Matt, there are no books that I know of that give you a step by step building guide and preferred materials list. But after building two of these tanks and reading countless threads on them, here's what I know.
The size of the tank may dictate some of your material choices (especially glass thickness) but in general this is what most of the wood tank builders are using:
3/4" Plywood - Some say use marine ply but being in MT it's not something that's readily available here. I've used helmloc ply sanded smooth on both sides. It's cheaper then oak, typically has more plys then pine, and you don't have to spend a lot of time filling because it's already got a nice smooth surface.
2" deck screws- I used stainless in my first build but it was really just a waste of money. I used standard deck screws in my latest build.
Biscuts if you prefer to join the ply together that way.
Wood glue- Elmers is fine
Wood filler for any seams or voids you need to fill before epoxy application.
Epoxy paint or two part epoxy with or without fiberglass- You'll have to decide if you really want to do fiberglass. Maybe on a super wide or tall tank you would have to use it but honestly I think it's more work than it's worth in most cases. After using the pour method and getting 1/4" layer of epoxy on all tank surfaces in my build, I'm 100% confident it's more then ridgid enough. Epoxy paint will work well enough on smaller tanks. I used it when I built my 150 gal but used actual 2 part epoxy for my 300.
3/8" to 1/2" glass for most tanks depending on the size. If you go taller then 30" or really, really wide, you may need to step up past 1/2". My 300 is 4 feet wide and 24" tall with 3 viewing panels and I used 1/2". My previous 150 was 32" wide and 24" tall with two viewing panels and I used 3/8".
Hope that helps!
-Lance
