Herculiner?

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hoss1550

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 4, 2011
7
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Le Mars, IA
I have read lots of posts about how to seal a DIY plywood aquarium and i have come across a few that mention Herculiner. I have read brief explenations of why people do or dont like this product as an aquarium sealant. My question pretty simple... yes or no, and why?

(my plans are for a 240 gallon 8x2x2)

Thanks guys! :)
 
I'm not sure what the previous poster meant when he called Herculiner "fiberglass". I'm assuming he meant it's polyester which is the typical resin used to wet out fiberglass cloth, roving, matt, etc.

It is not polyester. It is a single component "rubberized" linear polyurethane in a xylene carrier.

It's about 75% solids by weight so when you're paying $175 for a gallon understand that you only end up with 3/4 gallon once the xylene evaporates. So that equates to more like $230 per gallon of solids. Pretty expensive compared to other choices availabler for plywood tanks.

Now with all that said, both single component and two component truck bed liners have been used to seal plywood tanks, although not all of the examples I have read about had viewing windows.

If you already have the product on hand I think there is a good chance it will work although I don't recall Herculiner being used specifically. But if it's similar to other 1k truck bed liners then it should work. But I wouldn't try to silicone glass directly to it unless you run a test sample first.

If you don't already have the Herculiner on hand then I would research other options as well.
 
Thanks CJH! no i have not purchased the herculiner, i was just wondering if the no-chip truck bed qualities would add any strength to my aquarium. I have never used fiberglass before and am looking to possibly waterproof this aquarium in my garage or basement (neither is well ventilated). I was going to build my 240 using just the 3/4 plywood with no bracing so if it does flex, i don't want epoxy's to crack.

Thanks for the help so far, any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
hoss1550 said:
Thanks CJH! no i have not purchased the herculiner, i was just wondering if the no-chip truck bed qualities would add any strength to my aquarium. I have never used fiberglass before and am looking to possibly waterproof this aquarium in my garage or basement (neither is well ventilated). I was going to build my 240 using just the 3/4 plywood with no bracing so if it does flex, i don't want epoxy's to crack.

Thanks for the help so far, any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't apply Herculiner indoors since it has the xylene. Some of the two part bed liners are solvent free but there are very few that are DIY friendly. The various bituminous rubberized sealers are low odor and flexible. There is also polyurea which is flexible.
 
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