building a plywood 180-250 gallon!!! cant wait...need some pointers please

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MikeGuerra

MikeGuerra

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 17, 2013
125
2
18
rockaway park ny
hi guys i am moving and my fish are in need of a bigger tank i dont want to go crazy with money and buy a new tank and i around me i cant seem to find any good deals on used tanks. so i decided to build a plywood tank and since I'm building it i can do w.e dimensions i want which i am excited about. but what i wanted to know is if anybody has built one or know where to get all the supplies to seal the tank off but that harmless for the fish.....and also if anybody knows what is the best way to put the glass front panel in thank you!:naughty::naughty:
 
With an aquarium this size I would just fiberglass the whole interior with one layer of fiberglass chop mat & polyester resin with an extra layer @ each seam. Top coat it with epoxy resin and color dyes and your aquarium wont leak. Make sure your aquarium is wide enough to fit your glass into it. my aquarium is 30" high & 34.50" wide so I was able to slide my glass in from the top access. Make sure you plan out your provisions for your filtration system before you finalize anything. If you need a solid stand design, go check out uaru joey's youtube channel and check his out. He does a nice step by step vid on stands & plywood aquarium.

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808 is right, for the glass you can stand the tank on the open end where the glass is going to be. Apply the silicone set the glass and put some weight distributed equally and wait 48 hours before you fill it, make sure to apply a nice thick bead of silicone.
 
Yes, go heavy with the silicon, you can remove the excess when it hardens. I uesd ge 1 pure silicon to seat my glass. I also used a bunch of 5 gal bucket distributed evenly over my glass and filled them with water starting from the middle. Let it cure for a day before you remove the buckets, and a couple more days before you fill. Use thoose extra days preping your filtration system. Trust me, your filtration will be a whole other trip.

My Xbox gamer tag: xXclusive808x. Run & gun baby!
 
thanks guys.....som really good advice...sorry theres no pictures yet i dislocted my sholder a few days ago so that put it on hold but in a week or 2 the soreness should be gone if i take my meds rite so hoping to get it startedi have a poly endli slver aro and florida gar in a 90 that will be going in the 180 have to get it started soon because there getting big and fast lol they eat non stop...i originaly wanted a 180 to buy which was 72 x 24 x 24 ..but since i am going to build it now i mite as well do the dimensions to what i would really want. wich is 84 x 30 x 24 wish is 262 gallon........hope yiu guys have patients once this arm heals ill be starting and posting up pics step by step.....thanks again guys for the advice and please feel free to help me along the way i am a carpenter so the build wont be hard but the water proofing, glass work and silicone is new to me..:grinno: cant waitttttt
 
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