My neighbor bought several bags of quikwall wall bonding cement and made a tank with 3 sides concrete blocks coated with the quikwall it has fiberglass in it he has it mounted in the wall so you cant see the crete at all or I would take a pic, but do you think this is safe to use? He used a LOAD of silicone to seal the glass and it looks like the water pressure maintains the seal mainly. His tank is filthy since he neglected to make an easy opening door to get into the area and now he has couch in front of it. It has been up for nearly 3 years and was wondering if anyone has tried to make a large tank this way and if the curing time would be less since it has fiberglass in it also. With this type of tank the "stand" could be the concrete blocks filled with concrete and then add a wood veneer to hide the concrete work, and as long as you have the blocks seperated by wax paper or something else you could move the "tank" portion and then move the base to relocate it, although it would take several men to do. Any ideas and pros/cons?
Quikwall Cement tank
- Thread starter maciver
- Start date
Does it still have water in it?
I thought about this years ago, but never thought it would seal well enough. Then there was the problem of a ruff surface. Lasted 3yrs huh? Wow. I do know that you have to use standard construction technics then apply quickwall to the surface. I'd sure like to know if he did anything different.
Keep us posted.
Dr Joe
I thought about this years ago, but never thought it would seal well enough. Then there was the problem of a ruff surface. Lasted 3yrs huh? Wow. I do know that you have to use standard construction technics then apply quickwall to the surface. I'd sure like to know if he did anything different.
Keep us posted.
Dr Joe
This would weigh 1,000's of pounds empty and more 1,000's of pounds full of water if it was a big tank which i assume it would be if you were gonna go thru all that trouble , just the first bad thing comes to mind. Secondly this would cost alot more than you think if your planning on using the big cinder block bricks , there expensive if your buying them. I can think of alot better options and less expensive materials to use for 99% of home made aquariums. Now if your planning on building some 2,000 plus gallon tank then this might be in line with the cost of materials but for a 300-800 gallon aquarium i think its going over board most houses will not support that kinda weight in 1 area.
He got the bricks free doing construction, if still had some fish in it last I looked, he ended up adding some catfish to it that ate everything else, it looks like **** now, he said all he did was mix the crete to the bag specs and added color
Well if most the materials are free then i say go for it if your house can support that amount of weight. On a side note i don't think you would be able to move it when it was in place with anything less than a forklift and it would prolly collapse under its own weight moving it around.
his is approx 8ft long 3ft wide and 4ft tall give or take... He said he moved it in the house w/6 guys when remodling the house by removing a wall. He has no idea on gallons at all. Just called him and he said he has 12 wavemaker powerheads to a undergravel filter with several filters. It could be nice with some hard work. If he was smart he would have preplumbed the thing, but he didnt...
You could make a good friend and gain some useful knowledge and experience if you volunteered to help him clean it and maybe showed him this site. Offering him a couple of fish after its cleaned up wouldn't hurt either.
Good Luck,
Dr Joe
he drained it today, said it held roughly 170g after rock and fish. He is using an old chest freezer as a temp holding tank for a 36 inch catfish and 4 small bass. He isnt on the net so I use opera to hold pages on my laptop for him to view. He plans on cutting a new lid in the wall to gain access. I am plumbing it for him this weekend as he has enough filtration in the freezer to keep the fish healthy for the time being. I am going to run the plumbing out his wall and into a rubbermaid shed where all the extra things he will need to keep it healthy and clean. I just ordered some 30 gallons of bioballs for his tank and one of mine. I also told to eat his fish and start with easier fish like cichlids to get a feel for the tank. In my experiance you cant kill cichlids even when trying lol. I am going to give him 2 ghost knives I have as they have outgrown thier home now. I am going to set him up with some undergravel jets and remove all the dead space he has now. In trade he will help me get the things I need materials wise to build an indoor pond out of the same materials. I intend on making a 4ft wideX 6ft long X 4ft high pond in the corner of my living room, I fear the hardest part will keeping my kids out of it. I plan on making mine removeable, I will make it into segments joined with silicone and taking threaded rods and diamond drilling the blocks every 3-6 inches to have the thing like a "lego" set. I will use angle iron to use as caps along all the edges and nuts tightened to it. I have several small pond sump pumps already that should take care of all the movement, then I have to hide the filtration under a false wall behind it. Once I start I'll post pics and update, but it will be sometime to gather the materials freely lol
