300ish Gallon plywood - First attempt

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Woke up this morning to frozen pipes and -5 temperatures outside and not much better inside. So I'll be messing with the pipes part of the morning while I heat up the shop. Hopefully I can get something done on the tank today.

Got hinges for my doors and will try to hang those as well.
 
This is so cool, I wish I could build a tank! I can't wait to see the finished product, the stand looks awesome!
 
Emmaline;3681710; said:
This is so cool, I wish I could build a tank! I can't wait to see the finished product, the stand looks awesome!
Click to expand...


Thank you.

Getting ready to cut out my Glass opening now that I have my top center brace in place. Even if it is temporary. I didn't want my good front face bouncing all over when I take the jigsaw or sawzall to it.

It's just a little hard to work when it's so cold. I've had a fire going in the stove for a good 4-5 hours now and it's UP TO
005-2.jpg


I dunno if it can be seen well. The flash kinda blew out the pencil lines. But i'm using a 3 inch radius on the edges of my viewing window and will probably do the same for the top access holes.
003-3.jpg


And in other news my Betta who is in a 10 gallon with the one and only surviving molly fry has been strutting and flaring like crazy all day so I snapped a quick picture of him. I like him a lot. But the picture shows me how dirty my tank is.....
002-4.jpg


ok. Now I've got a window to cut.
 
Houston. We have a window.


A little fancy jig saw work. A little roughing out with a hand rasp and some sand paper. And voila. You get a window.

006.jpg


It leaves me about 2.5-3 inches of solid contact all the way around for the glass. So should be plenty of support. The top is also not finished and will look similar to the front opening with the addition of a center brace.
 
Look real nice. Why did you round the corners of the window? Just for looks or is there a structural advantage?
 
redm18;3683021; said:
Look real nice. Why did you round the corners of the window? Just for looks or is there a structural advantage?
Click to expand...


Mostly for looks but there is also a bit of structural benefit. More wood equals more strength. I did it purely for cosmetic purposes though.
 
freshwaterz;3683511; said:
i dont remember what you will be using, glass or acrylic?

also, with all those holes you drilled and the length of the screws did you run into any issues with the wood splitting?

and yes....tank looks awesome.
Click to expand...


I'm gonna be using Glass. .5 Inch thick.


I've been drilling pilot holes and counter sinking them. I have had 0 splits.

I did have 2 blowouts because my pilot hole were not straight. This is 7 ply cabinet grade so it's much less likely to split compared solid wood.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom