675 gallons of canadian plywood fun!

[DJ_drew]

hey guys!

Drew from the north here
merry xmas to everyone!

first things first! thanks in advance to all of you guys who's brains i am going to pick over the next while!!

well i started off reefing a few years ago!
i started with a 75, then moved to a 90 and then to a 265 tall, and now im going to building my own perfect little piece of the ocean in the form of 675 gallon (approx) plywood tank!

heres what i have so far:

and heres the start of the lumber i need for this project, the majority of it is in the storage area under the stairs, out of sight out of mind the gf says lol

fist thing i did was essentially the easy part i started to frame up the walls and the back panel of the tank itself.

heres how the three ended up so far:

now i have put any of the brackets or bracing on it yet because i want to do that as im doing the epoxy and glue them and the screws into the wood along with the epoxy to make them somewhat more sealed from the water.

and heres the base of the stand started:

and the stand framed up enough to hold the weight of the wood im putting on top of it for now.

and heres the stand with the walls and the plywood set on top of it and out of the way for xmas tmrw
i figured if i said it would make a good xmas for her to let me do this she wouldnt be too upset
lol
great time of year to ask!

and of course the help!!

now to give you more of a rundown of reason on why going bigger...

Sohal tang
naso tang
gold rim tang
powder brown tang
purple tang
sailfin tang
scopas tang
chocolate tang
hippo tang
kole tang
convict tang

flame angel
bi-colour angel
coral beauty angel
2x yellow head sleeper gobies
4 oci clowns with large green carpet anemone
2 cleaner wrasses

i have alot of xenia as it grows like weeds
i have a green galaxy coral and a couple others i dont really know the names of
lol
the gf picked them out

more to come over the next few days!

first question!!
is there a type of epoxy and resin, aswell as fiberglass anyone would reccomend. i've done alot of research and would just like a few opinions on which stuff works the best for what im doing!

thanks!!
Drew

 

[Sardaukar]

You are going 3 side plywood with fiberglass over it and 1 side of a glass panel, yes?

 

[DJ_drew]

thats the plan!

 

[crabbejoe]

You're my hero, I've always wanted to try doing this!

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

your tank isnt a plywood tank...technically it is an OSB tank....LOL

great start so far...where are you sourcing the epoxy resin for the lay up and are you gonna sweet water (epoxy paint) it too?

you are definately gonna want to make sure she is sealed up right tight when all is said and done...any imperfections in the epoxy coats and that OSB is gonna swell up and delaminate from the rest of the epoxy making your tank terribly weak...

looks great so far though...wish i had the kahoon-nahs and the cash to pull this off...

 

[DJ_drew]

do you think it would be better suited if i went with something like 1/2 inch pine plywood?
the biggest difference and reason behind not doing it was the price at $34 for a 4x8 sheet as opposed to $9 for the osb lol

 

[DJ_drew]

and the epoxy and resin im not too sure yet from all the builds i've seen on the forums that were plywood they seemed to "get them" from lowes or home depot so im gonna talk to a few of the lfs about the epoxy tmrw

 

[HASBRO]

I would be sure to use plywood instead of osb.

 

[DJ_drew]

yea i feel the same way although i was thinking of double layer of osb but i still wouldnt trust it as much as a double layer of 1/2 ply

 

[AzCondor]

nice build, looks good so far. Keep the pic coming

 

[David Jr.]

Looks good so far. I'm glad that the Naso will be in a larger tank!

 

[prop-frags]

Oooh I don't know about using OSB.
(now granted I've never built one, so Kudos to you!!)
But if it were me, I would want the strength of plywood.

 

[DJ_drew]

update for boxing day!
went to HD today to take back the osb and pick up some real wood! lol
got some 1/2 inch spruce ply, i also stripped down the stand and shortened the height by 10 inches, i had it setup and i put my comfy chair in front and realised i couldnt even see over the bottom of the tank lol
so total height of the tank should be no more than 6' i will also be buiding a step that goes the entire length of the tank and will be carpeting it at the end to give me something comfy to stand on when im working in the tank!

ALSO!! got to spend my xmas presents today!!
went out and the gf bought me the fish or her choosing as it was her xmas present to me, show quality powder blue!
very nice fish and extremely healthy, shes been wanting it for a couple months now and she had already paid for it, was just waiting till xmas to go get it!

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

Oooh I don't know about using OSB.
(now granted I've never built one, so Kudos to you!!)
But if it were me, I would want the strength of plywood.

strength wont be an issue in this tank i dont think as he has framed a small house to hold the ply against...only issue would be integrity....should a hole or breach in the epoxy happen the ply will hold up much much longer then the OSB would (weeks if not longer compared to a few days at most with OSB..) your likely gonna find the 1/2" spruce to mot be very true or flat...i dont suspect it will be an issue as you have framed the tank rather then relying on the ply to hold the tank together...

most wooden tanks use wet system epoxy for the sealing and strength...not available at HD or lowes here in ontario...not sure about out there though...however i am certain you dont have any shortages of marinas in vancouver wherer you should be able to get the stuff pretty reasonable...i dont think USPlastics/ Composites or what ever the company is called will ship epoxy resin over the boarder, however if they do it may be cheaper then buying it retail....i founda little old hardware store in my town that actually carries the stuff ( west systems) for about 40 bucks a gallon...not too shabby a price look around i am sure you will find somewhere that has it...i wouldnt use a polyester resin to do your fiberglass layup with...it has no where near the strength the epoxy does and the cost is negligible...

 

[DJ_drew]

if it was your tank would you do the epoxy AND fiberglass it or jus do the epoxy itself? im debating on this.

 

[nathan.hales]

me and a friend are building a couple plywood tanks ourselves, and are debating the same thing, i am leaning toward the fiberglass and epoxy just for the added peace of mind. if you are not worried about the plywood flexing you should be fine with just epoxy, but i am using the fiberglass for added peace of mind on the bottom and half way up the sides of the tank.

 

[Lytehouse]

DJ,

Very interesting build.

Have you studied other plywood builds or just figuring things out as you go?

Wishing you all the best...

 

[DJ_drew]

done alot of research on plywood tanks, the only thing im concerned about and may actually seek help with is the epoxy and fiberglass gonna see if i can find someone near me who likes free beer to help me with it

 

[Lytehouse]

wood tank build


Although he doesn't keep up the thread anymore, I really thought this guy did a great job on his wood tank. If you haven't already seen it, maybe it will give you a couple of ideas. I enjoyed following it. Sure I'll enjoy following yours.

Best of luck...

 

[prop-frags]

wow, thanks for linking that thread. Del did an amazing job on that.