plywood/acrylic aquarium

[GTi_Leo]

been considering building a plywood and acrylic tank, thinking about using pond armor as the waterproofing but how would i mount the acrylic to it. i was thinking about using weldon 40 two part acrylic epoxy, but then i was wonderign how well it would bond to the pond armor.

i have been doing a bit of searching and have seen a bunch of people who have bolted the acrylic, which raised the question about how to seal the bolts from rusting. then though doing this might be easier with a liquid rubber as the LR will act like a gasket around the acrylic panel.


so my question comes down to what is the best way folks have found when actually building a plywood and acrylic aquarium it might actually be cheaper for me to purchase acrylic over tempered glass

 

[spiff44]

I would recommend Sanitred to seal the tank. Its like liquid rubber and you can bond it straight to the windows so you don't need to mess with silicon.

 

[MacnJacksExoticPets]

You can do the pond armor on the rest of the tank and just do fiberglass on the front

 

[ITHURTZ]

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I guarantee it. Used it on glass/plexi wood and pondliner.

 

[Ralhob]

On the Sanitred. How much would you recomend, says 240sqft a gallon in specs.

 

[spiff44]

On the Sanitred. How much would you recomend, says 240sqft a gallon in specs.

I would double what they claim for coverage unless you're perfect and know what you're doing application wise. Otherwise its exactly like painting.. except for having to combine two parts before you start applying. Leaving some left over for touch up is suggested no matter which one you go with.

Sanitred also has a liquid rubber base available for gap filling and leveling and anything it might be handy for... this is totally waterproof too. I used this in the corners and on the floor to create a nice rubbery barrier before top coating with the colored Sanitred/Permaflex.

And, they have an epoxy to let you bond this stuff right to a glass or acrylic window so you won't have to mess with silicon.

I have had plenty of experience with Pond Armor too and you can expect to buy 4 times what they say you'll need and you'll be lucky to get it to work at all.. IMO. If you think there might be the most infinitesimal movement of your tank walls or floors, stay away from brittle epoxy like this. Granted, the same statement might apply there though too... if you know what you're doing application wise you might have more luck.. but this stuff is difficult to work with. Imagine trying to spread silly putty around at their suggested 10mils... its about impossible. I also had major problems with pin-holes... as in there were thousands after it cured in every square foot... dealing with this will eat it up significantly too.

Both products are thinable and sprayable... I never went this route.. could make all the difference, especially on pinholes after curing. I used spreaders on the pond armor..brushes on the Sanitred.... the Sanitred was resistant to leaving pin holes at least.

Oh, and you should be able to avoid bolting your window... I can't think of any reason for this on a well thought out window design...

 

[Phixer]

You may want to look into sealing with Polyurea and Dow 795 for the acrylic viewing window. This seems to be the direction most public tanks are going now.