4300 Gallon Plywood Build (3600+ Take 2)

i have got to see this thing filled with 20 or so tons of water. any estimates on when the filling will begin?
Just a thought. if the walls of the tank are 6 inches thick, don't you think the entire bottom of the tank should have at least that much wood under it. it seems that the open spans you have in the bottom would easily collapse under the kind of weight this tank will be.
 
The bottom frame of the tank is 3 2x6s stacked on the flat 4.5" thick the walls are 5.5" thick. It's not going to collapse. Most plywood tanks use regular joists like you'd find in a house. This is much more sturdy. The sheathing of the entire tank is 3/4" plywood. The weight of the tank and contents is distributed over almost 100 sq. ft. which equates to about 485 lbs. per sq. ft. The slab is approximately 10 inches thick. The frame design distributes the weight fairly even across the entire bottom of the tank.

The tank will be filled when I'm done building it and doing the finish work I need to do in the room. I'm in no rush.

Ken didn't make it over Monday, so he's supposed to show up tomorrow night to help with some work on the tank and the fish room.

The test gallon of Pond Coat arrived today from Permadri. Very nice packaging. The box actually has insulation in it to protect the product from the cold weather.

We'll see what happens.
 
Did you build your house or have it built for you by any chance with this sort of thing in mind? I remember reading somewhere much earlier on in your build that your slab was ten inches thick and when you mentioned it again it struck me then that that is a ridiculously over built slab.

Either way it won't have an impact on you build, just curious about why the builder or contractor would have wasted all of that extra concrete.

Just how big can the Pirarucu get anyway? They obviously suffer from a poor appetite. You sure you want to swimmin' with those guys?
 
foolishfish said:
Did you build your house or have it built for you by any chance with this sort of thing in mind? I remember reading somewhere much earlier on in your build that your slab was ten inches thick and when you mentioned it again it struck me then that that is a ridiculously over built slab.

Either way it won't have an impact on you build, just curious about why the builder or contractor would have wasted all of that extra concrete.

Just how big can the Pirarucu get anyway? They obviously suffer from a poor appetite. You sure you want to swimmin' with those guys?
Click to expand...

My house was built in the mid-60s, so no it wasn't built with this in mind and I'm not the original owner obviously.

Post hurricane Katrina, I had 5 inches of concrete poured on top of the existing slab in the fish room to bring it to the level of the rest of the house. I'm told that the existing slab was approx. 4.5-5.5" or more.

I'm guestimating that it is around 10" based on that.

Arapaima gigas (pirarucu) can get to be 14.5 ft. long in the wild. They are sexually mature at 5 ft. which is how big I hope to grow them in this tank before they are moved to the 100K pond at the nature center once that's built. From what I've read, growth is about 1 ft. per year. Depending on how accurate that is, I'd have 3-4 years before I have to rehouse them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom