300ish Gallon plywood - First attempt

[Muni]

I am interested in the sump. I hope you put up some pics of that process.
I have been following since the beginning and have learned so much from this build.
Can't wait to see it populated. Great job thus far, love it !

There will be.

There is only 1 divider in the sump at this time. Siliconed it in last night. Waiting on ordering my filter socks and pump before I put the others in so everything is sized correctly.


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In other news. Laid the tank on its face and finished the silicone in the inner edges. I also cut spaces to help center the glass on insertion. Here is the plan to help seal this bad boy up.

The black silicone is for extra protection and cosmetic purposes on the front for a bit contrast to help frame in the glass and match the trim.

Using standard GE-1 to stick the glass to the wood because I KNOW it works. Used it on dozens of tanks.

Using the paintable caulk to fill in the edges to avoid voids for fish to get into and give something for the rubberized paint to stick too.

Painting the rubberized paint up and over the paintable caulk which it sticks too like it's a Siamese twin and onto the glass hoping to make and perfect seal.


So thats the general plan. We'll see how it goes.

Feel free for anyone to add any comments. An extra set of eyes never hurts.

 

[CJH]

Using the paintable caulk to fill in the edges to avoid voids for fish to get into and give something for the rubberized paint to stick too.

Painting the rubberized paint up and over the paintable caulk which it sticks too like it's a Siamese twin and onto the glass hoping to make and perfect seal.

So thats the general plan. We'll see how it goes.

Feel free for anyone to add any comments. An extra set of eyes never hurts.

Hey Muni, glad to see this project moving forward again. Can you remind me if you ended up using the chlorinated or non-chlorinated version of the rubberized pool paint? And assuming it was chlorinated, you already demonstrated it as being fish-safe, correct?

As far as your window sealing, my only concern might be the bond between the paintable caulk and the GE-1 you're using to bond the glass to the plywood. But I guess if you're overlapping the rubberized paint over the paintable silicone and onto the glass you'll in theory never be testing the water tightness of the bond between the two dissimilar silicones.

When I used to do builds like this where glass needed to be bonded to wood first I always used a polyurethane based caulk. They take a long time to offgass and nothing bonds to them well until they're fully cured but the extra time was worth the wait since it made for a very durable and water tight bond once done.

In another old thread an international distributor of one of the rubberized coatings recommended a fast cure polyurethane caulk to avoid the long cure times. A state side distributor recommended a rubber based caulk. No silicone, just the polyurethane or rubber caulk.

Regardless, if the bond of the paint is good to the paintable caulk and the glass then there is no reason for concern. I'm just thinking out loud and sharing previous experiences.

 

[Muni]

Let there be glass.... and there was.

I only took a few pictures because I was excited to get this thing in there.

Heres my gift wrapped package of 70x29x .5 glass.

Glass installed with a bit of help and 2 buckets of water on it for a bit of weight to set the silicone into place.

Silicone full width of the glass. That is GE I. The edge gap will later get filled in as described in my little paint doodle I did in an earlier post.

And now we wait. Needs about a day or 2 to cure before I fill in the edges with the Paintable silicone that will later get sealed over with the sealant. Again as indicated in the doodle.

 

[JK47]

Too cool Muni!! "New glass day" is probably about as awesome as "new tank day"?? Good idea with the weighted section.

 

[Muni]

Too cool Muni!! "New glass day" is probably about as awesome as "new tank day"?? Good idea with the weighted section.

I thought it best to weight it to keep solid pressure on the silicone while curing and to help spread out the silicone.



Glass day is only beat by "its full of water and didn't explode day"

 

[Muni]

The GE-1 skinned over nicely and is fairly firm to the touch so I removed my weight and siliconed the gaps around the glass with the silicone for the rubber to stick to.

It took 2 1/2 tubes due to the 3/8's gap at the bottom and top but that was expected. I used a plastic spoon to push it into the gap and give a nice smooth radius finish. So I should have a smooth transition from the plywood to the glass for the rubber paint to go over.

The nice thing about this stuff is it goes on white but dries clear. Great indicator of when its cured. This stuff takes a bit longer then the GE-1 though so may be a few days. But its in a 74 degree house with a small fan in the tank moving air around.

 

[Muni]

Here is a pic of today. This is the only part of the glass that isn't completely enclosed. YET. I have to tack the left side lid back on but thought this would be a good opportunity to show you all an actual representation of my drawing.

The white is the silicone that the rubberized sealant sticks to. Notice the nice radius from glass to plywood wall and the 3/8 x 3/8 gap it fills. It will dry clear.

The clear stuff visible is the mostly cured GE-1 that is holding the glass to the wood.

 

[Muni]

Progress continues. I love Saturdays.

 

[Muni]

Left lid panel installed. Small cross brace pieces cut and installed. Painted on the outside with the waterproof deck paint. Tops drilled, countersunk, and screwed. Silicone inside is all done. Just needs to cure.

 

[JK47]

The top looks great Eric! I like how wide/big you made the openenings in the top. That has always been a major pet peave of mine in acrylic tanks is those small holes. You planning some massive driftwood?