Plywood tank and Sump build.....

ravi197699 · Jan 2, 2014

Hello everyone,

I have been member of this forum from a while now but never got chance to come visit this forum. I was stuck on MR and RC most of the time but since have going on some of great threads of builds, DIY threads. I have been in this hobby from last 5 years and I started with 10 gal tank and ended up with 120 gal Oceanic tank and I now upgrading with larger tank but since glass tanks are not affordable I have decided to go with plywood tank, Since this tank is going to sit in wall and only front side of the tank will be visible through the wall. Plywood tank can be customized alot of ways to fit needs. Tank size I have decided to build is going to be 50" wide x 36" high x 40" deep and 2 sumps are going to be 48" wide x 17" high x 18" deep. I am using maring grade plywood and then will be water sealed with 4 coats of sealer (I have not decided what sealer i am going to use). It will be closed loop system running with Oceans Motions and Oceans Motions Revilutions. I have started getting all the parts together and I will be posting pictues of the progess and detaild description.

Mtwreef · Jan 2, 2014

Sounds fun I will be following along wish you luck with your build

Davesgt · Jan 2, 2014

Sounds good ill be following

kacrocorals581 · Jan 2, 2014

Sher wood homoclad sealer would be a good choice for sealer but what ever sealer you go with you need to put a top coat /finish coat on and sand in between good luck

ravi197699 · Jan 3, 2014

Thanks guys I will look into this sealer, do you know if this sealer is saltwater and fish friendly? I was looking into Dura Rubber which is non toxic and after 4 coats it becomes pretty thick layer and easy to deal with...

kacrocorals581 · Jan 3, 2014

ravi197699 said:
Thanks guys I will look into this sealer, do you know if this sealer is saltwater and fish friendly? I was looking into Dura Rubber which is non toxic and after 4 coats it becomes pretty thick layer and easy to deal with...

It is safe for people eating surfaces and is used on boats but making a aquarium out of it well I think you well be the first: )

JPG@CFI · Jan 3, 2014

You should fiberglass it and the 2 part epoxy will take care of the waterproofing. You can build huge tanks this way. I build my tank all with acrylic, as I have the tools, and the experience. You can also use steel. I have welded up a cage for a guy that built a 120" x 60" x 48" with the plywood method. Used a piece of 1.5" acrylic for the front. Best of luck. J

ravi197699 · Jan 4, 2014

sealer

I was planning to use 2 part epoxy but I have done some research about DURA Rubber from Ruberizeit.com and it works well when it come to sealing the plywood. I will be using 5 coats of Dura Rubber and after first coat I will lay down carbon fiber cloth on all sides and same goes for sump. I am done putting together one sump yesterday I will add pictures as well from start to end. I will lay down piece of plastic that is sold at Home Depot for bathrooms just as an extra safety incase I drop piece of rock on the base and I will be using sand bed as well. For front of the tank I am planning to use 3/4" non tempered regular glass or 1/2" thick non tempered glass. Since I don't have experience with glass, I need suggestions on what thickness I should go with, I know 3/4" is safe but is it way over kill?

JMSKI333 · Jan 4, 2014

Isn't marine grade plywood like $80.00 a sheet? I am just curious what the price difference is from buying a glass tank to making your own. Have you figured out how much you will be saving?

ravi197699 · Jan 5, 2014

I bought the plywood sheet from Home Depot, If you search for Marine Grade Plywood it comes back with three choices, Most expensive one is 53 bucks and I used 10off 50 coupon to buy the sheet, I will be needing 4-5 sheets between tank and 2 sumps and I am going to use double thick for the base of the tank just for extra safety since its going to put up with the weight of the sand, water and live rock. Under the that is going to be foam and then 1/2" plywood that is mounted on the stand and then stand that is supporting the plywood from the middle and sides with 2x4's. I have got 10 estimates from all different glass tank builders and cheapest estimate I got for simple tank with only from starphire glass was 3000.00. I don't my hobby to make me broke, and I did not want to buy glass and build it my self since I have no experience with building glass, if I mess one sheet of plywood I can go and buy more for cheap price. I can drill hole easy and very little room of error...

Mtwreef · Jan 5, 2014

Any pics yet?

ravi197699 · Jan 5, 2014

Hello guys got a lot done, Me and my buddy put together 2 sumps and the tank, Since Lowes messed up with cutting the plywood and it was not even cut on both sides I have shave off about an inch off to make it exact box. Now we have skeleton of the tank. I have used liquid nails between the plywood and then 2.5 inch screws every 2 inches. I am filling these screw holes with car body filler and then I will sand it down to make it smooth. Next week I am going to build cage for the outside of the tank to support the plywood and I will be using 2"x3" for this cage and then over flow box on the outside. I have not decided which side I will be installing the over flow box. Here are pictures of what we have achieved today...

TheReefKeeper · Jan 5, 2014

May I ask why a Carbon Fiber Layer 35-47$ per yard when compared to less than a 1.00 per yard for fiberglass? If your using it for a sealer and not strength carbon fiber is a waste. Carbon FIber is used for light weight products and or strength not really necessary in your situation save the money for some good Equipment.

How do I know this stuff well I do a lot with Carbon Fiber I made this hood and Front Diffuser for this Jeep Below.

Here is a Frag table I built 16 years ago using a 2 part food grade epoxy it went to Marco at MarcoRocks 15 years ago so as long as you build your structure correctly all you need is the epoxy. This is all Wood Below!

ravi197699 · Jan 5, 2014

more pictures

here are some more pictures

ravi197699 · Jan 5, 2014

Fiberglass I am using is hybrid type. I am using Kevlar on the joints. I like frag tank and you are correct if structure of the tank is strong and correct type and thickness of the sealer is used then there is no chance of having any leak. But I got great deal on Kevlar which cost me 5 bucks a yard and I bought 100 bucks worth of fiber cloth. I will post more pictures once I have more progress. But I am really happy that we have achieved a lot today. But suggestions if you decide to have Lowes or Home depot cut out plywood for you make sure to measure both sides because I found my pieces about 1/2" off and it was pain to cut them on table saw. We wasted 2 hrs to get that corrected...

ravi197699 · Jan 9, 2014

I have got the 15 yards roll of Kevlar and ordered 1 gal of 2 part marine epoxy and 5 gal bucket of Dura Rubbe waterproofing sealer yesterday....I will post more pictures of progress...

Oliver_Klosoff · Jan 12, 2014

I'm also looking to build a plywood tank in a few years so I will be following along as well.

ravi197699 · Jan 13, 2014

Update

We made some progress with the tank and supported the back of the tank and sides and drilled holes for returns (3/4" Sech 80 Bulkheads) and build over flow box with 2" drail and cut hole with zig saw for the water to drail in over flow box. We made lip where glass is going to sit from the inside. Picked up some epoxy 3m resin from Lowes which i will be using for corners with Kevlar and inide where I have drilled roles just to seal. So far looking good. We are waiting for Durarubber to arrve and good news is that Dura Rubber comes white and they can make this is in any color via adding color the the Dura Rubber so I decided to go with Cloudless Blue and they were kind enough to mix that at no charge. I am sure that Dura Rubber will arrive Tues or Wed this week and I long weeked so I will try to finish with sealing. Here are some of the pictures of what we have done so far.. We are building the frag tank out of plywood as well that is going to sit right beind next to the tank and size that i am going to go with is 18" x 8" x 48" and this frag tank will be hard plumbed with main display tank...