1300 Gallon Plywood Tank Build

[Inglorious]

 

[Sphyrna]

If you havent purchased the acrylic for your build yet. I have some for sale that was removed from my concrete aquarium when I dismantled it. Here is a link to what I have available.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...YLIC-1.5-quot-thick-120-quot-x-55-quot-sheets

 

[nolapete]

I talked with the Ames' people about Blue Max almost 2 years ago and they could not guarantee it to be fish safe. Permadri Rubber Coat is what I went with on mine as they did guarantee it to be fish safe. If you choose to go with the Permadri, check to see if there is an applicator in your area and pay to have it sprayed in professionally. I rolled/brushed mine on, while not that bad, it does take more time for it to set between coats. The spray version is applied with a special sprayer that has two nozzles. One has the Rubber Coat and the other uses calcium chloride to quick set the product. Rubber Coat contains no VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and only a slight smell which isn't unpleasant. I'd suggest you set the window with Dow 795 (it's what public aquariums use). See VL's latest project for the primer. (think it's called Primer C also from Dow). Laird Plastics will give you the best deal on acrylic.

The build looks great so far!

 

[sashimimaster]

Great build. Can't wait to see it finished.

I just had a thought if it's sitting on concrete why didn't you just pour the walls of the tank at the same time as the rest of the house? With that size of a tank I would be more be comfortable with cement walls than wood.

 

[djseverson@yahoo.com]

Great build. Can't wait to see it finished.

I just had a thought if it's sitting on concrete why didn't you just pour the walls of the tank at the same time as the rest of the house? With that size of a tank I would be more be comfortable with cement walls than wood.

OK, so it has been 7 years now since the slab was poured and the framing was completed shortly there after. Time has flown by, with two kids and everything else in the mix. I have finally returned to the tank and will post pictures and details soon. Other than the framing, it is a 2018 build so that should be helpful for people to see current product options, selections and pricing. Back to answer this question that was lost along the way; we didn't want to pour it as an integral feature, instead allowing for any future home owners to more easily remove the wood tank build and incorporate the tank and equipment room space into either a multipurpose room (10' x 15') or open it up to the living room. I am close to filling it with water and will have more experience to go off of at that time, but I feel like the framed build is very sturdy and structurally solid.

 

[twentyleagues]

Wow. So I saw this pop up and large plywood builds are very interesting to me so I started reading it. I saw the dates 2011 and thought all right who resurrected an old dead build thread that we will never get a pay off on. I'm glad it was the op! And I'm glad we will get to see how this turns out! Besides all the other questions I have about what, why, when, my current biggest question is this thread contains your only posts howd you remember your password? Lol jk. Glad to see this progressing.
So real questions. Whats going in? What did you decide on for filtration?

 

[djseverson@yahoo.com]

So first a couple pictures where we left off from framing.

 

[djseverson@yahoo.com]

I reviewed my original photos and commentary. I need to find some more photos prior to the sheetrock but after the window headers were installed. I am nervous that the front corners were tied to the OSB columns rather than 2x6 framing. I am working with channel iron to use as front to back cross members at the top of the tank on each end and two over the tank dividing the tank in thirds (not installed yet, but will post additional photos once they are). I also added simpson strong ties to the windows in an effort to fully ensure the vertical window supports stay coupled to the headers. I built the window frames out with additional 1x4 and 2x4's. This was an effort to make the window overlap a little wider than originally framed.

 

[djseverson@yahoo.com]

Whats going in? What did you decide on for filtration?

I need to dig out some boxes. I have a canister of some sort, but I need to check the specs, I bought it a while back, not sure it works with the current finish out. I need to work up my plumbing plan, but I intend to utilize several bulk head cutouts and various valving to allow for a couple different flow and filter options. I do plan some sort of canister filter, but I am not abandoning the under gravel. I have had excellent success with under-gravel in my 180 gallon tank, but I agree the 50 gallon tanks with aquaclear 110 over the back filters are easier to maintain and work very well. My thought is to keep an under-gravel infrastructure (2" water line split to a 1" or 3/4" grid or PVC pipe with holes spaced out) but use if for water return as a reverse under-gravel filter. The theory should be the same as traditional under-gravel, with less solids loading (that is where the canister's primary role would be mechanical, with secondary chemical and biological functionality. The under-gravel would provide additional biological filtration. Unfortunately I never tested this on a smaller tank, so if anyone has experience operating reverse under-gravel filters I am interested in your experience.

Tank mates will be mostly south american cichlids, with a few select Africans. Originally I had 3 @ 18" pacus that were to be the center piece so to speak, but they became too aggressive and had to be re-homed. I would like to add Tin Foils back into the mix. Hard to find now days. At this point my interest is more in observing the social behaviors of smaller fish in a larger tank. In the 180 gallon tank you can tell the silver dollars are schooling, but the school spans 3/4ths length of the tank. The goal is to have enough caves for everyone and hopefully observe territorial behavior with enough tank space to support territories. Incidentally this was possible with 3" honduran redpoints in the 180 gallon tank. They would pair off and stick to a territory of 1/3 of the tank or so.

 

[djseverson@yahoo.com]

on the tank mates discussion... the following was sold to me as a frontosa, but I have several frontosa and I am thinking maybe this fish is actually a lombardoi. It has not matched the growth curve my other 7 frontosa. Also this fish spends its time at the surface. always has. Anyone able to identify it from the photos?