My 800 Gallon Plywood tank build

[marinelife]

My 800 gallon tank currently in the works

The inside size of the tank will be 29" front to back, 96" long, and 75" high with the water level at 70"
The outside size of the tank will be 34" front to back, 100" long, and 78" high. Just enough to fit in the front door and the spot already missing wood in our wood floor. The tank will sit in the same place as my current 375 and on concrete. I will be using fiberglass and exopy on the inside of the tank. The front panel will be 1.5" thick and give you a good view of most of the tank.
The tank is made out of
7 48"x96"x3/4" sheets of A Grade Burch Plywood
7 48"x96"x3/4" sheets of A/C Grade Fir Plywood
All sheets are glued and screwed together to get 1.5" Thick walls

The tank:

The Panel:

Panel going in:

I have spacers between the panel and the front of the tank. I am making the silicone for a C shape around the panel so it will be protected on 3 sides.

 

[BTB0923]

Looks like a cool build, what are you planning to put in it when you are done??

 

[Knowdafish]

Wow! Really tall tank too!

 

[Tom500]

Im so jellous its stupid i wish i had a tank that big im stuck with a 96x30x30.

 

[Gator]

I have spacers between the panel and the front of the tank. I am making the silicone for a C shape around the panel so it will be protected on 3 sides.

Explain this a bit more if you can please. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "making a C shape". Also silicone doesn't stick to acrylic.

 

[marinelife]

More info, I my layers ended up being:
layer 1: West Systems Epoxy
Layer 2: West Systems Epoxy and fiberglass cloth over 90% of the tank
Layer 3 MAS Epoxy and fiberglass cloth over 90% of the tank
Layer 4 MAS Epoxy
Layer 5 and 6 West Systems Epoxy
Layer 7-10 SweetWater Blue Epoxy Paint

I will only be using a 1000 gph return pump running my sump. I will also run 2 6100 Tunze Stream and add a few more later. I will have a closed loop system run by a Reeflo Hammerhead 5800 gph pump pulling water from the top and returning it at the bottom of the tank.
At this time I will be running 2 400w 12000k lights and 2 400w 6500k lights.
I will have 215 pounds on Lace Rock, 25 pounds of Tufa Rock, 1000+pounds of Live Rock. I have an area in the bottom middle for sand, it will only be in the middle and not the ends.
My list of animals will be taken from my 375:
Hippo Tang (donated to me by a friend in 2005)
Hippo Tang (purchased 1995)
Yellow Belly Hippo Tang (added March 2008)
3 Green Chromis (1/2001)
1 Green Chromis (May/2007)
5 Green Chromis (added Feb/2008)
Regal Angel (added March/2008)
Orange Shoulder Tang (April/27/2007)
6-line Wrasse (1/2006)
Red Sea Emperor Angel (June/14/2007)
Sailfin Tang (May/2007)
Yellow Tailed Angel (April/19/2008)
Flame Fin Tomini Tang (May/2007)
Coral Beauty (May/2007)
Male and female Orange Anthias (Lyretail) (added Feb/2008)
1 female Blue Eye Lyretail Anthia (April/19/2008)
1 female Blue Eye Lyretail Anthia (April/21/2008)
1 Female Unknown Lyretail Anthia (April/2008)
several Serpent Stars
few Hermit Crabs
few snails
Variety of mushrooms
Acroporas
Montiporas
Fire Coral
Tear Drop Maxima (5/2006)
other SPS Corals

I have more silicone coming because 35 tubs was not enough to seal the panel in, I should finish with the silicone on Saturday and then wait 2 weeks before sitting it back up and starting a water test. I am hoping for the move in date to me around Dec 6th or 13th

 

[marinelife]

Explain this a bit more if you can please. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "making a C shape". Also silicone doesn't stick to acrylic.

I have silicone on face, end, and top so if you looked at it from the end the silicone would make a C shape around the panel. I know the silicone does not stick. The spacers give me 1/4" of silicone on the face side and there is 1.5" thick silicone on the ends.

 

[Gator]

I have silicone on face, end, and top so if you looked at it from the end the silicone would make a C shape around the panel. I know the silicone does not stick. The spacers give me 1/4" of silicone on the face side and there is 1.5" thick silicone on the ends.

So... If you know the silicone doesn't stick why are you using it the way you are? There is a way to get it to stick tho if you have some epoxy left over. Paint the area you are going to apply the silicone to on your acrylic sheet and let it cure then apply the silicone. The epoxy will bond to the acrylic and give you an area that the silicone can to stick to.

 

[marinelife]

I did it this way because several tank builds said this was the way they did it. This is the first I heard about painting the acrylic with the epoxy, sounds like a good idea. I am not finished and could maybe add this step to it. So far the silicone I am using seems to be grabbing hold of the acylic. I am using a building silicone Dow Corning 795

 

[jojortc1]

SWEET!!!!