formica?

[Issack]

hey man i really was not trying to be an ass.. and i have no prob with you at all.. I did not mean to sound like i was lashing out at you.. it was ment to be funny the part about proving someone wrong.. cause that other thread i thought was kind of entertaining..

So no worries

 

[Pharaoh]

I will agree that formica is water resistant, otherwise it wouldn't be used in kitchen cabinets. The problem would be the long term reliability of it maintaining the resistance.

Also, it could get expensive & tedious to line a tank with formica. You would probably be better serve to use ABS plastic. It is fairly cheap and doesn't carry the inherent risks that formica would.

 

[Rivermud]

My bad, I read that wrong.

I wouldn't try to use formica over the other options. First, formica is generally done with Fiber board, not plywood. Second if you were to DIY it, it's a royal pain. Third, if it gets a scratch or an overzealous pleco it could fail. If you have formica laying around and the desire to make something with it then yes use it and see how it goes.. otherwise there are cheaper options.

 

[dmopar74]

i find this all very interesting. perhaps a test tank will be in the future.

i agree with rivermud, there are untapped resources that we havent thought of, or had the balls to try ourselves. im not saying formica will work, but it was a thought, and i will keep throwing idea's out there to see what others say.

pharoah, where does one look into abs sheets?

 

[Pharaoh]

BTW.... Spell check........"kitchen" LOL

You can buy ABS sheets at any local plastics supplier. Just look in the phone book for plastics suppliers.

 

[oblrman]

I am considering using flat black formica to line a 260 gallon aquarium I am building as part of a built in for my dining room. Cost is not really my motivating factor. Rather, I am concerned about looks and function. It sounds like the jury is out if I'm crazy for using formica. I guess we will see.

 

[Pharaoh]

Feel free to try it out. I wouldn't set your heart on it working, but you never know. You could be the one to show us up.

 

[oblrman]

Feel free to try it out. I wouldn't set your heart on it working, but you never know. You could be the one to show us up.

Thanks Pharaoh. Just curious: why dont you think that formica will stand up to submersion? Have you seen/heard a disaster? I appreciate the info!

 

[CJH]

Thanks Pharaoh. Just curious: why dont you think that formica will stand up to submersion? Have you seen/heard a disaster? I appreciate the info!

There was a pet shop in Ohio that had several plywood tanks sealed with formica or some other high pressure laminate. This was back in the late 80's and the tanks were already at least a few years old. My understanding is that they held water for years but eventually did start to fail. Some of the damaged ares has silicone troweled over them and they did fine.

Unfortunately the standard formica used back then was of much higher quality that what you can get today. In the last few years a professional installer did a comparison and showed how even commerical quality HPL made today is nowhere near as thick as what you could find in a 70's era kitchen. I'll see if I can find that link. It was on a woodworking forum. They also use more waterborne resins in today's products due to VOC regulations.

You're much better off using a solid plastic sheet of some sort. Fiberglass reinforced panels (FRP) have been used and ABS like another poster suggested would also work.

I would have a slight preference for solid PVC over ABS for lining a wooden tank. The caveat here is that it only comes in dark gray, like gray PVC pipe. ABS and the similar high impact styrene at least comes in a lot of colors.

Be sure to avoid any of the various expanded PVC products. These are waterproof and are also cheap, easy to work with and readily available. However, they consist of a foamed PVC interior sandwiched between two layers of thin solid PVC.

They would certainly waterproof a tank but if a rock punctured the inner PVC skin your chances of a leak increase dramatically. And there is also a chance that water would penetrate the foamed interior and cause blisters that could be another point of failure.

Unfortunately when shopping for solid PVC sheet you're more likely to find expanded PVC. Just be careful not to confuse the two.

Wonderful material for reptile cages but not something I would use for lining a tank.

 

[Pharaoh]

I agree with above. My father is a cabinet maker and I have learned to work with it as well. IMO, the composition of formica would not hold up against constant submersion, but then again, I have never tried it.