Glass lined plywood tank, will this work?

yes i believe the wood would support the glass just fine. However the only thing is that wood will naturally flex..glass will but not as much as wood. So if your planning on doing something like that, make sure to take that into consideration.


This would create a really cool effect if you say stained the wood, or used a furniture grade plywood...with the glass you could see the wood grain...

The glass will crack, both expand different and flex. Just paint the plywood

Im sure if your were to make a sturdy frame around the plywood, it wouldnt be as bad of flex.

i think sooner or later the glass will crack...possible fix reinforce the plywood with steel brackets in an x shape

I've been thinking of doing this also. I've googled alot and most people think it won't work because of the different expansion rates. I haven't found anyone that has actually tried though.

Is there a way to double up the 1/4" glass?

what if you lined the plywood with some 1/4 or 1/2" foam to give it some leeway?

Plywood in general is very dimensionally stable, but it will warp if one side is coated or covered and the other is not. Check out Nolapete's monster tank build if you want some good coating sources. If you try anything with plywood check out cabinet shop suppliers rather than the home centers. Wholesale vendors will have over sized sheets available, up to 72" X 144" for example and better grades as well. More plys for the same given thickness, better adhesives and fewer voids differentiate the levels of quality but so does the price.

I have an 8'L. X 30"H. X 2' W. sump made out of painted 3/4" BC plywood with an EPDM rubber liner that's about 7 years old but it always looked like crud 'cuz it didn't have to be pretty...just hold water.

BoCoMo brought up an interesting point about laminations though. You got me thinkin' before about it because of your tank bottom design. The only thing that had me worried was that even though you only use a little dime sized dab between the layers I was afraid that the viscosity of the silicone wouldn't allow it to flatten out enough when you lay the two pices together. The resultant void seemed worrisome but obviously it works.

It seems like it would be a real bugger to assemble but why wouldn't double layers work in place of many dollars a sq. ft. single thickness slabs?

I have built hardwood frame replacements for busted up plastic ones with good success. They are a little bulkier and have to be extremely well coated and sealed to prevent moisture absorption.
With all of that cheap glass available why in the world would you want to fool with wood. In the battle of wood vs. water, water always wins...eventually.