Plexi glass and Plywood??

[SSmokinn SS]

me and the wife are in the process of buying out first house and one of the first things I want to do is build a nice plywood tank to replace my current 125 gallon, However I had a idea in mind. I have been searching for a few days on here and haven't seen anything bring it up, so Im curious.

What I was thinking was making your traditional plywood box setup. Then instead of using the actual plywood tank to hold the water, Line it with plexi glass so that its a 100% tight fit, inside the tank edge to edge, corner to corner but also making a front clear window. After all the plexi glass is laid, silicone it, just like if you were replacing all the silicone on a regular glass tank.

I have never done anything like this before but I dont see a reason why this wouldnt work, and look good, and be super fish safe also.

Thought's?

 

[toweraquaticservices]

I believe that plexi-glass and wood have different expansion rates, which would result in a leak.
Maybe if the plexi was laminated to the wood??

I used 1/4 hardi backer and 4 coats of drylok, in my opinion, the cheapest and easiest way to DIY plywood tank.

 

[Toomany Littletanks]

I've chewing on your idea for a while and the more I do the more ideas on it grow. If it is solidly built I don't see a problem. Curious, why would you prefer to silicone the edges and not solvent weld the sheet of plastic? What if you welded up the plexi glass tank using thin sheets on all but the face plate and then building the supporting wood tank around it? You could even drill small inspection holes in the wood to peer into the tank anywhere you need. Just a concept thought

 

[nfored]

When I thought about ply+plexi this is how I thought about doing it but keep in mind I was thinking about 1.5" thick acrylic. so it would be close to flush with the wetside of the frame.


Make a frame out of 2x6's that the center is 2" smaller then the acrylic window would be, so you have a frame and the acrylic sites on top of that frame. Now there should be 4" of the 2x6 frame free on all 4 sides. I would then put a 2x4 frame around the acrylic and on top of the 2x6. So no you have a frame that the acrylic sits in fairly snug, I then was going to use what ever sealant I was going to use on the rest of the tank on this frame and let it dry. Okay so now the frame is water proofed I would lay the acrylic down and drill holes through acrylic and the 2x6 part of the frame.

Okay now that I have the frame sealed, and holes drilled lay a very thick layer of silicon down all the way around the inside of the frame where the acrylic will go. I will then place the acrylic in on top of the silicone and fasten it to the frame with bolts. I would then put silicone over the edges of the acrylic window and over the bolts to protect the bolts. Then finally on the front of the frame dryside where you would see the bolts I would put a very thin vainer over it so you don't see the bolts or the frame and it looks like a sold viewing window.

In my mind the bolts keep the acrylic pressed against the frame, and since the frame is 2x4's and 2x6's which have been coated prior to siliconing, that it will stay around the same shape and not warp so that the silicone can be just a simply barrier between the water and the small space between the wood and acrylic. I even thought about going one step further and siliconing a sheet of pond liner on the wet side of the window so all the wood, siliconed gaps between the wood and acrylic window are covered by the pond liner.

I know silicone doesn't stick to acrylic well but thats why the bolts are there to secure the window so the silicone only has to act as a barrier and not a bonding agent.

Also I have seen a thread where someone tried to use the acrylic line and it ended bad, you're better off using pondline to go cheap.