300gal plywood paludarium project

the_deeb

the_deeb

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Apr 22, 2006
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After the epoxy and fully cured I spent several hours carefully sanding the tank with 60 grit sandpaper. I used a sanding sponge and wet sanded by hand to keep down the dust. This should also help to completely get rid of any amine blush, which can prevent the next layer from adhering. I carefully inspected all the surfaces to make sure there were no glossy areas. I've read the main thing that causes issues with adherence is inadequate surface preparation so I really took my time at this stage to make sure everything was well scuffed up.



Then I applied my Pond Shield! This stuff was a little tricky to work with. It's thick - kind of like honey. As per the instructions, I thinned it out by adding about 8% ethanol which made it a little easier to deal with. I calculated how much I would need to cover each side and then did one side at a time, mixing up only enough epoxy to cover that side. I rotated the tank as I went so that the side I was working on was on the bottom. I think this made it easier to work with. I followed the instructions and first used a bondo spreader to spread it out and cover the entire surface. I then used a roller to evenly cover the surface. I used a cheap polyurethane roller, which I regret now, because some little bits of the roller pulled out and got stuck in the epoxy, leaving some bumps. So lesson learned - use a high quality short nap roller.

Here's the tank with the initial coating.





I still need to do some of the top corners when I couldn't get the roller to fit and there are a bunch of small pinholes and "fisheyes" in the coating which I need to go back over and fix, but overall it looks pretty good. I'm definitely happy that I have the extra layer of fiberglass and resin underneath.
 
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Valous

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very nice. i like the way it looks. keep up the good work. i also enjoy the detailed explanation of how you went about doing the tank.
 
the_deeb

the_deeb

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Apr 22, 2006
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Thanks. So I went over and patched all the pinholes with more Pond Shield. Now, when looking at it under normal room lighting it looks pretty good, but when I shine a really bright lamp on it I can tell that there are a few areas where the Pond Shield sagged a bit and the coating is a little thin (I can faintly make out the wood color under bright light). This probably means I didn't quite get to 10 mils thickness in those areas. I guess this happened because I was thinning it a little with alcohol but I think it would have been really hard to work with unthinned.

Unfortunately I don't think I have quite enough Pond Shield to go over all those areas again (I think the coverage specified on the kit is pretty generous. Unless you were coating a single flat surface with no corners I think it's probably more realistic to say that you can expect about 50sq ft per 1.5qt kit).

If the thin areas in the submerged section were over bare wood I would be worried but since it's over a layer of West Systems epoxy and fiberglass I think I should be ok. There are also a few thin areas over bare wood around the upper edges of the tank but since they're going to be in the emersed part of the tank I think they should be fine as well - in those areas all I need is a moisture/humidity barrier, not a true watertight coating.

What do you guys think?
 
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'vspec'

Feeder Fish
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Jul 15, 2010
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Bud, such a shame i wasn't here from the start. It would have been good. I need to push past the usual forum sections i think, there's got to be a few more gems in the ruff than im giving people credit for.
Still plenty of time here though, your not quite half way yet, so its all good. :popcorn:

Ambitious build indeed, and one that seems to be paying off in spades. Your learning quick aren't you, so that in itself is invaluable. Yeah, you learn real quick to 'spot check' all your timber girth. They factor rough rules of shrinkage from the mills, but even then its not always close, thats the price we pay for something living dude.


I must say though, ive done the full research on all our products, and even played around with quite a few already - gotta say, it seems a sh^t load easier in application that what your experiencing.

On the fibre glass, you cant never really go wrong with from a strength & seal-able perspective. Thats assuming if its done correctly, if it is, then thats your barrier - period.

You used no more than 2% catalyst?

Welcome to 'sniff' club too bud, application fibre glassing is addictive all right, its got to be the resin smell, cause i dont know why i like it ether, i just seem to secretly get off on it.
Although i always seem to recall what my spray painter mate told me once.... "If you can smell it anything made from chemicals, you've already had to much". :nilly:

Although fibre glass does have a down side, its only fun till you reach a orbital cutting or sanding stage, & then any impregnated micro shards can do your head in. :irked:


Im on the board for updates, & i love the fact your out there, sleeves rolled up & getting dirty - kudos bud. Look forward to your continuing journey.
 
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