DIY Tank Material Decision

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Tank Material?

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Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
May 19, 2007
18
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31
Harrisburg, PA
I am planning on housing 2 adult RES Turtles in a 400-500 Gallon Corner-Style tank, where two of the walls would be covered, and the other two, glass. Was wondering if there are any disadvantages to using metal instead of using wood? I ask because I am much better at using metal vs. wood. I also have a lot more tools for metal work than for wood work, and I like the look of it. It will more than likely be a planted/other fish tank, as well as just housing the turtles. If this isn't big enough, I can go bigger, as long as it'll have room for the both of 'em.

Picture shows what I mean.

Tank.png
 
man you want to make metal walls for your tank?, do you own a metal shop?, either way you have to waterproof either with epoxy, resin or a pond coating of some kind... 1/4" steel plate should be ok, butt up against a wall but anything that you use if its not braced or ribbed it will bend and bow...


Is this just sitting in the middle of the room or upagainst a wall and is this wall concreet, cinderblock or a normal studded wall??, what floor is it on?
 
portabuddy;978720; said:
man you want to make metal walls for your tank?, do you own a metal shop?, either way you have to waterproof either with epoxy, resin or a pond coating of some kind... 1/4" steel plate should be ok, butt up against a wall but anything that you use if its not braced or ribbed it will bend and bow...


Is this just sitting in the middle of the room or upagainst a wall and is this wall concreet, cinderblock or a normal studded wall??, what floor is it on?
Click to expand...

It will be standing in a corner with a reinforced floor underneath it. I like working with metal versus wood because it gives more margin for error (You can't add more wood if you cut it too short, but if you cut a piece of metal too short you just weld a new one on.) The walls it would sit against would be just normal studded walls, and I was wondering how thick the walls would have to be so that they wouldn't buckle or require any extra reinforcement.

Yes, I do have almost a whole metal shop at my disposal.

The dimensions I would like to have is:

48" Deep at least.

60" wide on the one side, and 48" on the other. It'll look kinda like the picture I have attached. Thanks!

Also, Could a mod change the topic, please? I was supposed to type "tank" instead of "stand"

Tank[1].gif
 
In my case I have expierance in both but more equipment for working with wood. Another factor....at least for me...would be the eventual weight of a metal / glass tank of that size. Fiberglass covered wood just seems like the better way to go IMO.
 
Wolf3101;980900; said:
In my case I have expierance in both but more equipment for working with wood. Another factor....at least for me...would be the eventual weight of a metal / glass tank of that size. Fiberglass covered wood just seems like the better way to go IMO.
Click to expand...

I would probably be putting it in a basement, just figured that out, so I'll have a Concrete block wall on the two corners that won't have glass, and I figure I could tie some metal bracketed into the walls and floor given the correct structural drawing and specs. So I think it might be even bigger.....can anyone say 1000 Gal? I could, but at that big I would have to seriously think about getting some more inhabitants for the tank, whether it be fish, reptiles, more turtles, anything at all to go in the water/ on the land, or on trees or something above the water line.
 
i chose wood, because its a bit easyer to work with, the good thing about useing metal is that its just as easy to work with and a hella lot stronger then wood.

If you use aluminum or stainless sheets and dont plan on useing electric fish like electric catfish, elephantnose, rays, or black ghost knives then you can getaway with not coating the panels with anything. Just leaving it bare metal, not going to rust or leach anything into the tank..., it would be pimp to say, hay my tank doubles as a bomb shelter...


I would run 2" squaretube along the parimiter of each panel and stud it like a wall, with vertical posts running 12" on center. then weld them all together, then weld the inside seam., BUT DONT TRUST YOUR FOUNDATION...


Drill down every 24" and spike down rebar and pour a 4" concreet rebar reinforced pad ontop of your basement floor, this adds alot of strength, strength that may or may not exist in your current floor... its realy easy for concreet to crack when stressed, a tree root can do it or a 10000lb fish tank...
 
portabuddy;981863; said:
i chose wood, because its a bit easyer to work with, the good thing about useing metal is that its just as easy to work with and a hella lot stronger then wood.

If you use aluminum or stainless sheets and dont plan on useing electric fish like electric catfish, elephantnose, rays, or black ghost knives then you can getaway with not coating the panels with anything. Just leaving it bare metal, not going to rust or leach anything into the tank..., it would be pimp to say, hay my tank doubles as a bomb shelter...


I would run 2" squaretube along the parimiter of each panel and stud it like a wall, with vertical posts running 12" on center. then weld them all together, then weld the inside seam., BUT DONT TRUST YOUR FOUNDATION...


Drill down every 24" and spike down rebar and pour a 4" concreet rebar reinforced pad ontop of your basement floor, this adds alot of strength, strength that may or may not exist in your current floor... its realy easy for concreet to crack when stressed, a tree root can do it or a 10000lb fish tank...
Click to expand...

Was planning on having a neighbor of mine pour a new slab for me in the basement just for the tank. The only difference I see in this tank VS. another person's tank is that this will be setup in a half-land/half-water type tank, so while the tank is going to be at least 48" deep, it will only be full about 24 with water.
 
Ether way I would still be using some sort of sealint on the non-glass walls. This to insure that you have nothing leaking into your tank that you don't want.
I said Metal only because you wouldn't need to reinforce it as much, but the down side would be that I would suspect the metal walls would be much heavier then wood.
 
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