450 Gallon Plywood Tank With Acrylic Viewing Panel Build Thread

[ZTheBaldGuy]

Long time lurker making my first post here. I am starting my 450 gallon plywood tank build after reading about plywood tanks for the last 6 months or so and am finally ready to take the plunge. It is safe to say that I have no carpentry skills but I do enjoy building stuff and having various projects going. This idea all started with a random youtube video I saw from a person named UaruJoey that planted the seed in my mind for a plywood tank.

My purpose for this thread is to document this process for others and also to get feedback from the members here on any questions or issues that come up during my build. I am open to all questions or comments that the members here may have. There are still a lot of things I haven't penciled out yet in regards to this build.

Aquarium dimensions will be the following in inches:

96"L x 36"W x 30"H

I wanted to go wider and higher but it wouldn't fit in the door to get it into my living room from the garage where I will be building it. I decided that I would enjoy having a tank in my living room more than having one in my garage even it if meant that I would have to go with a much smaller build. Part of the reason is that I live just outside of Phoenix Arizona and the summers get very hot. I just don't see myself spending much time in the garage during the 4 months of crazy heat we experience out here. Not to mention the impact a hot garage would have on the fish no matter how large the aquarium was.

I have the day off today due to having a new mattress being delivered so I will head down to Home Depot and get my plywood sheets to kick everything off on this build. I will be using 3/4" plywood with 2"x4" for the bracing. Barring any unforeseen disasters, I am thinking I will have the plywood shell and 2"x4" bracing done by the end of this weekend.

Based off of my calculations I will need the following:

1x 96"x36" for bottom
2x 96"x30" for front, back
2x 34.5"x30" for sides

 

[ZTheBaldGuy]

I wanted to add that this is my first time doing anything like this. So if there are things/common pitfalls I need to look out for, feel free to share.

 

[Dis]

Best of luck to you. Post some pictures of the progress

 

[ZTheBaldGuy]

Thanks! Will do!

Ok first question for the MFK brain trust. My birch plywood is UV coated. Will this cause issues in regards to adhesion when I go to apply the waterproofing materials? I have plenty of sandpaper but I would like to avoid the extra labor if it isn't necessary.

**Edit**

According to the pond armor site, the wood will need to be sanded anyway so I guess that answers my question.

**Edit #2**

Running total on cost:

Plywood, screws & wood glue: $287.08

 

[ZTheBaldGuy]

I wanted to update the thread on progress or more accurately lack there of. At this point I have my plywood cut to size but I need to sand off the UV coating and also give the sheets a 60 grit surface to ensure proper adhesion for the waterproofing compound I end up using.

My plan was to do the sanding today however mother nature is not cooperating. Since the sanding is fairly messy, I will be doing outside of my garage. Unfortunately we have rain and wind today so this will get pushed to next weekend.

 

[Inglorious]

Good luck with your build, make sure you get lots of pics for us as you go

 

[ZTheBaldGuy]

My apologies all for neglecting this thread. I sanded down all of the plywood sheets to get rid of the UV coating but just don't like how the plywood turned out. I had to take off a lot of material and even then I'm not sure I went far enough. My concern is that the pondshield won't get absorbed enough or uniformly into the plywood due to the UV coating.

Then life happened. I won't get into details but I am rethinking if I want to go ahead with the plywood aquarium build or just order an acrylic aquarium and use the materials I do have to build a stand instead.

I am fortunate, in that Truvu is within driving distance of where I live and I can order my 450 through them and go pick it up myself. Downside is that I am looking at ~$3.5k for just the tank. At this point, I have already paid for the stand materials if I decide to go this route so there isn't much of an incremental cost there. Just the 2x cost of the tank vs a diy plywood build.

At this point, if I do go the Truvu route, I will just have to wait a few months to save up the money and then put in my order. I don't have anything in my 100 gallon aquarium that needs anything bigger anytime soon so I can take my time and not rush things.

I think in the long run I will be happier with the acrylic aquarium so maybe this is for the best. Or I can go back to Home Depot, get the oak 3/4 inch plywood that isn't coated and start the build over with that.

 

[Dis]

Buy the acrylic tank if you can afford it. No stress about leaks etc...

 

[xraycer]

Buy the acrylic tank if you can afford it. No stress about leaks etc...

+1
....chances are, the tank will look significantly nicer, and you should be able to resell it easier than a plywood tank.

 

[Niners4952]

I built my 600 out of 3/4 birch from Lowes and I sanded it with 60 grit nothing to crazy. I used pond shield and had no issues