4' 90 Gallon converted to 240 4' Square Plywood and Glass Build

[nolapete]

About 2 hours later after randomly working on it while still watching Ravens dominate Patriots.

 

[nolapete]

And only one small chip (accidentally let the blade get squished between the side and front glass) and one cut finger.

 

[slimmer]

I have a friend that is going to give a crack 90 for free. I am going to try to steal your ideal. What are you going to use for a top center brace? I am thinking of using a sheet of plywood with the lid cut out for a top brace. My build wil be in the near future [springtime] but looks like you have a great ideal.

 

[nolapete]

The way it's built I doubt it will need bracing, but if it does I'll use diagonal braces from the center of each wall to the adjoining center.

 

[nolapete]

Going to build three tanks with this glass and use plywood in the place of the second window so that I can change to see through tank(s) if I choose too later without much modification.

2 - 240s and a 180, so 660 gallons from a 90 gallon with the unbroken side glass still left over. These will be great ray tanks with the 4'x4' footprint.

 

[NOLAGT]

Awesome idea and so simple. I was looking at the tanks I have today and was thinking I could triple the amount of tanks if not more.

 

[nolapete]

Yeah, I'm sure I'll have to tweak it a little bit once I get into the construction, but I'm fairly certain I'm very close to having it right. I was reviewing the design and found a few things I need to adjust. Nothing major though. Going to buy some materials this week since I can't work on the big tank. Too cold to paint in that room still. I'll put up step by step instructions for the 4'x4' tanks once I start assembling.

 

[slimmer]

What about sandwiching the plywood between 1x3s insteadof 2x3s? Not for price but just for looks. Home depot sells nice finished pine trim.

 

[nolapete]

What about sandwiching the plywood between 1x3s insteadof 2x3s? Not for price but just for looks. Home depot sells nice finished pine trim.

1x lumber is 2-3 times more expensive than 2x lumber. I like the bulky, sturdy look of the 2x lumber too. I think you'd have to brace the tank if you used 1x lumber as well and I'm trying to build something that doesn't need bracing.

1x3x96 = 6.41
2x3x96 = 1.79

 

[john73738]

I was thinking of picking up a tank on CL for my Plywood build. Heck get a 75 for 100 bucks that is cheap glass.

Thanks for the ideas.

Bear