So I just baught a house and we close on the 25th of Feb. I have a huge basement and am planning on building a monster tank... I've never done a plywood tank though so I need suggestions. I've seen tanks done with hardipanel and coated with drylock and I really think this is the way I want to go. Does anybody know any reasons that I should opt for something else. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
DIY Tank help
- Thread starter deanclark84
- Start date
I am not sure about what you want to do as i have never built a tank of this size before, but i am going to build one soon, first a 500g using ply and fibreglass then hopefully next year a 1500g of the same, if not concrete and fibreglass.
Theres plenty on here to look into for a tank build
Theres plenty on here to look into for a tank build
I've been doing nothing but research for the last few weeks, I am absolutely terrified of using fiberglass... I've never used it before and it doesn't sound very user friendly. The process I'm talkin about seems relatively easy and extremely strong. I think the tank is gonna be 12x4x3... not sure what to use for a viewing window either, if it's an issue I may drop the tank to 30 in to keep the cost down.
My saltwater fish in my 210 are gettin a little crowded...
My saltwater fish in my 210 are gettin a little crowded...
There was a recent thread that discussed the do's and don'ts regarding drylock. I dont believe drylock is intended to be used for continuous underwater applications and I would not be surprised if it had anti mild/mildew properties in it. Either way, there is no way I would build a tank using drylock. I'll search for the thread and link it if I find it.
EDIT: Found it....
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=386145&highlight=drylock
EDIT: Found it....
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=386145&highlight=drylock
research, research, research... decided against it since it would cost more than an acrylic used. plus i didnt trust myself, however i planned it for over a month, and a product called wetsuit seemed the best to me. check it out you might be suprised
I would stay away from drylock. If you have a "huge" basement why not do something bigger with concrete walls like 12'X 10' X 6'? If you want to stay with plywood I would go epoxy to penetrate the wood then some type of rubber coating for extra insurance.
I finished by build last spring using liquid rubber and had very good results with that. It was very easy to work with and so far I dont have any water on the floor. I'm not sure about Wet Suit but never having used it I'm not going to say one way or the other.
I would love a concrete setup but if I sell my house someday I don't want to go through havingh to break it all apart... I didn't realize it but apparently a monster tank isn't something that most people want in their basement... ill look into the wetsuit and liquid rubber though... thanks for the advice
There is a house I'm looking at for sale and as soon as I move out I'm going to buy the place and put a monster fish tank in the lower garage and then knock a hole in wall into the basement living room for the viewing window of the cinder block fish tank.
so I have never used silica sand in a tank cuz it messes with the ph or whatever, but if it's a FOWLR tank and the fish are not really ph sensative, do you think it would be ok? I can't imagine buying enough araganite to fill a tank this size and I've seen people use it before, am I just giong off of heresay or is there a valid reason to not use regular play sand