Matt's 5000ltr Display

[d3hree]

First of all GRP Matt what a fantastic finish on fibre glass

Now Matt time to get some Glass ordered and get the tank finished and FILLED

Ha Ha..pressure is on now eh? I will have to re-join a certain forum, I hear the TOTM standard has dropped drastically

No real excuse not to get the glass in, plumbing and then water in, what ... two weeks?

Thanks Dave...I still have loads to do and pesky clients wont let up with the work load. I keep telling them I have a marine tank to build at home but they dont seem to care.

Very nice! It looks great.

Thankyou Metal Man, I cant take credit. GRP Matt did a great job and my only contribution was to annoy him all the time and make cups of tea!

congrats we are one step closer ! Im all the way in Canada and excited about this, cant imagine how excite u must be.

Thanks Allmost. It is true, one giant leap closer now and yes the excitement is beginning to build!

Lookin good!

Thanks Kentrob11, hows your LED build?..anything for me to completely copy and pretend it was my idea?

 

[prop-frags]

Wow! The scale of this thing is really obvious when your installers are in there with rollers, etc. It is so very exciting to see the progress! I bet the smell from that epoxy was really something else!

 

[dazzer slk]

love it

love it

Hi Matt
do you think you will stick thin acrylic to the back and sides maybe blue? stop anything chewing ,love it inspired me to start again and like you said this is one way of getting a larger tank for less money than a glass one .
All the best looking forward to see what you do next
regards
Dazzer:beer:

 

[d3hree]

Hi Matt
do you think you will stick thin acrylic to the back and sides maybe blue? stop anything chewing ,love it inspired me to start again and like you said this is one way of getting a larger tank for less money than a glass one .
All the best looking forward to see what you do next
regards
Dazzer:beer:

Hi Dazzer.
I have too-ed and fro-ed over the years about whether to add thin sheets of glass or acrylic to the internal walls. This was more to do with adding reflections than to stop stuff chewing. I wont be adding any urchins to the tank, as regards to fish nibbling I will just have to observe and see if there are any potential tank mates that take a liking to the fibreglass.

The fibreglass is a great option...it hasnt saved me loads and loads though. As with every build the actual tank is the least expensive aspect, all the equipment and stuff you need for a tank this size runs up a fair bill. In my case a glass tank would have been pointless as it would have been surrounded on 3 sides and the glass would have been redundant.

 

[GRP UK]

Wow! The scale of this thing is really obvious when your installers are in there with rollers, etc. It is so very exciting to see the progress! I bet the smell from that epoxy was really something else!

It isn't epoxy, it's polyester.

 

[GRP UK]

Hi Matt
stop anything chewing

Chew throuh 3mm thickness of fibreglass?

 

[d3hree]

Wow! The scale of this thing is really obvious when your installers are in there with rollers, etc. It is so very exciting to see the progress! I bet the smell from that epoxy was really something else!

As GRP Matt says it is polyester, but the smell was quite extreme. I was immune to it after a short time but my family had a couple of complaints as did the neighbours

Chew throuh 3mm thickness of fibreglass?

Yeah Matt, there are a few reports of urchins chewing through fibreglass over years. IIRC a french angel in a public aquarium in france chewed through it too as have triggers.

 

[Surf&turf]

Wow, that's a big tank!!

 

[Euch]

Pics won't load, and I wanna see it :-(

 

[dave.m]

Sorry, Matt. It seems you've exceeded your bandwidth allowance on photobucket. This is where they want you to start paying for your usage.

Dave.M

 

[d3hree]

I have emailed photobucket. I already pay for "pro" and unlimited bandwidth so something has gone wrong

 

[zoney]

:spin2:

 

[Euch]

Much better Looks nice, euhm, great I think my tank fits in your skimmer

 

[norskfisk]

It isn't epoxy, it's polyester.

For me it was very nice to see that some other people are using polyester too! Everybody seems to use epoxy. I have built some aqauariums with fiberglass and polyester, including a 1000 liters:

http://www.jonolavsakvarium.com/eng_diy/tankbuilding2006/index.html

It was cheaper than epoxy and I really enjoyed working with it. So I can definitely recommend it. I painted with an epoxy paint to seal the resin from the water and get a nice color.

I am surprised to see that professionals work with it without respiratory protection. Here in Norway I don't think they are allowed to even use carbon filter masks. They need to use masks with fresh air supply.

 

[d3hree]

Much better Looks nice, euhm, great I think my tank fits in your skimmer

Thanks Euch, the skimmer is rated for 4500ltrs IIRC, I will have to see how it performs when I am fully stocked. I like the look of the Deltec 4080 but I dont think I will have the room.

 

[d3hree]

For me it was very nice to see that some other people are using polyester too! Everybody seems to use epoxy. I have built some aqauariums with fiberglass and polyester, including a 1000 liters:

http://www.jonolavsakvarium.com/eng_diy/tankbuilding2006/index.html

It was cheaper than epoxy and I really enjoyed working with it. So I can definitely recommend it. I painted with an epoxy paint to seal the resin from the water and get a nice color.

I am surprised to see that professionals work with it without respiratory protection. Here in Norway I don't think they are allowed to even use carbon filter masks. They need to use masks with fresh air supply.

Hi Norsfisk

I know your website..in fact I looked through it quite extensively when I first decided to drop the idea of glass and pursue a fibreglass tank. Thanks for stopping by!

The fumes from the fibreglass were pretty strong although I am unsure of the regulations for using it in the UK

 

[GRP UK]

I am surprised to see that professionals work with it without respiratory protection. Here in Norway I don't think they are allowed to even use carbon filter masks. They need to use masks with fresh air supply.

What needs to be considered here is something called common sense, it's an old fashioned thing.

On the technical side of things there is an occupational exposure level to styrene that is considered safe by the health and safety people, namely 100mg/l per hour or a short burst double that.

Ever heard of anybody dying or having long term health risks from working with grp?

Look at Robin Gibb. Salt of the Earth, talented guy guy pleasing millions and cut down by cancer in his early sixties. Never smoked, never drank and certainly never did any fibreglassing.

I digress. Here's a couple of pics of the surge tank for Matt's superb build. How I survived to tell the tale working with materials that will kill normal men I will never know.

To Matt. I'll get this back to you this week if I haven't keeled over from the terrifying vapours.

 

[d3hree]

Looks great, thanks Matt

With the fibreglassing done I made a start on the tiling above the tank. First sealing the edge where wall meets fibreglass with some poly silicone kindly donated by GRP Matt.

Forgive the mess, I took the pics before clearing up the excess grout.

To accomodate the actuator that will raise the main door the tank's fascia needs to come out a further 68mm, my wife was so happy about this when I told her!

To work out the fascia I drew a rough of what I hope the finished result will look like. Its not to scale but you get the idea

 

[Moser]

Wow!... next level s**t. Well done!.

Mo

 

[dave.m]

To work out the fascia I drew a rough of what I hope the finished result will look like.

Oh, it's just a rough.

Dave.M