First DIY project

[jhutch]

Ok so im going to take the plunge and try to throw together a 6'x3'x30" deep plywood tank. I ordered the marine grade plywood today and being in upstate NY its hard to find the supplies. I have no idea what to do really i have been reading threads but they leave a lot of questions unanswered. I assume with these dimensions the tank will be somewhere around 300 gallons but i couldnt find a formula for finding how many gallons that is.

I plan on putting it in my dining room but this house is old and the floor is wavy so this will present an interesting challenge with the stand. The floor joyces are not 2x8s like what we build modern houses with they are actual logs, hence the wave in the floor because the floor boards have sunk down between the logs slightly. Im not worried about the floor caving in only because its logs i figure they will hold up under a ton and a half of water.

I cannot find fiberglass around here and am not really sure what the best thing is to use for the inside of the tank. It will mainly be a growout tank for some Leopoldi pups that will go in my pond when they are big enough to mix with my 18" male flower ray. For that reason i was considering some of that liquid pond liner stuff(i forgot what its called) but none of the stores around here carry anything like it.

Ill be starting this project this week so there will be some pics within a few days and any advice and/or help will be much appreciated.

 

[greenbud]

your tank sounds about like the one i am building in my sig

 

[jhutch]

Ok i have ordered the marine grade plywood, i have the fiberglass resin and all that stuff, but how do i figure out what thickness acrylic i need to order? 6'x2' piece for the front viewing window, im thinking 3/4 or 1" thick but not totally sure. Any ideas?

Or can i get a 6' sheet of glass?

 

[jhutch]

ok so i ordered my viewing window, 70 1/4"x21 1/2" sheet of half inch non tempered glass.

 

[stempy]

your tank is almost the size of the one I built. 3/4 acrylic woulda been fine but you already have that covered. I used Max ACR epoxy form ebay with great results as well as fiberglass from uscomposites.com those 2 products worked great together, went on very easy and I had never used fiberglass or epoxy resins before. To find gallons is basically LxWxH/231 which equals 336 gallons in your case. Also I learned the hard way, be careful with your length if you used 3/4 plywood. I had basically the exact same dimensions on my acrylic and for w/e reason it wouldn't fit when I put it in, I had to shorten the length so I would measure my inside length 4 or 5 times to be absolutely sure the glass will slide in easily when it's time to do so Last thing you wanna do is get the epoxy done then gouge the hell out of it because the glass is to tight a fit Good luck!

 

[jhutch]

Thats great thanks for the help. I changed my height to 24" instead of 30" to save on plywood since its $77 a sheet. So that would change the gallons to 269 which is still nice. Its for my rays so i need the larger footprint over the height.

Thanks for the advice on installing the glass i called and had them put a hold on the order until i have the tank built. Im still waiting for home depot to get the plywood for me. They said 3 days. I will look into 3/4 acrylic in the meantime as well. I am undecided as how to do the front as well, if i should frame it with 2x4s or use plywood and cut a window into the plywood.

I was also thinking of using pond armor for the inside. Would i put that on the front or wouldnt silicone bond to it and the glass/acrylic?

 

[jhutch]

After a considerable amount of research i have ordered my 3/4" marine grade plywood which home depot just got in yesterday so hopefully i will get time to go get it today but im not sure, finding a friend with a truck available is proving quite challenging. I ordered my pond armor yesterday so i will assume that will be here next week. I have decided to put the stand together with 4x4s on the corners and i will make it big enough to fit the sump underneath since my space in the dining room is limited. All i have left to get really is the stainless steel sheet rock screws. I will be using these instead of wood screws because they have a better bite than wood screws so they will hold better, and stainless because the less corrosion the better.

After i get the plywood assembled i will be using hardie backer which i will glue to the plywood using Sikaflex 1A which is a premium grade polyurethane based adhesive. I will then fiberglass the joints and apply the pond armor to the hardie backer. Pond armor bonds better to concrete board than wood which is why im taking the extra step with the concrete board(this is not the concrete board you use for showers its lighter and wont absorb as much of the pond armor as the concrete board for showers would absorb). This thing should not leak when im done. I just need to get all the supplies here so i can begin construction.

 

[jhutch]

Got the lumber this morning and got it all cut.



Started assembling the sides of the stand. I decided to go 12" on center and use 2x4s for the corners.



The stand complete with the 2x6 frame for the base of the tank to support it from underneath.



Moved the stand inside the house. Had to remove the door and it still just barely fit in.



Tomorrow i am hoping to assemble the tank on top of it but i think i may modify it and put two small viewing windows on each end, not sure though because the frame is already pretty much assembled for the tank as well(and i really want to get it built so i can get my new rays). All i really need to do if i dont decide for windows on the ends is to assemble the tank tomorrow and it will be nearly ready to fiberglass and epoxy. I am toying with the idea of not using the fiberglass since im using the hardie backer but i may still fiberglass the hardie backer just for the extra peace of mind.

I still have to order the sikaflex for glueing the hardie backer to the plywood, online with 3 day shipping it probably will be here next monday if i order tomorrow. Well go to run ill update more tomorrow.

 

[stempy]

Hardie board is not a guarantee, just look at VLDesign's 1500 gallon. I think he said if he had to do it all over again he would not have used the backer board ( I could be completely wrong, going off memory here!) but he still had a small leak nonetheless. I would fiberglass for the added joint strength and peace of mind.

 

[jhutch]

Cool ill look for it. Is the fiberglass going to have bad fumes or not so much? Just wondering how it will be in the house.