18' x 9' x 3.5' catfish tank build in progress.....

[necrocanis]

hmmm, back to the drawing board then! WTF? This gets more and more complicated all the time. I can't afford to go overboard on this part this close to being finished. I was going to try to give it a go, but with what you've just said I'm not so certain. That was the cheapest solution for me, and the other people I was gonna get gelcoat from stopped carrying it! Now what? There's got to be something out there that fits with price and durability.

 

[spiff]

I think the vulnerablity is just its adhesion... so if you put the bluemax across all surfaces of the window frames and sealed the windows to the bluemax, it would probably be alright.

Maybe someone would be willing to do a small scale test?

But its just a tough call, being a guinea pig on a project that large. Just the labor required to scrape the bluemax out if it didn't work would be enough to piss me off.

Personally, I'd go with aquaticeco's epoxy. Its .25 the price of pondarmor and seems to do the same. Then maybe put in a reinforcement bead of silicon in areas you suspect of possible flexing to protect against epoxy cracking.

 

[cvermeulen]

Could just use plain old fiberglass resin with some pigment in it.

 

[necrocanis]

Could just use plain old fiberglass resin with some pigment in it.

Would it work out well being submersed like that? I thought I read on one of my containers that it's not meant for long term submersion in water? If not I'll go buy out home depot and have this thing filled within two weeks. lol. I think even if I went that route I'd probably still like a coat of gelcoat for peace of mind. What do you tint it with as I have yet to see anything to tint fiberglass resin.

I think the vulnerablity is just its adhesion... so if you put the bluemax across all surfaces of the window frames and sealed the windows to the bluemax, it would probably be alright.

Maybe someone would be willing to do a small scale test?

But its just a tough call, being a guinea pig on a project that large. Just the labor required to scrape the bluemax out if it didn't work would be enough to piss me off.

Personally, I'd go with aquaticeco's epoxy. Its .25 the price of pondarmor and seems to do the same. Then maybe put in a reinforcement bead of silicon in areas you suspect of possible flexing to protect against epoxy cracking.

I might get a gal of it and see what I think on a small scale. It's really too bad I don't have scrap acrylic to try this with. I'm frustrated, but still might go the blue max route. It's a good thing I haven't done the internal frames for the windows yet. Need to get the sealant figured out first!

 

[Ramcharger]

Sorry for your loss! Always sad to hear of such a huge monster going. Hope I can get my lil guy to eat soon. So far I haven't confirmed him eating anything, and this thing always looks dead during the day. Doesn't move any, unless you push it with your hand. Have to look really hard at the gill covers to see him breathing. I think he moved like 6" today. That's the most I've seen yet. lol. Thanks for the compliments.

I wouldn't worry too much mine didn't move a lot until feeding time he got to the point that he would come to the surface to eat. It took a while before he would eat in front of me as well

 

[basslover34]

COMEON MAN... figure out your sealant solutions so i can copy them should they work

I should be getting my new car within the next month or so and will need to break it in with a trip to the States for my Sealants (I'll prob look for some catfish as well BUT ANYWAY!!)... Make your choice before then can ya...

 

[necrocanis]

Couldn't get a camera cord yesterday to download the pics. So gonna try right now again. Had to work again last night and will be going in again soon today! The big weekend for work and updates is comming close. Although I won't get anything done on the weekend really. All the work will get done on monday and tuesday. You only live once so I'm gonna try the bluemax. Bass you working on something we should know about?

 

[necrocanis]

Here's some pics of the progress over the past couple of days. you can see the way I've been routing the corners, and a pic just for cvermeulen of me and the tank for reference. Then there's a few pics of some other fish that will be going into the tank also eventually. Not huge yet, but getting there. The biggest shark is nearly 12" now, and the marble is 6"+, that pic is from last week and he's grown since then.

 

[cvermeulen]

Well ffs, it looks like a 300gl now that you're in the picture for reference.

I guess I'll need to do a beefcake pose next time I'm in the photo with my tank too.

 

[necrocanis]

Well ffs, it looks like a 300gl now that you're in the picture for reference.

I guess I'll need to do a beefcake pose next time I'm in the photo with my tank too.

I was just hanging onto the tank. Next time I'll do a beefcake pose also! Let's start a MBC(Monster beefcake) thread lol.

I figure routing the tank will give it more of a finished look. I know kids and probably a few MFKrs will probably be in there looking at the tank so no sharp edges!!!