I have a feeling you are right. It's going to be something of my own design. With a sump this size I need to try to get it right the first time. A good and easy to clean prefilter will prevent having to clean the sponges, scrubbies, bio balls, whatever I elect to use. I am really leaning toward placing a layer of sponges between the filter socks and the bio media. Gotta keep my stuff clean!
315G Plywood Tank Build
- Thread starter BadOleRoss
- Start date
I got 3 coats of Pond Coat on the tank and 2 coats on the sump. Very nice stuff to work with. Pond Coat has the consistancy that is somewhere between latex paint and pudding. If you have never worked with it before and are intending to, I recommend putting the first coat on as thick as you can. The first coat goes on very nice and adheres to the wood great, the 2nd coat is easier to thin out making it harder to build up the mils. I have done some testing on glass and acrylic and whether pond coat could be used to seal the viewing window. Pond coat stuck very well to glass and acrylic. If you "buttered" both the glass and the wood with a nice juicy layer of pond coat and stuck them together, I really think it would work. I used the pond coat to attach a piece of angled aluminum to a piece of wood to see if I could use it in my sump as a rail to hold drip plates and alike and I could not easily pull the aluminum off the wood. I really had to force the aluminum to break the pond. Anyway, here are some pics....
Very nice. Coming along swimmingly.
I'm sure Nolapete will be jealous that you've got Pond Coat as he sits at home waiting for better weather so his can be shipped...
I'm sure Nolapete will be jealous that you've got Pond Coat as he sits at home waiting for better weather so his can be shipped...
Looking good!
So your not going to use silicone to attach the glass to the wood? Your just going to use the pond coat?
So your not going to use silicone to attach the glass to the wood? Your just going to use the pond coat?
I drove to NC and picked up the Pond Coat. Granted, Pete is not within 3 hours of a dealer or I am sure he would do the same thing. We want Pete to have Pond Coat as much as Pete does!
I am going to use silicone to attach the glass. I have done some testing and I "think" it will work but when I am dealing with 315G I am not willing to take the chance. I read a post someplce where someone said that the Pond Coat sticks to glass until it is under water, then it starts to degrade. That would be bad.
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I have been keeping track of the cost and will post all of that when it is closer to finished.
Wow your tank looks stellar. I like the way you built a frame around the tank then plywoded the in side of it. If I do this again, or should I say if the wife lets me, LOL, I will definetly go that route. Thanks for the your input on my build.
Thank you and you're welcome. I am just trying to pass on the stuff I have learned doing my build. Now, I'm waiting for the snow to melt so I can move the tank from the workshop into the house.
looking very nice, I have a couple questions:
1) in the tank you have 2 black grills on the back of the tank, what are they and where did you get them?
2) On the viewing glass, you mentioned using silicon to adhere it, will this be silicon only and clamped tight while drying and no hardware?
3) how many layers of the pond coat is needed to fully seal the wood? In post 32, the top chamber of the sump looks like the wood grain is still showing thru so I was wondering about the thickness.
Thanks
1) in the tank you have 2 black grills on the back of the tank, what are they and where did you get them?
2) On the viewing glass, you mentioned using silicon to adhere it, will this be silicon only and clamped tight while drying and no hardware?
3) how many layers of the pond coat is needed to fully seal the wood? In post 32, the top chamber of the sump looks like the wood grain is still showing thru so I was wondering about the thickness.
Thanks
