is the glass pane going to be the only peice of material on the veiwing side or is there going to be a lip supporting the sides of the glass also??
my 625 gallon DIY plywood aquarium build
- Thread starter JonY3k
- Start date
A lip will support all 4 sides of the glass.
I have some smaller angle that will support the side edges of the glass and the plywood sides. That will be bolted to the bottom frame and top frame. I did not want to run the welder in my living room. After looking at a lot of plywood aquariums that looked more like wood working projects than a tank build I realized that I could weld up a frame to hold everything together. The bottom frame is too heavy for one person to pick up by them selves. The top frame is about as heavy as I can lift by my self.
I have some smaller angle that will support the side edges of the glass and the plywood sides. That will be bolted to the bottom frame and top frame. I did not want to run the welder in my living room. After looking at a lot of plywood aquariums that looked more like wood working projects than a tank build I realized that I could weld up a frame to hold everything together. The bottom frame is too heavy for one person to pick up by them selves. The top frame is about as heavy as I can lift by my self.
what is the top and bottom frame 1" angle and 1" square stock?? i might have to steal your idea and build another big tank soon. maybe a steal frame with all glass sides. keep up the good work. what are you planning to coat the interior with??
The top is 1.5 inch angle 1/4 thick with 1.5 inch by 1/4 crossbeams. The bottom is 2 inch angle 1/4 thick with 1.5 inch tubing for crossbeams. I am using blue PVC pond liner to keep the water in. check earlier posts for the link.
I'd be worried about the amount of adhesion for your glass. 2" angle - 3/4" plywood only leaves you with 1.25" of supported glass let alone the top is even smaller. 2" is minimal and anything more than that is best. I suggest making a wood front for inside the frame around 2-4" to give the window more support. Smaller angle for the front sides is a terrible idea aswell, theres more pressure there than on the top and bottom. I also believe the bottom will bow like a s.o.b. with no legs in the middle of the span underneath your metal frame. Dont like how your bottom beams are just "hanging" either Thats alot of water pressure downward and those welds can pop lol... I did notice holes around the angle frame i assume their for side braces, they will bow so put in a few more to keep that wood from cracking. Def. Nice to see another steel/liner tank, funny your in ohio aswell. I used 2.5"x.25" angle for mine. How many mil is your pvc liner and what sealant do you intend on using. I would suggest epdm liner and 3m5200 or gold label. I built this same tank 3 years ago and can see your pretty close so im just trying to help so it lasts as long as possible.
I am suggesting more side braces because the angle your using plus the wood leaves you with very little material actually supporting the wood and thats scary, even worse for the window support, Its hard enough to get glass or acrylic to stick to any kind of liner so the structure needs to be pretty sound from the start. I've built 3 metal frame tanks, on #4 right now and i assure you it will bow more than you think so you have to account for that. Other thing i noticed was the paint you used. looks like rustoleum green lol i may be wrong. If it is rustoleum i'd go over it with a "devoe" brand chemical resistant one part epoxy paint. Devoe also makes "industiral" series one part epoxy paints that are affordable and hold up for years. First 2 metal frame tanks i made were a 65 and 135 lined with acrylic. Both frames were coated up to 10-15 times with rustoleum brand paints and they rusted almost immediatly. Only down side of steel is rusting so its best to paint it with the best stuff you can find or it will be a mess. Coat all the wood pretty good aswell. Water will get in between the angle iron and wood during matinence/ fish splashing etc. and rot it out. This is also y you need a good paint because i promise you every bit of that metal will touch water at some point in the tanks life. I wrapped my top cross beams in pond liner over devoe chemical resistant paint and have not seen rust in 3 years. It is not fun to try and repaint the top section after the tank has been running for a while. Hate to be the bearer of bad news lol but its also hard to get paint to stick to the "strap" style steel you use in your top pieces because they flex so much, paint gets hard and does not. This is where you will fight rust the most. If you have extra liner def. wrap them as best as possible to prevent it from happening in the first place (rubber cement helps to attach them). Another idea may be to cover the entire strap supports in silicone to prevent moisture while allowing flex. They will move lol youll be in there more than you think. i also used 12 tubes of gold label sealant for my front window so that will give you an idea of how much you need. The more the better, seal it inside,out,on top and bottom and again over your gasket of sealer all the way around the inside. especially on the bottom inside. When you do a wc the front glass will lose its adhesion so your gonna need all you can get.
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last idea lol...If you use .5 polypropolene or .5" plywood with more side supports you can gain some support from your angle frame top and bottom. I have .5 solid squarestock side supports every 7.5" around mind, 2.5" angle iron frame and the side walls bow out 1/4" in the middle wall. I used polypropolene to line mine but its rigidity should be pretty close to wood. There is aloooooot of pressure on that frame, may not be a terrible idea to add material and make it thicker to hold the wood more or just weld up another quick frame with 2.5"-3" angle.
Thanks for the concern wednesday13. I see where you're coming from with some issues you came across in your build. Although my design may not seem perfect, I have already been able to forsee the problems you have encountered and my blue print for the final product has been drawn up accordingly. I have not yet started to install the extra supports and am still working on looking for the products I want to use for adhesion and rust prevention.
Also, (as stated in my first post in this thread) the main purpose of this tank is for me to be able to disassemble it into small enough parts that it can be moved if need be. This is why I didn't weld the entire framework together like you did with your tanks. I am going to bolt the vertical supports onto the top and bottom frames. I obviously have not done this yet.
