yeah, sealing around the window is my biggest worry right now. hoping to order the glass friday so depending on shipping we might have results by next weekend. lol. yeah i went with the liner to cut coost also, but was definately an experience getting the liner in there and somewhat smooth on all sides.
my plywood 600 gallon build!
- Thread starter okiefish
- Start date
ok been awhile since i updated, ran into unexpected expenses. but the tank is now up and running, has gravel a few rocks and one driftwood from manzanita man. only had 1 leak around the window i had to reseal when filling, so not bad for a first timer! filter system is from 3- 48 gallon trash cans i bought new not used, lol. first is filled with 100% polyester fiber filler, second is full off 1,110 lee's large bioballs and 2 ehiem jager 300w heaters, third has the 3600 gph pond pump with another 300w ehiem heater. it comes in through a 2in pvc shower drain with plastic strainer to keep nosey fish from going in and returns through a 1 1/2 in 3 ft tall spray bar mounted vertically in the corner with i think 12- 7/16in holes drilled in it pointing in 3 directions to optimize water flow. also has a 7/16 hole drilled in bottom of upper neck to break the syphon if power goes out. the filter system works good but would have done it different if i had to do it again, the 2" pvc layed horizontally connecting the trash cans doesnt flow enough water so i had to put in a bypass/ return line with the pump so it didnt pump its container dry. but all in all its an effective system and i estimate it to still flow around 1600-1800 gph hour so still turns the tank over 3 times an hour. also had to install a 2x6 brace on top of the tank, the pressure was spreading the walls apart. first night was only 1/16 of an inch, got home and it had gone to a 1/4 in so i installed a brace immediately and have had no more spreading or water leaks in a week now. here are a few pics
oh yeah, running the length of the tank and attached to the bottom of the railing boards on top of the tank are 2 strips of led lights that are hooked to a dimmer located on the back of the tank. works nice and lights the tank up pretty good. bought them on amazon. got the waterproof set of course.
thanks. planning on going with 6 or 8 clown loaches, 5 bala sharks, a fire eel, 1 marble motoro stingray and 1 leo stingray, and 1 tigrinus shovelnose cat. thats my stock list so far, any suggestions for anything else or think that should do it?
Wish I had seen this build sooner. I would have suggested to you the way my friend does the windows on his big tanks (2600 gallon with 3 windows and another similar build but slightly smaller I think). He rubber cements a gasket of hard rubber to the liner then uses Dow 795 to adhere the window to the gasket. The reason he does this is that no silicone product bonds well to liners, but rubber cement does and the Dow 795 bonds well to the hard rubber gasket.
I'm curious as to whether you just put the liner in as most people do bunching it in the corners or if you used something similar to my liner folding technique I described early in my build.
I'm curious as to whether you just put the liner in as most people do bunching it in the corners or if you used something similar to my liner folding technique I described early in my build.
well i havent read your liner folding technique but came up with mine myself when i put it in, i made the back wall floor and front smooth then folded the extra on the sides making sure to always keep the open seem facing upwards. didnt turn out perfectly smooth but looks good and no huge bunches in the corners.
