sweetseahorse;2397876; said:
Why would a liner leak? I built my 180 out of 5/8 plywood and 2x6's and a 8x10" liner, no problems. I will build my final tank with a liner and work on putting a window in without it leaking, easy as pie.
DIY tank and I got confused
- Thread starter sweetseahorse
- Start date
Why would a liner leak? I built my 180 out of 5/8 plywood and 2x6's and a 8x10" liner, no problems. I will build my final tank with a liner and work on putting a window in without it leaking, easy as pie.
Sounds like an awesome tank. If your making like I think you are then just use 2x6's every 12" OC for the supports both vertical and horizontal for the bottom of the tank then I'd seriously consider a 2x4 frame for the exterior of the tank also placed 12"OC. Now because of the 20' length your going to need braces above the tank to stop any bowing. I'd probably space that every 48"-60". How many windows will you have in the tank viewing area? 20'x30" spreads the weight out quite a bit so 4x4's are a really not needed. One question though, what area of your home is this going into? If its the basement I'd build it against a wall then you can use a line level to get a level line from one end to the other then draw that line on the wall and make all your vertical support cuts to that line. I love using Sketch-up btw!
I think that vertical supports every 24" would be fine. Wood is a lot stronger than you think. I would look to make the tank al lease 1.5" thick, possibly 2". You could also add in some 2x4 bracing on the inside to help support the weight. I would also suggest at least 4x4s for horizontal works.
Using cheaper 2x4 every 12" and you can use a single layer of 5/8" plywood. 1" ply is expensive stuff and if you have external bracing 2" of ply would be a complete waste. Yes wood is very strong but 2" of plywood would be insanely strong but remember the whole thing is only as strong as the joints, you can have 10" of plywood but some weak joints and the whole thing will fail. That being said if you chose not to go with external bracing and money isnt a problem then you can go with 2" of plywood (two 1" sheets) overlapped start with one layer using a full 8' length then cut the next piece in half and start your next layer with the half sheet followed by a full 8'. To screw the two together use 1 1/2" screws and screw the plys together from both sides IMO this is where you would also need top bracing about every 24". If you use epoxy to seal the interior then you can use plain automotive Bondo to cover all the screw heads and fill in any joints and seams.
