My 480g plywood tank is nearing completion lots of pics.

Cost compared a to a premade custom tank of this size is probably around 1/5 or retail.
The epoxy looks darker blue mainly because of my bulbs I am running 20ks plus the buildup of coraline. IMO coraline is the one disadvantage of this type of tank if you like to scrape it off the back and sides I would go with something else.
 
Does coralline grow on it due to the texture? Would it be impossible to keep coralline-free or just difficult? Peraps an urchin or two could take care of this.
Can you explain how you did the overflows?
Thanks.
 
acrylic tank with front glass

acrylic tank with front glass

acrylic tank with front glass does any body heard of one or have one?can you silicon glass into fiberglass lobster tank?
 
Hmm somehow I missed a picture of my regal I have had her in the tank for around 3 months now and she is almost 6" long.

136regal_1-med.jpg
 
awesome regal! and awesome tank! i live plywood tank threads and this is another must read thread. thanks for posting all the great info and pics.
 
Very nice tank! Could you help a bit more in explaining the acrylic overflow, and bulkheads? Did you use sealer on the bulkheads? Or did they seal fine without ? Looks as if the overflow is internal correct? How does the water get ouy of the tank?
Thanks for all the help, and congrats on your tank. Awesome job!
 
i was planning on building a large acrylic tank but im starting to think that a plywood tank with glass front would be easier.do you think it would be possible to line the two sides and back with thin acrylic sheets or frp so that you could ...

a. protect the sides from urchins,puffers,etc....
b. be able to clean and scrub the walls.

im planning on something around 96x48x36(30) or 10' if space allows and can i get away with 3/4 plywood.is the plywood pressure treated or any type of special coated plywood?
 
I have no idea what weight of fiberglass I used I just got whatever it was they had at home depot sorry I can't help you more there.
The overflow is actually made out of 2 pieces of 1/4" glass that run the length of the tank and are 6" wide each so one piece comes out from the back of the tank then the second piece rests on top of the first piece perpendicular to it to create the overflow area from there there is a bulkhead drilled into the back of the overflow area and it sealed just fine with the gaskets taht came with it no additional silicone required.
As far as the return pump is concerned I could't/ didnt want to risk using an OM due to the eductor wich at least last time I checked would have been to much pressure for the OM.
The closed loop is drilled about half way down the back of the tank for the inlet side then just comes back up over the rim with a manifold along the top that dead ends at the far end of the tank and an outlet about every 8".
As far as corraline I didn't really notice any sort of slower growth rate on the epoxy then normal it has entirely covered the back and sides now with the 1 year aniversarry of filling the tank coming up soon.
I'll try to get some photos soon for updates but today is abad day becauser the big clam has been making a mess getting my water all cloudy.
 
No idea on the Acrylic but I attempted a similar tank a few years ago using FRP and it failed miserably due to the rigidity of the material and not being able to get it to lay perfectly flat against the plywood allowing it to flew and break the silicone seams that an dsilicone doesnt bond well to FRP I found out, also I wouldnt go 36" deep even at 30" mine is a nightmare to clean or move stuff around near the bottom even with 5+" of sand. Plywood was not pressure and in general a marine grade is reccomended. I didn't use amarine grade and went witha higher quility plywood to ease some of the sanding requirments for the fiberglass alyer and then just sealed the entire tank with epoxy.
 
Hey there,

I was wondering.

How's this tank doing?

Construction wise that is. Do you have pics of how well the outside is holding up. Leaks, stress anything you're not happy with now that you are "down" the road in time since you built it?

My house makes it prohibitive to get a large tank down my basement. Stupid stairs in kitchen. So I will have to build it pretty much onsite.

And of course...if you have some snap shots of livestock...hey why not a couple of those too.

Thanks, Mike
 
I sent this chap a nice PM inquiring how this tank was doing. On the onset it seems like such a wonderful build. I thought he would be happy to toot his horn of continued success. EI for what ever reason good luck getting any response from this party Steve.
 
Sorry for the lack of responses been super busy and wanting to get some now photos taken but yes its still holding water great nothing really that I am unhappy with and its all holding up superbly looks like the day i build it other than all the coraline on the inside Ill try to get some new pics this weekend and get em up.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12584311#post12584311 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scchase
Sorry for the lack of responses been super busy and wanting to get some now photos taken but yes its still holding water great nothing really that I am unhappy with and its all holding up superbly looks like the day i build it other than all the coraline on the inside Ill try to get some new pics this weekend and get em up.
Click to expand...

Fantastic!!!

I rarely read every entry in a thread. This one got my attention when I was pondering your plywood design. But I was wondering about the longevity. Thanks for updating. Will definately add your map to help my road I hope to travel.
 
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