Hi All
At the moment I am enjoying my 2 Nano Reef tanks. However, my plan has always been to go bigger and better as I miss my 120 Gallon setup from a few years ago. Even in the 120 I felt restricted, therefore, after reading up about plywood aquariums, I've decided it may be a wise method to choose for the conversion of my garage in to a fish room.
The garage itself is currently in the early stages fo redevelopment. In other words, I'm slowly clearing the junk out. The plan is to devide it in to 4 sections. A small laundary area, a downstairs toilet (to please the other half), a chill out area (for me to escape to) and an area for all things fishy. Once I've removed space for the toilet/laundary area, I'm left with roughly 14 feet.
Now...14 feet divded down the middle gives me 7 and 7 for my two pleasures....however, I think I can chillout in 6 feet by 9 feet....so the tank wins and gets a 8 feet by 9 feet area
So...after many changes in plan going from glass, to acrylic back to glass, I finally decided plywood and glass would be best and probably cheapest for the quantity of water I'd like to move about...500+ Gallon.
Currently my plan is a 80" x 38" x 48" main display tank but this may alter slighty. This would give an internal colume of around 440Gallon for the display area with additional for the weir area. I hope to run a large sump below this and possibly 2 racks of 3, 3 or 4 foot tanks. The idea would be that both of these racks of tanks could be isolated for emergency use...1 rack in particular could be isolated as a quarantine area and the other remain on the main system as a frag area. How viable this will be, I will discover in time.
At the moment, I want to mainly concentrate on the display tank and get it right first. I've put together some plans which I've put below and I'm looking for some input from experienced builders.
Be warned, this project will take some time and may be a while before starting due to other commitments at the minute, plus I need to sell my motorbike first and clear the garage space. But it will eventually get rolling!
A few details:
Would this tank need bracing in the centre?
What level of 'exoskeleton' should I build around the tank and with what wood? is one needed?
If I built an exoskeleton, would it be worth water proofing with epoxy resin?
Will the silicon to epoxy resin sealing work (panels will be painted to desire colour of epoxy resin during assembly)?
Any tips, websites, etc that people can recommend?
Here's for the first draft design:
A little detail regarding parts:
Internal Dimension of display area = 1050mm x 2032mm x 945mm
Front Panel ------
2 Sheets of 80" (2032mm) x 38" (965mm)
1 Sheet hole cut in centre 68"(1727mm) X 26"(660mm) (6" (152mm) BORDER)
1 Sheet hole cut in centre 72" (1829mm) x 30" (762mm) (4" (102mm) BORDER)
Base Panel ------
1 Sheet of 80" (2032mmmm) x 48" (1219mm)
Rear Panel -------
1 Sheet of 80" (2032mm) x 38" (965mm)
Side Panels
2 Sheets of 50.12(1273mm) x 38" (965mm)
Internal Divider ------
(Laminated with Fibre glass on all sides)
1 Sheet of 76.6" (2032mm) x 37.28" (947mm)
1 Sheet of 6" (152mm) x 37.28" (947mm)
At the moment I am enjoying my 2 Nano Reef tanks. However, my plan has always been to go bigger and better as I miss my 120 Gallon setup from a few years ago. Even in the 120 I felt restricted, therefore, after reading up about plywood aquariums, I've decided it may be a wise method to choose for the conversion of my garage in to a fish room.
The garage itself is currently in the early stages fo redevelopment. In other words, I'm slowly clearing the junk out. The plan is to devide it in to 4 sections. A small laundary area, a downstairs toilet (to please the other half), a chill out area (for me to escape to) and an area for all things fishy. Once I've removed space for the toilet/laundary area, I'm left with roughly 14 feet.
Now...14 feet divded down the middle gives me 7 and 7 for my two pleasures....however, I think I can chillout in 6 feet by 9 feet....so the tank wins and gets a 8 feet by 9 feet area
So...after many changes in plan going from glass, to acrylic back to glass, I finally decided plywood and glass would be best and probably cheapest for the quantity of water I'd like to move about...500+ Gallon.
Currently my plan is a 80" x 38" x 48" main display tank but this may alter slighty. This would give an internal colume of around 440Gallon for the display area with additional for the weir area. I hope to run a large sump below this and possibly 2 racks of 3, 3 or 4 foot tanks. The idea would be that both of these racks of tanks could be isolated for emergency use...1 rack in particular could be isolated as a quarantine area and the other remain on the main system as a frag area. How viable this will be, I will discover in time.
At the moment, I want to mainly concentrate on the display tank and get it right first. I've put together some plans which I've put below and I'm looking for some input from experienced builders.
Be warned, this project will take some time and may be a while before starting due to other commitments at the minute, plus I need to sell my motorbike first and clear the garage space. But it will eventually get rolling!
A few details:
- 72" x 30" glass front to have a 2" overlap on the plywood.
- Plywood will be covered with several layers of epoxy resin
- Plywood will also have fibre glass mat mixed in the equation
- Plywood will be painted with coloured epoxy resin on the insude.
- All panels will be built and treated before assembly. At the point fo assembly silicon will be used to seal the tank.
Would this tank need bracing in the centre?
What level of 'exoskeleton' should I build around the tank and with what wood? is one needed?
If I built an exoskeleton, would it be worth water proofing with epoxy resin?
Will the silicon to epoxy resin sealing work (panels will be painted to desire colour of epoxy resin during assembly)?
Any tips, websites, etc that people can recommend?
Here's for the first draft design:
A little detail regarding parts:
Internal Dimension of display area = 1050mm x 2032mm x 945mm
Front Panel ------
2 Sheets of 80" (2032mm) x 38" (965mm)
1 Sheet hole cut in centre 68"(1727mm) X 26"(660mm) (6" (152mm) BORDER)
1 Sheet hole cut in centre 72" (1829mm) x 30" (762mm) (4" (102mm) BORDER)
Base Panel ------
1 Sheet of 80" (2032mmmm) x 48" (1219mm)
Rear Panel -------
1 Sheet of 80" (2032mm) x 38" (965mm)
Side Panels
2 Sheets of 50.12(1273mm) x 38" (965mm)
Internal Divider ------
(Laminated with Fibre glass on all sides)
1 Sheet of 76.6" (2032mm) x 37.28" (947mm)
1 Sheet of 6" (152mm) x 37.28" (947mm)
