600 gallon plywood Down Grade!

[250G]

Sad to see this system come down as it was truly a site to see. That being said, having seen the holes definitly the right decision.

On a side note - today I chatted at a LFS with our "friend" who runs one of our Canadian forums. Seems he was in town - he took the opportunity to mention he did not care for one of my posts on yet again another Canadian forum.....man he doesn't like you! (or me of course)

 

[Goodwin9]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14099779#post14099779 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by urbor
and what is your plan for the tangs that you are not keeping?

And here I thought that he might be shipping them to South Dakota..........

 

[Cougarman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14101930#post14101930 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Earl87gta
Cougarman,
Thanks for the link I remember that tank from when I built my first plywood tank. At the time you never seen one that had been up any length of time. I hade mine up and running for a year and a half before I moved and had to take it down. It is interesting to see one that has been up and running as long as yours has. I cant weight until one of the poor method tanks has been in service this long and gets broke down so we can see how well it held up.
Do you think if you were not planing on moving you would have considered a plywood build again? My new tank is going to be plywood unfortunately do to the way the stairs in to my basement are any tank I would want cant make it down the stairs so it has to be built on site.
I showed my wife your tanks and now she is trying to talk me in to 3 smaller tanks so that she can have a sea horse tank and maybe and eel tank.

I probably would've done another plywood, I would have designed it defferently though to correct all the things I didn't like on this tank.

 

[Cougarman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14101930#post14101930 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Earl87gta
Cougarman,
Thanks for the link I remember that tank from when I built my first plywood tank. At the time you never seen one that had been up any length of time. I hade mine up and running for a year and a half before I moved and had to take it down. It is interesting to see one that has been up and running as long as yours has. I cant weight until one of the poor method tanks has been in service this long and gets broke down so we can see how well it held up.
Do you think if you were not planing on moving you would have considered a plywood build again? My new tank is going to be plywood unfortunately do to the way the stairs in to my basement are any tank I would want cant make it down the stairs so it has to be built on site.
I showed my wife your tanks and now she is trying to talk me in to 3 smaller tanks so that she can have a sea horse tank and maybe and eel tank.

I probably would've done another plywood, I would have designed it defferently though to correct all the things I didn't like on this tank.

 

[Cougarman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14102196#post14102196 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 250G
Sad to see this system come down as it was truly a site to see. That being said, having seen the holes definitly the right decision.

On a side note - today I chatted at a LFS with our "friend" who runs one of our Canadian forums. Seems he was in town - he took the opportunity to mention he did not care for one of my posts on yet again another Canadian forum.....man he doesn't like you! (or me of course)

Thanks Dave. Haha, that guy's such a joke. He takes this fish hobby too seriously.

 

[Cougarman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14102223#post14102223 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Goodwin9
And here I thought that he might be shipping them to South Dakota..........

Maybe we could work out some sort of trade. LOL

 

[Cougarman]

Well I go alot done today. After waiting all week for the Coris wrasse to show himself, I decided to drain the tank and remove the sand. I started by removing the over flows and allowing the remaining tank water to drain.

I then started loosening the bolts to remove the side of the tank.

Once removed I started shovelling out the sand into buckets . My wifes gardening tool came in handy. I poured all the sand into a 100 gallon stock tank, added tank water and placed a power head to keep the sand live. I forgot to take a pic of that.

On the last bucket I found the corris wrasse. He was still alive so I placed him in the 130 gallon.

Finally all the sand was removed.

 

[Cougarman]

Some of the bolts under the tank were rusted solid. Rather than spend all day trying to loosen them, I chose an alternate much quicker solution.......

I cut the tank apart piece by piece.

I also got a close look at the holes. It appears the top layer of wook and epoxy was peeling back. the water was eroding the wood from underneath. I'm amazed there was no leaking.

 

[Cougarman]

I got tired of all the dirty work, so I took some tang photos.

My A. fowleri finally came out enough for me to snap a pic.

A. auranticavus

A. nigricaudus

A. maculicepps

liutentant, achilles and powderblue

 

[plyr58]

So would you do a plywood tank again? Do you think it just reached the end of its practical life or do you think that, had you done things differently, it would still be up?

 

[Cougarman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14121034#post14121034 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by plyr58
So would you do a plywood tank again? Do you think it just reached the end of its practical life or do you think that, had you done things differently, it would still be up?

I'd Definately do plywood again. I'd put more coats of epoxy though. I'm pretty sure the holes were a result of a small void in the epoxy. It just took 3 yrs to erode away. Aside from the holes, the rest of the tank held up well for the 3 yrs. If I had added more coats of epoxy perhaps the holes would not have developed.

 

[TRITON1]

Do you have a clown tang in that collection of tangs? I didnt see one, or a sohal. Perhaps too agressive?

 

[Cougarman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14121094#post14121094 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TRITON1
Do you have a clown tang in that collection of tangs? I didnt see one, or a sohal. Perhaps too agressive?

I've got a 5 inch sohal, but no clown tang. I've tried a couple of times but it didn't survive. Unfortunately I rarely see them ship in decent condition. If I see one I'd try again.

 

[matt & pam]

Was that marine grade plywood?

 

[Cougarman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14125686#post14125686 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matt & pam
Was that marine grade plywood?

No it was 3/4 inch maple that you can get from home depot.

 

[Cougarman]

Today I started by dissassembling the stand.

I decided the framing for the stand would be perfect for the framing of the wall.

After a few measurements and cuts, the pieces fit perfectly. Not the typical way to frame a wall, but it will work. I'm now ready for drywall.

With the stand gone I took the opportunity to take a pic of my systems heart and soul.

I can definately improve this setup. Once the new tank is in place, I'm going to re-do this.

 

[46bfinGA]

Looks like alot of work! I love your tangs, I want a few of those in my tank.

 

[Carant]

Cougarman,

Wow, things are moving fast! The sawall approach to disassembly would be much faster!

Will be interested in how you plan on improving the system's "heart and soul"

I have emailed you.

Bruce

 

[Cougarman]

I started early today. 1st thing I did was make myself a little work bench out of the leftside of the tank and the remaining pieces of the stand.

With the use of a belt sander I was able to get rid of the leftover silicone and dried algae.

Next I decided to work on a platform for the future tank. The stand for the tank is only 27 inches high, so I think lifting it a few more inches off the floor will make it look better. Fortunately the bottom of the plywood tank will make a perfect platform.

First I cut it down from the 96 x 42 inch dimension, to a 72 x 36 inches.

I then cut back all the 2x4s by 3 inches and put it all back together using the same screws and plywood. I also flipped the plywood over to hide the former inside floor wall of the tank.

Next I cut and placed all the drywall. I left a hole in the drywall to accomodate the plumbing through the wall. Once the stand is in place it should hide the hole.

I then taped and mudded all the seams. I also placed the platform in place where the tank will go.

Unfortunately has not been delivered as of yet. It was supposed to come two Fridays ago, then last Friday, no I don't know when. I'll have to call and find out what the problem is.

 

[Cougarman]

I got a suprise when I looked in my refugium. It appears my mandarin goby took a ride through the flexi pvc from the 130 gallon tank to the refugium. Rather than take out the rock to catch him, I decided to place a strainer over the submerged drain, and leave him be. He'll have a field day in there with all the little crustaceans.