350 plywood aquarium build
- Thread starter mrscheider
- Start date
You gotta love DIY builds like this...I know I do!! Congrats!! One question. When you listed the materials and their respective costs I did not see any mention of the "geotextile fiberglass reinforcement cloth". Was that something you had laying around? Where can it be purchased? OK..two questions...lol.
These things are tanks(pun intended). I built an 800 gal one(84"x48"48) out of 3/4" plywood braced by 2x4's and 2x6's at the top. i also used 3/4" glass that was mated up to the plywood like this one. I then moved the tank to the wall and drywalled up around it. Never was there any crack in the drywall which would have shown bowing from the tank.
I also used fiberglass cloth throughout the whole tank, multiple layers on the seams, then many coats of potable waterproof paint as well.
Solid as a rock. sadly we sold the house some point later.
I also used fiberglass cloth throughout the whole tank, multiple layers on the seams, then many coats of potable waterproof paint as well.
Solid as a rock. sadly we sold the house some point later.
ratonacachetona
New member
krylon spray paint? ANY GRADE? isnt this toxic?
krylon spray paint? ANY GRADE? isnt this toxic?
krylon spray paint? ANY GRADE? isnt this toxic?
rogerwilco357
Active member
awesome build thread love the tank looks great. hey if boats can float and not sink and remain water tight then why not a tank should be fine may take this on as a project my self , smaller in scale of course till i can get the workmanship to match yours then i will try a big one since i cannot get a 6 foot tank down the stairs into the basement this would work perfectly..thanks
Roger
Roger
mrscheider
New member
Hey guys,
Sorry it's been so long since I replied! Thanks to everyone for the comments. Glad I inspired some of you to do these builds. Maybe if more of us were doing them, manufacturers will come down in price since 4 pieces of glass and a cabinet for $6000 seems a little high to many of us! :lmao:
As for those who asked some questions...
The liquid rubber I used was called Pond Coat by Permi-Dri. Excellent stuff but a major drawback. Silicone won't stick to it! Thats why I had to paint it. Silicone sticks to the krylon very nicely and makes it look much nicer. Pond coat is black but once you put water in it, it turns a brown color. Not the ideal look for a reef tank. In addition, no matter how much light you shine at it, the black simply absorbs it making lighting the tank very inefficient.
My bad.. sorry about that. I purchased the cloth from Permi-Dri as well. I think it was $40 for a 350ft roll. I still have over half the roll left!
Maybe for the next build!
Lastly, for the member who asked about the toxicity of the krylon.. after allot of research, I found it is fine in the tank as long as you give it a week or so to fully cure. Many folks right here on RC have posted using it with much success.
The tank has been running for about 6 or 8 weeks now. It's solid. No leaks, no issues at all. Almost cycled and ready for inhabitants.
Last week I added my decor. I know allot of you will cringe but well... too bad! lol. I decided to go with Instant Reef coral inserts. They're.. just okay.
I think they are very fake looking but they look nice enough to get the idea across and I'm getting away with using VHO's which were super cheap in comparison to halides. No heat issues, no calcium reactors, etc. Plus I can put in whatever fish I want... triggers, Angels and not have to worry about them eating the corals. So the plan is to add a bunch of cleaners... snails, hermits maybe and then introduce fish that will for the most part leave those inverts alone. Im hoping that will be enough to keep the build up off the inserts. I just received about 80 pounds of dry rock from Marco which I put into the sump. I have a lfs that I will get about 10 pounds of LR to seed the base rock and that should take care of filtration. I'll probably get some macro in there too but we'll see.
Here's a pic of the tank after adding the coral inserts. Clouded up the water a little but Im running carbon to remove that. Yes, I know they look cartoonish... so be kind! lol
More to come.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/7634018730/" title="2012-07-23_18-38-05_678 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8012/7634018730_f1eaf5283d.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-07-23_18-38-05_678"></a>
Sorry it's been so long since I replied! Thanks to everyone for the comments. Glad I inspired some of you to do these builds. Maybe if more of us were doing them, manufacturers will come down in price since 4 pieces of glass and a cabinet for $6000 seems a little high to many of us! :lmao:
As for those who asked some questions...
The liquid rubber I used was called Pond Coat by Permi-Dri. Excellent stuff but a major drawback. Silicone won't stick to it! Thats why I had to paint it. Silicone sticks to the krylon very nicely and makes it look much nicer. Pond coat is black but once you put water in it, it turns a brown color. Not the ideal look for a reef tank. In addition, no matter how much light you shine at it, the black simply absorbs it making lighting the tank very inefficient.
My bad.. sorry about that. I purchased the cloth from Permi-Dri as well. I think it was $40 for a 350ft roll. I still have over half the roll left!
Maybe for the next build!
Lastly, for the member who asked about the toxicity of the krylon.. after allot of research, I found it is fine in the tank as long as you give it a week or so to fully cure. Many folks right here on RC have posted using it with much success.
The tank has been running for about 6 or 8 weeks now. It's solid. No leaks, no issues at all. Almost cycled and ready for inhabitants.
Last week I added my decor. I know allot of you will cringe but well... too bad! lol. I decided to go with Instant Reef coral inserts. They're.. just okay.
I think they are very fake looking but they look nice enough to get the idea across and I'm getting away with using VHO's which were super cheap in comparison to halides. No heat issues, no calcium reactors, etc. Plus I can put in whatever fish I want... triggers, Angels and not have to worry about them eating the corals. So the plan is to add a bunch of cleaners... snails, hermits maybe and then introduce fish that will for the most part leave those inverts alone. Im hoping that will be enough to keep the build up off the inserts. I just received about 80 pounds of dry rock from Marco which I put into the sump. I have a lfs that I will get about 10 pounds of LR to seed the base rock and that should take care of filtration. I'll probably get some macro in there too but we'll see.
Here's a pic of the tank after adding the coral inserts. Clouded up the water a little but Im running carbon to remove that. Yes, I know they look cartoonish... so be kind! lol
More to come.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14713622@N02/7634018730/" title="2012-07-23_18-38-05_678 by mrscheider, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8012/7634018730_f1eaf5283d.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="2012-07-23_18-38-05_678"></a>
mrscheider
New member
h2so4hurts
New member
Great build! I've always wanted to do a plywood build, but I think that if I did I'd be sure it was in my basement with a massive drain under it. Just in case 
If you got all of your info from Joey, I'm sure he'd appreciate a posting about this over there too. Maybe I missed it? I don't remember him using geotex in his build. What thickness did you get? All I can find on-line is 40mil or weed guard.
If you got all of your info from Joey, I'm sure he'd appreciate a posting about this over there too. Maybe I missed it? I don't remember him using geotex in his build. What thickness did you get? All I can find on-line is 40mil or weed guard.
Last edited:
Manta
New member
Can I ask where you bought them from?
(Instantreef won't answer my queries re shipping to the UK)
Malign Reefer
New member
Cool build, keep us posted.
mrscheider
New member
Great build! I've always wanted to do a plywood build, but I think that if I did I'd be sure it was in my basement with a massive drain under it. Just in case
If you got all of your info from Joey, I'm sure he'd appreciate a posting about this over there too. Maybe I missed it? I don't remember him using geotex in his build. What thickness did you get? All I can find on-line is 40mil or weed guard.
Yeah, Joey's build mentioned that the geotext fabric was recommended. He went on to say that he didnt use it in his build because one of his objectives was to test the strength of the Pond Coat so he intentionally left out the fabric. (A brave man indeed!)
I had to go direct to PermiDri.com to get the Pond coat since I couldnt find any local dealers and while on the phone with them, I asked about the fabric and they told me they sell it so I included that with the order.
I didn't put a layer for each coat though... only one layer of cloth that I put on top of the first coat of liquid rubber.
I have nothing but good things to say about this method though. It's worked flawlessly and others have told me they've done builds similar to this and have had no issues after years so Im very confident of the intergrity of the seal. The tank is holding water flawlessly and it looks awesome.
If you can't drop the $6000 for a glass 300 gallon, this is the best alternative you can find.
mrscheider
New member
mrscheider
New member
I just ordered them from thier website. They shipped fast but I can't attest to thier customer service, I've never needed to contact them by phone.
Can't say if they ship internationally.
Sorry.
cabinetman123
Member
Awesome build! Joined up just so I could comment and ask you a few questions. Ive been getting ready to build a 300 gallon 96x30x24 deep tank and decided that I will probably use liquid rubber to seal the tank cause of its elasticity. The only thing I hated about it was the color. You seemed to have come up with a cure for that. Is it still sticking so far? Did you find anyone else that did it or are you the first that you know off? How do the liquid rubber and krylon stick..is there a real strong bond? You may have come up with the perfect cure for liquid rubber sealed tank you know! I really think they are probably better tanks in the long run cause if a tank sealed with epoxy paint settles any it will crack and then....well you know lol! Looking forward to some updates on this tank for sure. Thanks
cabinetman123
Member
Would be some nice to hear an update about how this tank is doing. Everything still holding?
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