Plywood Tanks
- Thread starter adamfs12
- Start date
I have never built a plywood tank but i have built plenty of cabinets. I have been kicking around the idea of building a plywood tank for a few yers now and to take the "ware" I wonder if you could put some single strength glass (1/16") on the inside of the tank. That way you would not have to worry about the epoxy paint wearing off, or having any scraping from drift wood or rocks. you could even silicone up the seems of the glass insert to keep it water tight. just a thought
I think alot of fish would break 1/16" glass also you way when cleaning the tank aswell I dont think its very strong.
Our previous plywood tank lasted 17 years....and went through two moves where it had to be cut apart to get out of the house, and re-sealed. It and our new tank are sealed with fibreglass matting and resin, and gel coat...silicone around the panes of glass.
a while ago I did quite a bit of research on this and it's really interesting. there are SO MANY WAYS to build a plywood tank. you have a whole bunch of options, from which kind of front you want(glass etc.), what kind of sealent to use(epoxy, fibre glass, glass), and many others. I think it would be good to use thin plexi-glass over the plywood on the inside, it's fairly strong and flexible. you definately want something flexible because the wood WILL bend a little, unless you put some crazy reinforcment on it. epoxy I think is a good sealent to keep the wood dry. I don't think silicon will stick to wood that well, so you would want to put the epoxy on first. that way you can silicon the glass to the wood, and attach the 4 sides together.
I have never built a plywood tank but I would really like to sometime.
how big is your tank gonna be?
I have never built a plywood tank but I would really like to sometime.
how big is your tank gonna be?
At cichlid-forum there is probably a thread per week on building plywood tanks.
Some people end up spending more money building a plywood tank than just buying a new tank. It is by no means an inexpensive way to build a tank, it might be the least expensive though, but also the least forgiving.
Best sealent is probably West-Systems Epoxy. A 1-gallon kit cost's about $100 +shipping.
For huge tanks, I'm partial to cement tanks.
Here's a few links for some-
http://www.anythingfish.com/Todds rays/Todds Concrete Tank/ToddsConcreteFishTank.htm
http://www.gcas.org/articles/info_1000_gallon_tanks.html
goodluck. hope to hear what you do.
Some people end up spending more money building a plywood tank than just buying a new tank. It is by no means an inexpensive way to build a tank, it might be the least expensive though, but also the least forgiving.
Best sealent is probably West-Systems Epoxy. A 1-gallon kit cost's about $100 +shipping.
For huge tanks, I'm partial to cement tanks.
Here's a few links for some-
http://www.anythingfish.com/Todds rays/Todds Concrete Tank/ToddsConcreteFishTank.htm
http://www.gcas.org/articles/info_1000_gallon_tanks.html
goodluck. hope to hear what you do.
