Talk me out of building my own tank

L

lanimret

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Apr 1, 2008
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I am looking for reasons I am overlooking for not building my own acrylic tank's. I am looking to put together two tank's, approximately 125g+ each, that I will be integrating into a wall I am building in my new house.

I was originally planning on having these custom made, (at around $1500 each!) but after a very successful build of a new sump and refugium I am motivated to try something larger.

I used the products suggested on Melev's site (weld-on #4) and am an experienced woodworker with all necessary tools.

Would this work for a larger tank? is there a reason it wouldn't be strong enough?
 
Weld-on #4's bond strength with acrylic after one week of curing is 2500 lbs/in.
 
Weld-on #4's bond strength with acrylic after one week of curing is 2500 lbs/in.
Click to expand...
Awesome information, thanks.

What about the Acrylic itself? Is 1/4in enough for that size of a tank. Does the bottom section need to be thicker? I have a local plastics shop that sells high grade 1/4in for about $200 a 4x8 sheet.

Certainly don't want to spend the time and money on doing this if there is a good reason not to. As it's just a box, I can't see it being that difficult and certainly not worth $1500.
 
bottom should definitely be thicker then the rest of the tank...not sure how much pressure 1/4 can withstand

but I did talk to a custom aquarium builder last week (as I was inquiring about re-doing the internal seals on my 125g plate glass tank) and he told me that the most pressure inside will be trying to get out through bottom seams of the interior (gravity just loves pulling stuff down)

So i think in this case it's better to be safe then sorry
 
There is absolutely no reason why you should be talked out of trying something (as long as it is legal to do so). It is better to try and learn from it than to never risk it. Like any project, take your time and research, research, research. Test fit everything before making a permanent mistake.
 
Hey I'm still loking for reasons not to build a 8' by 4' by 4' metal and glass tank lol

All I can say is this overbuild, and once done over building, overbuild somemore.
 
The thickness of the acrylic to use depends on the height of the aquarium (tanks 8' long or less)
up to 12" tall - 1/4" thick
12-18" tall - 3/8" thick
18-24" tall - 1/2" thick
24-30" tall - 3/4" thick
 
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