269g plywood tank?

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Conner

Conner

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Dec 27, 2008
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Kentucky
I'm thinking about building a plywood tank with pond liner, rather than all-glass tank (going to price both though).

The plywood tank would be 72" long, 30-36" wide, and 24" tall. According to Garf.org, I don't need external supports for this size tank, just some internal eurobrace style supports. Does this sound right?

The filter will be another box built on top of the tank, that drains back into it. Dimensions of this smaller tank will be 12x36x18T.

edit: drawings can be found in the Indoor Ponds forum.
 
So I'm looking at possible coatings for the tank. I was planning on just using a 20 mil rubber pond liner, but I've been looking at Sani-tred's PermaFlex. The Permaflex will cost about 2-3 times the pond liner, but I was wondering if it would be considered a superior liner? The website says 2 coats = 14 mils thickness, but I would probably do 3 coats, which would be about the same as a 20 mil rubber pond liner.

If I get the PermaFlex, then I would have almost half of the gallon left over after coating this tank and filter, while I probably wouldn't have much pond liner left over. That in and of itself kind of leans me towards the PermaFlex, and not having to deal with folding and moving the pond liner, plus sealing bulkheads through it.

Any thoughts or opinions about PermaFlex vs. 20 mil rubber pond liner?
 
Sanitred saved my azz... it has my vote.
 
Sounds like a standard rubberized coating. Someone just did a big thread on the effectiveness of this stuff. Turns out, it is actually pretty good.

Euro bracing sound like it will be sufficient. How thick of plywood are you planning to use?
 
It's going to be 3/4" exterior grade, but NOT pressure treated.

The way I'm designing it, the sides of the filter box will be the same continuous sheet of plywood as the sides of the tank. The back of the filter box will be continuous with the back of the tank. That way, I just have to add a bottom and front. I'm thinking this will give it more rigidity and I won't have to worry about securing a separate box on top of the tank.

I will then have eurobracing around the front, opposite side, and back of the tank.
 
Also, what size pump would you recommend for a 269g tank? I've got two quiet one 4000's (~800-900gph each) on both of my 125g tanks, but I don't know if I really need that much flow in this larger tank? Or should I aim for the same amount of flow (1,600-2,000gph) on this tank? That would still be between a 6 and 7.4 turnover rate per hour.
 
Flow is personal preference IMO. If you can get all the waste out of the tank with one pump, then you should be good. If not, go with both. Turnover isn't always that important.
 
conner I looked over the website and the only thing is that I am not sure about is do you have to use all 3 products or can you just use the permaflex?
 
Valous;3528282; said:
conner I looked over the website and the only thing is that I am not sure about is do you have to use all 3 products or can you just use the permaflex?
Click to expand...

You just use the PermaFlex, I believe, but I will email them to confirm.

From the Sani-Tred website:

"SANI-TRED PermaFlex is a single component (1 part), liquid rubber "ULTRA ADHESIVE" paint-like coating. After cure, there is little resemblance to paint. PermaFlex is a paint replacement product, self-priming, easy to use, easy to apply and cures reliably even in extremely cold temperatures."


  • PermaFlex has the ability to cure tack-free in 4 hours, or less, at temperatures 70° F or higher and the ability to cure overnight at temperatures exceeding minus 15 below zero Fahrenheit and still retain its cured qualities.
  • Freshly applied PermaFlex may be subjected to rain, snow, or extreme cold without affecting its curing.
 
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