Custom tank advice for a new member.

[TroyAnthony]

Hello, guys, my name is Troy. I'm new to this forum and giant tanks, but I plan in building my fish one soon and had a couple questions. I know there is already several post about some of my questions but they seem rather old.
First question is if anyone has experience with concrete tanks vs plywood, I have lots of experience as a carpenter/woodworker and as a concrete mason, but I've never applied it to tank building. Would anyone know which is cheaper? With concrete you'd have to form like crazy anyway and still seal with a sealer, so I don't know how much money you actually save. Weight and labor won't be a factor.

Second question I had was about sealers. I've read a lot and found different answers, everyone seems to like pond armor, bit it's rather expensive. I've seen fiberglass epoxy, liquid rubber, with seems less strong, among other things. Corotech, I think it is, but I'm not sure what would be strongest.

Finally, about glass thickness. Now, don't get upset at the noob, I've used several different calculators, but the question is if I could get away with a different way of doing it. The tank itself would be L shaped, put of two pieces of plywood, so 16' long, 4' wide and 4 ' deep. I was planning on getting around the thicker acrylic or glass needed by keeping the viewing windows small and high, so I would make two down each leg of the L, and one per side, but they would only be 3'x 2' with 3 inches supported by the notched frame and braced like crazy between them. I'm talking about triple plates to interlock the braces, studs every 6", and bands going around horizontally. By keeping my viewing windows at the top, and small I could get away wit much thinner material, correct? So the calculators all said 1" to 3/4" in glass thickness, If I built my tank in this manner could I get away with 1/2" acrylic? If not what would be recommended? Glass is very expensive here near Austin, Texas. I couldn't find any 3/4" for less than a $1,000 usd. Would it be better to go with tempered glass or float glass, if I can go 1/2" thick, I'd go with acrylic, but I have no experience so any advice would be nice. Thank you guys.

 

[twentyleagues]

Hello, guys, my name is Troy. I'm new to this forum and giant tanks, but I plan in building my fish one soon and had a couple questions. I know there is already several post about some of my questions but they seem rather old.
First question is if anyone has experience with concrete tanks vs plywood, I have lots of experience as a carpenter/woodworker and as a concrete mason, but I've never applied it to tank building. Would anyone know which is cheaper? With concrete you'd have to form like crazy anyway and still seal with a sealer, so I don't know how much money you actually save. Weight and labor won't be a factor.

Second question I had was about sealers. I've read a lot and found different answers, everyone seems to like pond armor, bit it's rather expensive. I've seen fiberglass epoxy, liquid rubber, with seems less strong, among other things. Corotech, I think it is, but I'm not sure what would be strongest.

Finally, about glass thickness. Now, don't get upset at the noob, I've used several different calculators, but the question is if I could get away with a different way of doing it. The tank itself would be L shaped, put of two pieces of plywood, so 16' long, 4' wide and 4 ' deep. I was planning on getting around the thicker acrylic or glass needed by keeping the viewing windows small and high, so I would make two down each leg of the L, and one per side, but they would only be 3'x 2' with 3 inches supported by the notched frame and braced like crazy between them. I'm talking about triple plates to interlock the braces, studs every 6", and bands going around horizontally. By keeping my viewing windows at the top, and small I could get away wit much thinner material, correct? So the calculators all said 1" to 3/4" in glass thickness, If I built my tank in this manner could I get away with 1/2" acrylic? If not what would be recommended? Glass is very expensive here near Austin, Texas. I couldn't find any 3/4" for less than a $1,000 usd. Would it be better to go with tempered glass or float glass, if I can go 1/2" thick, I'd go with acrylic, but I have no experience so any advice would be nice. Thank you guys.

Acrylic needs to be thicker then glass. That is to say a 180g tank made from glass is going to be thinner then a 180g made of acrylic. Sounds like you've already decided to go wood. I think wood would be cheaper. If you got building skills then youd know better then me on the hows and whys of bracing. Glass is one of those things float or tempered its expensive everywhere. I think the safety factor that tempered gives is only marginally better then a thicker piece of float for the price difference. If you go glass it's easier to bond to the tank. Acrylic is harder to attach as alot wont stick to it properly. Ive used pond armour for a couple projects and it works great. I can see why people use it in these builds. Ive not built a tank yet but ive followed a few builds and my knowledge comes from that and a decent mechanical aptitude. I know its not the fast answer you want but keep reading and if you are a carpenter you've got this. You can build a box, seal it, put a window in it, cant be that hard right?

 

[TroyAnthony]

Oh yeah, I'm not worried about it being hard, I love a challenge, my worry is the money and if I over look something huge that could lead to failure. I read that acrylic is stronger than glass? Did I read that wrong?

 

[twentyleagues]

Impact resistance yes, but it will flex more size for size and will scratch easier. So water weight/pressure will bow a 1/2" piece of acrylic more then a 1/2" piece of glass.

 

[TexasMFK31]

Your glass thickness is going to be based off of the height of the tank overall. My window is 25" and I am using 1/2" glass with a 1.5" overlap with plywood in my build. I used true 1" plywood and pond armor for my tank. It is good, and my 1000 I am planning will be similar. Looking forward to seeing it as you go along. As twentyleagues mentioned, acrylic is harder mount. Glass you straight silicone to scuffed pond armor. Acrylic you bolt with a silicone gasket.

 

[M1A1]

Your glass thickness is going to be based off of the height of the tank overall.

This is only true if the glass goes all the way to the bottom of the tank. If he keeps the viewing windows at the top like his post says, then depth of water at the bottom of the glass is all that matters.

 

[TroyAnthony]

Thank you guys. After our discussion and some more research, I figured it out. I found some affordable glass and priced all the concrete for the big build (2300 something gallons), but for now I'm gonna build a plywood tank with glass from an old 40 gallon aquarium. Much smaller, around 500 gallons. Thanks yall.
P.s. there is a product called corotech, for sealing, mucheck cheaper than pond armor.

 

[kno4te]

Thank you guys. After our discussion and some more research, I figured it out. I found some affordable glass and priced all the concrete for the big build (2300 something gallons), but for now I'm gonna build a plywood tank with glass from an old 40 gallon aquarium. Much smaller, around 500 gallons. Thanks yall.
P.s. there is a product called corotech, for sealing, mucheck cheaper than pond armor.

Glass from a 40g breeder may not be thick enough for a 500g plywood tank. U want to use 1/2inch or thicker (always better) glass and keep the height no more than 24in.

 

[TroyAnthony]

I used a glass calculator, it said 1/4 would be plenty. It's only gonna be 18 inches deep and 36 inches wide.