This looks amazing. Eventually i will be building a large tank link this for my severums
600g DIY plywood build
- Thread starter DIFish
- Start date
DIFish
How come you used pond armor instead of Max ACR or something else? Scanning through old threads I saw multiple references to pond armor becoming brittle over time and cracking. For my future build I was thinking of doing the entire tank in fiberglass close but you seem to feel it added nothing. Any thoughts on that?I used pond armor because a large amount of the builds that I based mine off of were using it at the time and it seemed like the safer choice. I have actually never heard of pond armor becoming brittle when used correctly, and I think that any plywood tank will need replacing after 15 years or so and based on my research I think pond armor will hold up that long. The reason people use fiberglass is to make the tank more ridged if I am not mistaken. While this is good, I experienced no bowing whatsoever and the fiberglass was a pain to install. That being said I would not have added it because the tank was already structurally sound just with wood. To each their own but personally I think plywood tanks are much stronger and versatile than people give them credit for. If you have any other questions that are not answered by my thread, please feel free to msg me and I will help you to the best of my ability!
Awesome build would love to do this sometime but would feel overwhelmed. Love the pics.
DIFish
love your build and keep revisiting it as I plan mine. Quick question. I noticed you only did 1/2in thick glass but your tank is 36in tall. Is that thick enough? Also, is the glass resting on anything on the bottom at all or is flush on the bottom.I think the biggest difference I am looking at is that I am researching G/flex by west systems. Probably cost about $350-400 versus probably the $200-250 for Pond Shield. I am looking to avoid the fiberglass and G/Flex seems to be very flexible instead of brittle that I think would address some issues folks have raised.
Love your build. Would it be possible to get a materials list from you for this amazing project?
Thanks! I really feel like anybody can do this with a little research, you should definitly try it out if you have the time and resources.
So to answer your question about the glass, most glass calculators use a
I think the biggest difference I am looking at is that I am researching G/flex by west systems. Probably cost about $350-400 versus probably the $200-250 for Pond Shield. I am looking to avoid the fiberglass and G/Flex seems to be very flexible instead of brittle that I think would address some issues folks have raised.
system in which the height is actually the water height and the length of the tank doesn't count for bracing. That being said, technically i only have 34 inches of water, and the bottom 4 inches are plywood so the glass doesn't start until almost 5 inches up on the tank, making the glass hold back about a 30 inch high water line, more than enough for 1/2 inch glass. However I also have 3 braces evenly spread across the 8 foot tank, making it less than 2 feet of room in between support. Meaning when I put it into a calculator, I feel comfortable using 2 feet as the tank length (length between braces) and 30 inches as the tank height. So no, 1/2 inch glass is not enough for a standard all glass tank, but it is enough for me to have 0 bowing and 0 worries in my custom build. Although I do not recommend that you just take my word for it, and please do your proper research before dumping 600+ gallons of water in your house and crossing your fingers. That being said, half in thick starphire glass is MUCH cheaper than 3/4 inch, and if this was not a budget build I would have 100% went with the extra security, although I do not feel as if it is needed.
A list of materials as in to build the tank? Or the entire project including sumps/ filter / setup ? I believe that I have everything listed multiple times, and all at the same time in my price breakdown. But if you are still having trouble finding it let me know and I can see if I can't put together a list of what to buy!
I'll go through everything again maybe I missed something in the pages I couldn't find the thickenss of boards you were using for bracing and how many plywood boards you used total. Sorry.
Haha, don't be sorry, questions are good, better to ask questions than to just assume and mess something up. The plywood is 3/4 inch (birch?) Pretty standard high quality finished wood. 4 sheets of that with 3, 1.5 quart kits of pond armor and of course the glass panel and a lot of screws and silicon. Pictures of the exact brands and types I used should be in the first couple pages if you are trying to follow step by step.
