right which one of these would be best to seal a 8.5x4.5x2.5 plywood tank????????? been looking at both types and not sure which one to use
epoxy resin or fibreglass
- Thread starter mr giant gourami
- Start date
If the tank is built tight and with glued seams then 3 or 4 coats of epoxy pond or aquarium safe paint will work fine.Have built tanks as large 8'x8'x8' using plywood and epoxy paint.
Fiberglass is epoxy resin reinforced with glass cloth. I would glass the seams/corners for sure. Whether you want to glass the whole thing is up to you, it definitely would be stronger. The main problem with using class cloth is that it can be difficult to get to lay flat and smooth (in my DIY experience).
Good luck, sounds like a great project!
Good luck, sounds like a great project!
Dan Feller;1672344; said:
i ment like fiberglass or the pond armor stuff if i did fiberglass it would be the whole tank i can get a whole kit for a £140
Check out www.sanitred.com call their Customer service they have an instruction sheet for building an aquarium. They will even calculate how much and what to buy. I just finished my bar using the stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0A8zRzKl4w
I just saw you are in the UK. I think there are European distributors also.
Epicentyr
I just saw you are in the UK. I think there are European distributors also.
Epicentyr
mr giant gourami;1643413; said:
there are two types of resins epoxy or polyester
either one can be used with glass cloth to make fiberglass.
epoxy tends to be stronger than polyester.
is this the final surface that the water will be against ???
do you need to add strength overall ??
in any case i would reinforce the corners with glass cloth tape to prevent leaks down the road.
.
Typical "fiberglass" is polyester resin matrix with glass cloth or chopped strand mat. Technically fiberglass is just the actual glass cloth or mat though. Using epoxy resin with glass fiber reinforcement is not a common choice (in most industries, anyways) because the epoxy matrix is strong enough, and expensive enough, that the relatively weak glass fiber is not worth using with it (if you're going to shell out for epoxy, generally people also shell out for kevlar or carbon fiber reinforcement).
Polyester resin, being much cheaper than epoxy is a really good budget choice for lining DIY tanks. MBarton built his tank that way. I used epoxy in mine, because it was free, but my next project will be polyester resin lined, with chopped strand mat reinforcement. I also find polyester significantly easier to work with than epoxy, and despite the brain cell affecting smell of polyester, it actually has fewer long term health concerns associated with it than epoxy does.
Some debate about the safety of polyester in water has been raised... but Boats are built with Polyester resin, as are hot tubs, bath tubs, etc. If you are really concerned that the polyester resin may leach, it can be topcoated with the relatively inexpensive sweetwater epoxy paint.
Polyester resin, being much cheaper than epoxy is a really good budget choice for lining DIY tanks. MBarton built his tank that way. I used epoxy in mine, because it was free, but my next project will be polyester resin lined, with chopped strand mat reinforcement. I also find polyester significantly easier to work with than epoxy, and despite the brain cell affecting smell of polyester, it actually has fewer long term health concerns associated with it than epoxy does.
Some debate about the safety of polyester in water has been raised... but Boats are built with Polyester resin, as are hot tubs, bath tubs, etc. If you are really concerned that the polyester resin may leach, it can be topcoated with the relatively inexpensive sweetwater epoxy paint.