350 plywood aquarium build

[mrscheider]

Hi everyone!
I have not been on RC in quite a while. I was on hiatus from the hobby for some time but recently got the bug back. I was looking to get a new tank and from past experiences, I wanted to go big this time around. Being on a strict budget and my wifes short leash, I had to find a way to go inexpensive and large. Kind of impossible I found out. lol
So I started exploring the possibility of fabricating my own. Custom sized to the stop I had picked out for it. At first I was going for the easy acrylic build and while reasonably priced, by the time I got the shipping figured in, it turned out not that great a bargain. More research led me to the path of plywood aquarium builds. I have seen them as large as 800 and 1500 gallons! Holy smokes!
After crunching some numbers I realized this would be my latest project.
It's actually completed now and currently I'm cycling the tank. The finished product is roughly 400 gallons if you include whats in the sump. It will be a FOWLR marine setup. While I am aware there's likely dozens of ways to do this better, keep in mind this was for the poor folks out there who simply can't drop 10 grand on a large aquarium. Be inspired knowing I spent a mere $1200 dollars for this tank as opposed to the $6000 it would have cost me for a 350 gallon glass aquarium from a manufacturer.

 

[mrscheider]

Once I figure out how to link my images from flickr, I'll start posting and commenting on the steps I took to get the tank completed.

More to come! :bounce3:

 

[mrscheider]

Okay... figured it out.
So starting with the stand, I built it out of 4X4 and 2X4 studs. A very basic design. I should also mention I went down into the crawl space of my house and put three 4X6 piers under the flooring where the tank was to reside to support the weight. I figured on this to be coming in close to two tons so I took every precaution.



<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/6928296090/" title="2011-12-11_20-03-55_590 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5120/6928296090_5dab42f770.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2011-12-11_20-03-55_590"></a>

 

[mrscheider]

After the stand was completed I decided to start on a sump design. I don't know why but for some reason I didn't get pics of the sump when I finished it.
I figured it would be a great opportunity to test out the water proofing materials so I build the suimp out of plywood as well. For the waterproofing I used a product called Pond Coat manufactured by a company called PermaDri. I used this product because it specifically states one of it's primary applications is for plywood aquariums. I built the sump out of 3/4 inch plywood with a baffle for the overflow from the main tank then a section for my live rock/macro and then one more baffle for the return pump. I also used a geotextile fiberglass reinforcement cloth on all the seams just to give a little added leak protection.
When the sump was completed and dried for a week, I filled it with water and left it another week to test. It worked flawlessly. You can see in this photo the sump installed into the stand. I also added on some heavy duty iron angle brackets onto the legs of the stand as well as a large sheet of plywood across the back and on side for rigidness.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/7074378019/" title="2012-03-16_14-52-23_759 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/7074378019_72eac93272.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-03-16_14-52-23_759"></a>

 

[mrscheider]

Next was the tank itself. I decided based on where the tank was going to be placed I would design it with two viewing sides. I used inch and a quarter thick plywood all around. I also wanted the tank flush against the walls in the back and right sides so I planned my plumbing to be drilled through the bottom and without overflows. This pic shows the pieces all cut and prepared for assembly.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/7074376235/" title="2011-12-23_16-37-27_117 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7134/7074376235_de4f0afb46.jpg" width="281" height="500" alt="2011-12-23_16-37-27_117"></a>

 

[mrscheider]

And here it is completely assembled. I glued everything and then used 2 inch screws roughly every three inches or so.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/6928296172/" title="2012-01-29_13-07-52_858 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7202/6928296172_2a9e2ae18a.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-01-29_13-07-52_858"></a>

I than drilled the holes needed for the plumbing. I went with dual 2 inch ABS for the drains to the sump and dual 1.5 inch for the pump return and drain for water changes. The bulkheads are schedule 80 slipXslip.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/7074376545/" title="2012-01-29_13-09-28_707 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7264/7074376545_f35e712c25.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-01-29_13-09-28_707"></a>

 

[dave.m]

What dimensions are your tank? I have been trying to find out how tall a plywood tank can be at what thickness but haven't seen any guidelines so far.

Thx,

Dave.M

 

[mrscheider]

After the holes were drilled and the tank was assembled it was now time to waterproof the wood. From everything I've read so far using the firberglass cloth on the seams was good enough to ensure a watertight seal but this was 400 gallons of water in my living room and I wasn't taking any chances and since I had 300 feet of cloth I decided to go ahead and cover all the surfaces with it. The manufacturer recommends you achive 40 mils thickness with the liquid rubber which comes out to about 6 coats. I put down the first coat, then covered the entire tank with fiberglass cloth, overlapping each piece by one inch and then added another seven coats on top of that. Here you can see the tank completly waterproofed.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/6928297004/" title="2012-02-02_20-51-33_109 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5116/6928297004_0c7a41611f.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-02-02_20-51-33_109"></a>

Another angle.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/6928295636/" title="2012-02-02_20-51-48_406 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7101/6928295636_13124f554a.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-02-02_20-51-48_406"></a>

 

[mrscheider]

Hi Dave. I don't know about guidelines. I simply chose some tank builds that were bigger than mine and used the same. I had read about a 560 gallon build where the guy used 1.25 thick plywood and figured if it held his, it would hold mine!
My tanks overall size is 96X30X30. Inside is 93wX27dX30h

 

[mrscheider]

With the waterproofing completed it was time to start thinking about the glass. Other builds had run into a serious issue with the liquid rubber. It seems Liquid rubber, specifically Pond Coat and silicone are incompatable! Not a good detail to be unaware of. Pond coat, at least in my tests did not stick to cured/uncured silicone. Silicone would stick to cured Pond coat however but some people said once water got introduced, it would have adhesion issues. Well, I started thinking about the problem and came up with my own solution.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/7074378201/" title="2012-03-08_17-24-06_765 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7097/7074378201_b0e86d931e.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-03-08_17-24-06_765"></a>

And there it is. I painted the entire tank with Patriot Blue Krylon. I wasn't crazy about the black for a marine tank anyway. I tested this on some scrap wood and it worked great. The krylon after a week was well adhered to the pond coat and silicone practically had to be cut off with a razor to get it off the Krylon.
This took care of two things. It makes for a much nicer looking background and addressed the issue with getting a watertight seal between the glass and the pondcoat.

 

[mrscheider]

Ordered the glass. Decided to go with the Starfire low iron glass. I used 1/2 inch thick glass on this build. Both the front and side plates were 30 inches tall. The glass was the most expensive part of this whole project. $500 for the product and $100 to deliver. I should mention this was way cheaper than acrylic since they wanted to charge me for the full sheet size of 4'X8' even for the small side piece.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/7074377419/" title="2012-02-23_20-28-16_539 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7212/7074377419_0ba591cdd4.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-02-23_20-28-16_539"></a>

 

[mrscheider]

Here is the tank with the glass installed. Used up about 3 tubes of silicone to affix the glass on both the inside and outside seams of the glass.

At this point the tank is weighing in at about 300 pounds!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/6928296372/" title="2012-03-16_14-52-53_460 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7245/6928296372_eb498932ce.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-03-16_14-52-53_460"></a>

 

[mrscheider]

After about 3 days I got the stand installed and the tank placed on top. It was time to get the plumbing in.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/6928296460/" title="2012-03-20_17-08-16_791 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/6928296460_d7e58263be.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-03-20_17-08-16_791"></a>

Here's another my wife couldn't resist. Shows the size reference.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/6928295312/" title="2012-03-20_18-24-24_725 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5444/6928295312_0a809e8206.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-03-20_18-24-24_725"></a>

 

[MHG]

350g at 1/2 inch glass? not in my house...

 

[mrscheider]

Here's the plumbing under the tank. Originally, these were threaded but since the install, I've replaced them with double slip. On the left is the valve for draining the tank. It's a standpipe that goes about half the height of the tank and will do a 50% water change unattended when opened. I simply attach a hose that drains to the outside sewer pipe. The right one is the return from a PondMaster 3500 gph submersible pump.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/6928297580/" title="2012-03-21_20-28-59_773 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5330/6928297580_f8ae51a801.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-03-21_20-28-59_773"></a>

The next pic is of the dual 2 inch drains from the main tank to the sump. again, I later changed my mind and added a ball valve on the right side drain and converted one of the durso's to a full siphon.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/6928295746/" title="2012-03-21_20-28-53_150 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7040/6928295746_1d1f40f86c.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-03-21_20-28-53_150"></a>

Here is a look inside the tank from the side. You can see the dual dursos, the return from the sump and the waste drain. I also added 250 pounds of sand for a 2 inch bed. The durso's were SO ridiculously loud that I converted the one pipe to a full siphon and the other is an emergency inverted durso that will be used in the event the water level in the tank threatens to overflow. It's completely silent now with only the hum of the pump. No louder than the refrigerator. You can also see I've installed the T5's. Dual 36inch X 6 light fixtures. 4 12k's and 2 actinics per fixture.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/7074378335/" title="2012-04-03_10-39-05_160 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7127/7074378335_b6a2ac0aba.jpg" width="281" height="500" alt="2012-04-03_10-39-05_160"></a>

 

[mrscheider]

Okay, after all inside work was completed, I started on the finish work. The veneers for the tank and all the trim was cut and stained. I got all the hardware for the doors on the stand and when it was dried I installed it.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/6928296720/" title="2012-03-27_17-49-35_500 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5116/6928296720_346dc03e0f.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-03-27_17-49-35_500"></a>

A close up of the finish work.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/7074377937/" title="2012-03-27_17-50-25_687 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7256/7074377937_0d7ab36ca3.jpg" width="281" height="500" alt="2012-03-27_17-50-25_687"></a>

 

[mrscheider]

And finally, Filled the tank with water the Friday before Easter. I had one slow leak on one of the 1.5 bulkheads but was able to give it a quarter turn more and that resolved the issue.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/7074376851/" title="2012-04-03_20-11-01_977 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5196/7074376851_5782f8d616.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-04-03_20-11-01_977"></a>


I will take a few more pics of it with the new plumbing design. I also opted to cut down the waste drain more so that it will almost completely drain the tank if needed. I simply can't drain it "unattended" anymore but thats okay. Probably not wise to drain the tank while not at home anyway!

So as I said, it's currently cycling now. I'm going to add a skimmer to the sump in a few weeks and decide on what to do about live rock.
Running for 7days now and it's watertight so far.

 

[mrscheider]

350g at 1/2 inch glass? not in my house...

I stand corrected! The glass is 16mm so thats more like 5/8's isn't it.

 

[Tat2demon]

Good looking build. Am I seeing correctly that youre not using an overflow box?

I could never do a plywood tank, no matter how many good posts I see about them. Something in my brain just says "No!".

 

[mrscheider]

Good looking build. Am I seeing correctly that youre not using an overflow box?

I could never do a plywood tank, no matter how many good posts I see about them. Something in my brain just says "No!".

I know what you mean... it's like wearing a paper mache hat in the rain!

You are correct. I am NOT using an overflow. I thought about putting one in but only after I drilled for the durso design. By then it would have looked terrible to put an overflow where I drilled for the drains to the sump so I opted for the siphon/durso design. Regrettably.. holes cannot be undrilled.