aug 20, 2017
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My window is 6x3ft and is 1" thick. Works perfectly fine. Glass is far cheaper if you have a local glass shop though. Large sheets of acrylic are expensive, and expensive to ship :(
That doesn't have to be tempered?
 
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