I searched and could not find anybody else building one, although I am sure people have. Was thinking bout building the normal plywood tank but instead of pond liner, use the thin plexy you can buy at lowes for the two sides and back. They would have full support from the frame/plywood and wouldn't be able to flex. Then just use 1/2" or whatever thickness glass is required for the front viewing glass. I would like to build around a 300G for my Malawi cichlids. Thinking I want the tank to be about 30" high. Anybody see any probs etc?
Plywood/acrylic hybrid tank?
- Thread starter stang9gt
- Start date
Along with the glue used to bond the acrylic together, a nice fat bead of silicone could be put behind all the mating corners of the glass against the plywood.
I built a 360G tank like this about 15-20 years ago and had the tank for 2-3 years before it developed a leak. I used 1/4 acrylic on the sides, back and bottom and used 1/2" as a viewing window. I didn't both trying to glue the acrylic pieces together, I just used a nice thick bead of aquarium silicone in all of the corners. The leak that eventually lead to the tanks destruction was caused by a hole I did a poor job at repairing on the bottom of the tank. You see, I tried to use standard sink drains in the bottom of the tank for a drain and that just didn't work. The repair job I did using more acrylic and silicone leaked and rotted away the wood before I noticed it.
I have been thinking about building a plywood tank with acrylic inner liner for sometime now. I think the main concern would be to make sure there is no excess stress on any of the inner acrylic walls, so all the cuts would have to be very accurate. My rough draft plan would be to use 1/4" black acrylic and glue that to 3/4" plywood and then cut those to exact size on a table saw to build the inner walls. After that weld all the seams together and screw the plywood together and have an acrylic window so everything would be welded on the inside so in theory shouldn't leak. I know you can get cell cast acrylic sheets 1/4" cheap so it should be a comparable pricing if not cheaper then all the epoxy/pond armor coatings out there. Of course this is coming from someone who has not built a plywood tank so take my advice for what it is, but this approach is something I would consider WHEN (not if) I build one.
Why not just use a acrylic window and use acrylic glue and glue it to the "liner".
that's right, 3/8" acrylic and 1/2" acrylic window with glue on will work as long as you use the right plywood. Either 3/4" or 1" plywood so it is strong and less bow. I was thinking of doing this so I can save on the cost of full acrylic tank, and my build is 600G + so the cost is quite high compare to plywood support frame and I don't need side view anyway, but I must have acrylic top so light can go through. My only concern is that 3/8" acrylic might be to thin and will not have enough glue surface to have strong bond. I did an epoxy build and zalvar and epoxy have crack hair line and zalvar is hard to clean the tank and it always have that sticky feeling all the time.