Building 8 foot tank

[joker1535]

I bought all my supplies for my build. I am making a 8 foot tank by 24 wide and 18 high. It is designed for my oscars. Long and low. First i need to extend my 6 foot stand by a couple feet.
This tank will not see any epoxy. Its All made out of wood and finished on the inside with glass. Thinner glass on the sides on back supported by my frame and a wide and thick 8 feet piece of glass on the front.
If this is a success I will make these tanks again to sell or custom make on request.
Il add as many pics as I can during my project.
Wish me luck fish friends!

[Immus21]

Good luck and keep us posted! If everything works out with it I may be one of your first customers.... ;-)

[FishFreaks]

wow!!! great idea cant wait to see your progress!!!!!!!
lots of pics and description please

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Make very sure that your stand is absolutely flat and level. You should add a layer or two of 8' long plywood and probably some foam insulation as insurance. Otherwise, if its even a little off, you risk having the tank crack at the joint and over 100g on your floor.

[hondas3000]

Great idea on build but very risky with thin glass on the inside, but its depend on how thin you go. You will never get even flat surface for your inside frame so a little uneven the glass will break. I was thinking about the same idea but with thin acrylic and 1" acrylic for front view. So looking forward with your update so I get can more idea for my build later.

[davefrombc]

I agree with hondas.. It would be far wiser and less expensive to only use glass for the viewing pane , and use fiberglass cloth and resin to line the tank. I think you will head yourself to disaster trying to line the tank with thin glass. Good luck with your build.

[-DC-]

I have too agree, sorry but the plan is quite flawed could work but it's alot of wasted material and money. Seal the wood use a glass pane in the front, and at 18" it will not need too be very thick at all on the front, even fairly thin glass will hold that pressure back quite easily.

The glass on the back and sides on a tank made of wood seems very impractical, and much more expensive and risky then other options available. Come too think of it if your paying for glass why bother paying for all that wood and glue and screws? Why not just do all glass ? Your additional length and width doesn't matter, it's the height you need too watch for glass thickness. Glass as thick as a 33g will hold back 100g or 1000g as long as the tanks still only 18" tall. What thickness of glass did you buy ?

I hate too say it but it sounds like a bit more research is needed on the subject before you should build this tank,

hondas3000, same goes for 1" is HUGE over kill, and would likely cost more then appropriate sized acrylic for the whole tank!


Personally i like the Zavlar tank look when building with ply goes on black fades too a deep brown color under water also conveniently cheap and easy too apply then glass sin the front! I have a 240 built this way now, will be building a 1200g the same way soon. If building acrylic or glass on all sides too avoid sealing the wood, then Don't use wood lol


Completely pointless to use both your basically paying too build a tank that sits in a wood box !

[joker1535]

Thanks for all your replies guys. The Reason why I'm building this tank out of wood is because of the custom size.
And your all completely right, going with thin glass on the back and sides was a bad idea. I guess I need to seal the wood with something.
To all plywood kings out there. What a good product? Should I use epoxy or paintable rubber?

[joker1535]

That zalvar looks pretty good. Who sells that stuff?

[-DC-]

I vote paintable rubber , can vouch that it works great.

My current ply tank has it, brand name is Zavlar can be purchased at most local hardware stores. My current tank is several years old, it went from a ray tank then was emptied used as a cage for a bearded dragon, so under dry conditions with headlamps for a year or so, then just wiped down with a cloth, refilled and not a single leak, has been running 2 years since that dry spurt and still no issues. Works well enough that i'm building a 16' tank out of it!

EDIT: posted at the same time lol, specifically i know home hardware now carries it, but i'm sure any hardware store can get it