500 gal plywood aquarium update.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Another month to finish build and however long it take for water to cycle. Just ordered glass today. It comes in at about a week and a half. Enough time for me to finish laying fiberglass. Still need to work on my plumbing and wrapping canopy and stand.

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Absolutely incredible....cant wait to see more....its definitely on my to do list for this year....Excluding the cost of the glass, how much have you spent on materials thus far????
I ask to have an idea of what i'll be looking at when I begin my project.


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I live in Hawaii and it seems like I'm spending double what most everyone else is. Of course, if you live in Hawaii than you'd already know.
So far, cost of plywood was 240.00. Spent about 35.00 on 2x4 to build stand. Spent about another 30.00 worth of 2 1/2 inch screws. Router bit itself was 14.00. Another 20.00 on brushes and rollers. I bought counter sinking drill bits and wood glue also but can't remember what they cost. I've spent alot of money on my fiberglass and resin. First gal of resin cost 61.00. Bought a bag of 24 oz cloth for 32.00, which I'm not even going to use, was a waste of money. Bought two bags 7 1/2 oz. Cloth for 26.00 each. That was just right for my first layer. I found somewhere cheaper now for fiberglass, but it'll still cost me 45.00 per gal. & I'll need 2 more. Bought 7 yrds of chop mat for 42.00 and that will be enough for me to complete 3 full layers fiberglass. I just ordered glass, it cost me 221.00. Bought 4 bulkheads, 1 1/8 inch each for 7.00 each. Kaldness will probably cost me about 130.00 to buy and ship here. Still got more to do. Shouldn't cost me more than a 1000.00 to finish which is far less than buying one.

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I should note also to be careful when buying plywood. The crap from home depot had lrge splits in between some of the plys. I had to use alot of wood glue and clamps to make repairs. Next time, I'll probably go to a cabinet supply outlet for some quality wood. Also if you'll be using fiberglass, you'll need a respirator with charcoal filtration and nitrile gloves. Minimize bare skin contact with fiberglass cloth and chop mat. It'll make you itch for days, not fun trust me. I hope all this writing will help at least one person cause it definitely helps me think through alot of things and other people's feedbacks gives me alot more ideas.

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If anyone is going to be using fiberglass, I'd sugg that you keep everything flat. Example, I made an inlay on the inside of my aquarium so that my glass would drop in flush. This was a mistake! It's hard to apply fiberglass cloth to the angles around the inlay. I can't get all the bubbles out. I'll have to grind out imperfections and bubbles now before I can apply more layers of fiberglass. The inlay wasn't even needed and would've been far easier to manage. It's already set in so I'll just have to deal with it now. I'm not worried about it failing, just it's going to take that much more time and work to complete. Also, I'd suggest that you get alot of disposable brushes, 5 or 6 mixing cups, and thicker nitrile gloves.

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808_fairladyz said:
Here's an example of the useless overlay that I put into the aquarium for my glass.

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Click to expand...


Yeah I agree with what your saying and am glad I opted not to do this on my build becuz I was afraid of this very thing. It might have been better to not fiberglass this lip at all and silicone right to the wood here instead.

Lessens learned huh, part of the fun though and keeps you on your toes for the next build.. :naughty:
 
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