My Plywood Build 250 Gallon

oblrman

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 23, 2008
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Oregon USA
Griller;3716071; said:
I presume so - but I haven't tried it. The guy said you can reinforce the liquid rubber in areas of stress by placing a layer of cloth (like in fibreglassing) on your first coat and then putt a second coat over the top.
I have been exchanging emails/phone calls with the technical rep for PermaDri Products on the West Coast USA. He is sending me 5 gallons of product and fabric to use in my own tank build. I own a large farm so I am going to try the product in some other applications (coating some large water storage tanks and rustproofing some piping) as well.

The rep said that you definitely should reinforce corners in a plywood build with fabric or metal flashing- just like taping sheetrock if you have ever done that. His thoughts were that the product would probably do just fine without the fabric but that in an aquarium situation you need a very high level of safety. A failure is bad for people and fish alike. So using fabric virtually guarantees there will be no leaks what-so-ever over time.

John- If you or anyone wants the technical rep's phone number send me a PM and I will get it to you. He is very knowledgeable.

Good luck on your build!
 

john73738

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Nov 8, 2009
1,292
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Las Vegas, NV
oblrman;3726855; said:
Hey Bear. What drafting program are you using for your tank design sketches? They rock! I am stuck using the drawing tool in MS Word....

Google Sketchup. I just use the free version. You are right it does rock (a little quirky tho)
 

Griller

Gambusia
MFK Member
oblrman;3726851; said:
I own a large farm so I am going to try the product in some other applications (coating some large water storage tanks and rustproofing some piping) as well.
Great - let us know how you go. I've recieved my samples. I'll test the product on scrap when I get a chance.

The rep said that you definitely should reinforce corners in a plywood build with fabric or metal flashing
Good to hear it confirmed. Thats what I'm going to do.
 

nolapete

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2007
2,726
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38
New Orleans, LA
You're going to regret putting that divider permanently in the tank. Make a slot for it to slide into, so that you can remove it if you choose to. That won't provide adequate bracing anyway.

No need to fiberglass the tank and huge waste of time and money if you're using liquid rubber (Pond Coat from Permadri in the US).

Why the elaborate overflow? All you need is bulkheads at your water line. Flexpvc.com has all kinds of bulkheads and cool looking screens to go on them. You can save yourself a lot of work and have a sleek looking tank.
 

john73738

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Nov 8, 2009
1,292
9
68
Las Vegas, NV
nolapete;3746600; said:
You're going to regret putting that divider permanently in the tank. Make a slot for it to slide into, so that you can remove it if you choose to. That won't provide adequate bracing anyway.
Hmmm something to think about. Thought it would eliminate the slight bowing I hear of, as well as a sight break for the fish.

No need to fiberglass the tank and huge waste of time and money if you're using liquid rubber (Pond Coat from Permadri in the US).
If I use resin I will just use glass to reinforce the seams, wont do the whole tank


Why the elaborate overflow? All you need is bulkheads at your water line. Flexpvc.com has all kinds of bulkheads and cool looking screens to go on them. You can save yourself a lot of work and have a sleek looking tank.
Already lost interest in the elaborate overflow system, seeing the thread in the setup and filter forum, I am thinking of a inhood DIY inline, the garage is on the otherside of the wall where the tank will be, so may put an inline filtration system in the garage. See which freaks the wife out the less :ROFL:




Thanks for the input, I am looking forward to starting and the help here is going to make the progress easier.
 

garhog

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 19, 2009
153
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california
if your going to use epoxy in the seams why not just do the whole tank specially if you can get a deal on it. fiberglass/epoxy can be used as sealer and reinforcement so no need to put a top coat. if you still want to use rubber than u could use polyester resin and cloth as it is way cheaper but requires a little different teqnique smells worse than epoxy. just my thought any of the ways you have discussed should work fine
 

nolapete

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2007
2,726
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38
New Orleans, LA
If you're going to use Pond Coat by Permadri, you don't want to coat the tank with anything else. I used liquid nails construction adhesive to fill the cracks and cover screw heads. With the liquid rubber products, you can use fiberglass seam cloth like is used with drywall for added strength. If you follow the tank construction technique shown on garf.org and many here, just skip the fiberglass and epoxy part, you should be fine.
 
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