bluestarfish
New member
I have been thinking of doing a plywood build tank and was curious if anyone locally had done one. I am still in the design phase so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, James
plywood build tank
- Thread starter bluestarfish
- Start date
bluestarfish
New member
it's going to be approx. 1000 gallons. I plan on having 3 ply sides and one glass viewing side. The glass I have is only 1" thick so I may not be able to make the veiwing area the size of the actual glass. The glass is 41" x 71". I think I need to talk to Mark at AM and find out what size viewing area is acceptable with 1" glass with a 2.5 safety factor. I have found a thread on another site that has a similar design to what I am going to do.
I think with 1" glass you could be about 30"-32" tall, this is if the bottom of the glass is equal to the bottom of the tank. If you move the glass up the head presure from the water would be less and increase your safety factor. This is assumed that you don't have the glass sides over lapped on the wood. If you do, that will help to support the glass and decrease deflection.
macclellan
New member
Holy crap - 41" deep? You'll have to snorkel-scape that one for sure!
bluestarfish
New member
I plan on having the glass framed in with 4" on all sides beening supported. I think i got it as a dining table top. the darn thing weighs a couple hundred pounds. After dragging it along through several moves, and states, I finally found a "good" use for it. As far as depth, I intend to build a shelf half way back about half the height tall.
bluestarfish
New member
I would find out what grade glass that is, some furniture glass top is very weak, you wouldn't want to find out the hard way. Tempered is what you would want at that hight I believe if it's plate glass then your looking at a 30" tall or less viewing pane. Unless you have another way to control deflection.
bluestarfish
New member
I have to take it to a glass shop anyway to have the edge cut off where it's beveled. I really don't think that it will be too weak to use. This this has been dropped on a concrete driveway and didn't break. Even if 30" is max, that' still a great veiwing area.
bluestarfish
New member
pretty much. my 220 is 30" tall. the ply tank will probably be close to 48" total height. with 48" front to back im thinking something like the front 2ft at 4ft deep and the back 2ft at 2ft deep. corals will be on that back shelf primarily. plenty of open room at the front. I don't mind going for a swim if need be. If I didn't want to dive around corals I would be studying marine biology.lol
OcEaN-BluE
New member
When you get this thing started please start a thread on the build in progress. I would love to watch as you build this.
bluestarfish
New member
I"ll start a thread but it's not going to be soon. I still have to install a new breaker box and wire up the basement.
