8'x4'x2' DIY Plywood - Help!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
So any recommendations on sealing the tank? What products would everyone else use? I am fairly confident in my skills and the skills of those helping me. This box should be solid.

What goes on the inside preferably would be a lighter color? (I was hoping blue so that fish would be highly visible) But really I dont care. What we want is just something that will be overbuilt and increadibly tough to stand the test of time and provide this class room with a fish tank for a long time to come.
 
Zari said:
Fiberglass and epoxy resin may be a pain to apply but it seams to have the best results when sealing compared to other products in various builds here. At the very least fiberglass cloth in the corners and all seams will save you some trouble
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My thoughts exactly. I'm looking at making a large, 500 gallon tank but my issue is building the stand. I need to support the middle of the tank and the floor isn't level. I might have to level it myself. But I digress. Been researching this for a while if you are going large scale plywood you are gonna do one of the two fiberglass solutions as they are what have been used to best effect in all the majorly successful larger plywood tanks from 500-5,000 gallons on the internet. I myself would want to do concrete for tanks larger than 2,000 gallons.
 
FLESHY said:
What goes on the inside preferably would be a lighter color? (I was hoping blue so that fish would be highly visible)
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Most visibly appealing way to make fish visible is good light and a lighter substrate with a dark background else your fish will have a very distorted color pallet you can't really adjust by changing bulbs. If you have a blue tank it tints the whole aquarium an artificial blue, I've only ever seen one good blue backed tank and it was a dimly lit LED tank with crushed coral substrate, the way the LED adds shimmer to the tank bounced amazingly off the back of the tank adding a dancing blue to the white substrate and Texas holy rock and coral (it was an African cichlid tank).

So you want to do oddball cold water fish I imagine a number of natives will be present, Black makes your predators look way more menacing and your colorful fish like a sunfish really pop and even adds to the iridescent sheen on a black crappie. Having seen a blue backed native tank it didn't do anything for me as the blue of the background kinda drowns out any color a native might display and makes darker or predatory fish look really out of place IMHO. blue back grounds are also prone to looking horrible with any amount of algae on them. black will conceal a decent amount especially if you have more front facing lighting.
 
Wiggles92 said:
Use Sweetwater epoxy paint; it's fish-safe and is used to make aquaculture ponds. It comes in a variety of colors, including blue and green. I would order two different colors and use one color for the base coat and another color for the top coat in order to avoid missing any spots.
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Interesting idea, however I have been reading that sweetwater by itself is too thin and can be easily punctured...I want this build to be as sturdy and as long lasting as possible. Nothing says fired like building an aquarium for a university that leaks 479.74 gallons all over the lower vert classroom lab floor.

Rivermud said:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?321700-HELP!-DIY-plywood-tank-questions!!

that thread has a lot of info on sealing.
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Intereting read - what do you think would work best for someone in my situation? Noob, first time builder (plywood tanks), and wanting to be as sturdy and waterproof as possible. (Keeping in mind I want a lighter color for the inside of the tank to increase visibility.)

I might also be making a styro background for this tank.

kamikaziechameleon said:
My thoughts exactly. I'm looking at making a large, 500 gallon tank but my issue is building the stand. I need to support the middle of the tank and the floor isn't level. I might have to level it myself. But I digress. Been researching this for a while if you are going large scale plywood you are gonna do one of the two fiberglass solutions as they are what have been used to best effect in all the majorly successful larger plywood tanks from 500-5,000 gallons on the internet. I myself would want to do concrete for tanks larger than 2,000 gallons.
Click to expand...

So fiberglass and fiberglass cloth for corners and seems? Have you used this method before? What should I be looking to buy for this build if going that method? Seems like it is available at hardware stores which is convenient. Someday I will do a concrete tank - this one has to be plywood.

kamikaziechameleon said:
Most visibly appealing way to make fish visible is good light and a lighter substrate with a dark background else your fish will have a very distorted color pallet you can't really adjust by changing bulbs. If you have a blue tank it tints the whole aquarium an artificial blue, I've only ever seen one good blue backed tank and it was a dimly lit LED tank with crushed coral substrate, the way the LED adds shimmer to the tank bounced amazingly off the back of the tank adding a dancing blue to the white substrate and Texas holy rock and coral (it was an African cichlid tank).

So you want to do oddball cold water fish I imagine a number of natives will be present, Black makes your predators look way more menacing and your colorful fish like a sunfish really pop and even adds to the iridescent sheen on a black crappie. Having seen a blue backed native tank it didn't do anything for me as the blue of the background kinda drowns out any color a native might display and makes darker or predatory fish look really out of place IMHO. blue back grounds are also prone to looking horrible with any amount of algae on them. black will conceal a decent amount especially if you have more front facing lighting.
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Very good points. Black, crushed coral for substrate. Easily done. Otherwise we could go with playsand, but I cant ever seem to keep my play sand clean. I stir it all up, and Ill be siphoning crap off the bottom till I run out of water. Not like theres anything wrong with that, but there is always crap still left on the sand afterwards. That is a topic for later on. First I gotta get this thing rolling.

If anyone can make me a short list of things that I will absolutely need for this build no matter what, I will go and buy those so I can get this thing started.
 
I honestly don't think you want a light colored sealant. It washes the fish out and is not natural. If you plant to plant the tank you might gow with a lighter color for light reflection within the tank but that is the only reason i know of.
 
I would use liquid rubber, its a bit more forgiving for tank flex. The downside is installing the glass is more complicated. The light color may be a problem though as most are black or brown. Id avoid ames blue max. I have not heard many good things about it. If it were me, I would build the tank and the stand separately.
 
Rivermud said:
I honestly don't think you want a light colored sealant. It washes the fish out and is not natural. If you plant to plant the tank you might gow with a lighter color for light reflection within the tank but that is the only reason i know of.
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Thanks Rivermud - it is sounding like I will go with black and just get a nice bright bulb. We have a metal halide lying around my lab someplace, but they wont be happy when the powerbill goes up. Lighting filtration and decoration issues we will hurdle once this tank is built though.

clemsonguy1125 said:
I would use liquid rubber, its a bit more forgiving for tank flex. The downside is installing the glass is more complicated. The light color may be a problem though as most are black or brown. Id avoid ames blue max. I have not heard many good things about it. If it were me, I would build the tank and the stand separately.
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Tank and stand are being built separately. Any issues I should know about supporting a plywood? Its obviously not like a glass tank where all the pressure is on the rim, so I will assume that I am going to need to brace up the bottom pretty well.

How do I get around the no silcone issues of liquid rubber? Anyone else agree with liquid rubber?
 
I think you would do well with Pond Coat. So, lets see here.... Is size a factor now that you are long longer talking about diy acrylic or glass? Cost does not significantly go up with size, for instance it costs about the same to make a 100gal plywood vs a 300 barring the cost of glass. With the types of fish you are looking to keep you may want to go as big as you are comfortable with. Let me know dimension and I'll see what I can do you help you get a parts list started.
 
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