Plywood tank build

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I took the background and cut it into three sections this morning and mocked it up inside the aquarium to make sure everything fits. It's not often I get something right on the first try and this was one of those times. A perfect fit. I can't even beleive how good this thing looks I'm glad you guys suggested I go ahead and do this.

What I intend to do with it now is remove it from the tank brush a good layer of resin over the whole thing and dump black sand on it.

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After getting the background cut in to 3 pieces I mixed up some resin and using a paint brush brushed on a thick coat and covered over that in black sand. My first coat I thinned the resin a little thinking I would get better coverage but I found right away that it wasn't going to stick to the sand as well as I wanted it to. I didn't thin the second coat and the sand stuck alot better.

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I'd be tempted to paint it with some krylon fusion as well to cover the light spots.
 
I agree about the stand. Make sure it's well balanced & sturdy. I'd hate to see it come crashing down (I've experienced that before thanks to my kids).
 
Don't worry about the stand falling over. I've positioned the legs so that the majority of the weight once full of water will be on the back side and that is going to be flush up against a wall. I also decided quite a while ago I would build some sort of bracket and have it screwed to the wall. I had a vision of myself falling off a chair and grabbing the tank on the way down to save myself and I don't want to be under 3500 ibs of glass, rock, water and wood.

As far as the stand being strong enough those two legs are each made up of 4 4x4's that have been laminated together with a tube of PL premium. The reverse pyramid stacking of the 2x4's provides weight transference to the center and gives me 20 inches of width at the floor and the underside of the table top so I have less than 5 inches of overhang front and back. The table top itself is 2 3/4" sheet of plywood laminated with PL.

As far as the background goes things are progressing. I've started the resin and sand on the second of the three sections. The first section I decided to go back and put a good layer of resin over top of the sand. It makes it a little shiny but I know it won't be coming off. Also picked up two cans of Krylon Fusion to touch things up a bit. Got a black and a brown. I want to try and give it a little more depth with the color.
 
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