Anyone in here ever thought about or attempted a diy tank with a welded steel angle iron frame? My thoughts are to weld angle iron similar to the bracing of a normal tank with glass on the front and sides, plywood for the bottom and back. 8' x 4' x 4' would put me somewhere close to 1000 gallons. It sounds like it would be possible in my head. Any thoughts or suggestions? Im already working on one huge build but you can never have too many tanks right??? Or maybe I have a problem lol
Steel frame diy aquarium??
- Thread starter bluehand
- Start date
Ive made 2 metal frame tanks… 1 with just a top and bottom frame. 1 fully boxed in angle and solid square rod for supports around the sides and back. I used 2.5”x1/8” angle for a 9’x4’x30”. If you can, go with stainless. Mine is coated in a 1 part epoxy thats held up well. I also used pond liner tho and wrapped it up and over the top lip and braces so theres no direct contact with the water. You can also use a good 2 part epoxy like pond shield or max acr to coat ur metal to prevent rusting. Theres a cple stainless builds around as well as regular metal frames from the older days of the forum.
Heres the main frame from my 9’x4’x30”… its lined with 1/2” polypropylene heat welded at the seams and a 45mil epdm liner over top. Window is 3/4” acrylic. Its been up 14 yrs now.
I have not made any, but when I was starting with fish (60’s), all aquariums were made with glass panels held together with angle iron frames. At least it was so in Colombia, where I grew up.The glue was a tar-like putty that was applied by hand and took long to fully cure. My first tanks, inherited from my mom, were of this sort. This is much before the stainless-steel framed older aquariums that one still occasionally sees, and which are considered antiques. Well, they are not that old…,,
I remember those they had slate bottoms and a small aquarium was heavy lol.
Looks great!!! This is very similar to what I pictured in my mind. Working in the trades I have access to steel angle of all sizes frequently and I also weld quite often so it would be a very low cost build for me. Im excited to get it started now, thank you!!
Steel is lighter and stronger than wood which allows you to go bigger and deeper if you prefer.
There have been several steel frame tanks posted here and at least one (5000 gallon) made completely out of steel.
Some really big tanks can made from steel and concrete to reduce cost further.
Apart from keeping the moisture away from steel, you can use sacrificial anodes (similar to a steel boat) except use magnesium for freshwater. They are not expensive and cost nothing to run. I put a 1.8m long x 25mm thick anode at each end of my tank (10m long). After three years, one anode had shortened and eroded noticeably. Although it was still fully operational, I replaced it yesterday. I place them in a ladies stocking leg tied with a zip tie which catches any crumbled matter. One end needs to be fastened to the steel you want to protect in electrically conductive manner to complete the electron flow circuit.
There have been several steel frame tanks posted here and at least one (5000 gallon) made completely out of steel.
Some really big tanks can made from steel and concrete to reduce cost further.
Apart from keeping the moisture away from steel, you can use sacrificial anodes (similar to a steel boat) except use magnesium for freshwater. They are not expensive and cost nothing to run. I put a 1.8m long x 25mm thick anode at each end of my tank (10m long). After three years, one anode had shortened and eroded noticeably. Although it was still fully operational, I replaced it yesterday. I place them in a ladies stocking leg tied with a zip tie which catches any crumbled matter. One end needs to be fastened to the steel you want to protect in electrically conductive manner to complete the electron flow circuit.
I used Hutton products “gold label aquarium sealer silicone” 12 tubes…
Had a 1700 liner/acrylic tank up with 3m5200 also.
MS300 is probably the newest one thats been proven and used pretty much exclusively across europe.
CT1 construction adhesieve in black only is fish safe and proven also.