Mehaffy's 1100+ gallon Plywood display in North Alabama

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mehaffydr

mehaffydr

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Great work, don't forget to seal the bulkhead holes.
Definitely painting the bulkhead holes. Every single little piece of exposed wood is getting painted. I am painting all of the top brace boards so that there is no wood exposed. I will actually silicone those in at the top but also completely painted so they are sealed up first.
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mehaffydr

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Not a lot today I did not paint the entire tank. It has 4 coats I will do 1 tomorrow and maybe 1 Thursday but I think that will be enough. I did mix up some paint and put more on the top braces and the overflow box and the bulkhead holes. I also cleaned up some rough areas in the glass channel in anticipation of glass install Saturday.
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mehaffydr

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Absolutely awesome. I just read all 15 pages. Can’t wait to see the glass go in.
Glass is going in Saturday at 10:00 am come on over we could always use a helping hand. Its only a 1000 miles.
 
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Glass is going in Saturday at 10:00 am come on over we could always you a helping hand. Its only a 1000 miles.
I am in Oneonta Alabama. Only 75 miles. I honestly would love to help but I am busy Saturday. Maybe in the future I can lend a hand. I would love to see this setup in person.
 
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I am in Oneonta Alabama. Only 75 miles. I honestly would love to help but I am busy Saturday. Maybe in the future I can lend a hand. I would love to see this setup in person.
Oh when I clicked on your signature it showed Oneonta NY your are welcome to visit any time
 
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Been fun watching this build. Have you even thought about a date you'd like to fill it with water or still too early to venture a guess?

Oh and LGB!!!! Opening night!! :)
With the glass going in this weekend the date for first water test will be set! I will have plenty to do during the next 4 weeks but I plan on waiting 4 weeks after installing glass before adding tap water for test. This will give me time to do plumbing, Aquascape and a lot of cleaning and trim around the outside also I will need to get lights hanging. So right now first water hopefully will be FEB 13-20. If all goes well I will drain and immediately go to salt water. It will take some time to make that much water so maybe full by end of FEB. I think I will be buying a new RODI because my current one only produces 75 gal per day which will take 2 1/2 weeks to fill and I think I need more capacity just in case of some kind of emergency in the future.
 

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With the glass going in this weekend the date for first water test will be set! I will have plenty to do during the next 4 weeks but I plan on waiting 4 weeks after installing glass before adding tap water for test. This will give me time to do plumbing, Aquascape and a lot of cleaning and trim around the outside also I will need to get lights hanging. So right now first water hopefully will be FEB 13-20. If all goes well I will drain and immediately go to salt water. It will take some time to make that much water so maybe full by end of FEB. I think I will be buying a new RODI because my current one only produces 75 gal per day which will take 2 1/2 weeks to fill and I think I need more capacity just in case of some kind of emergency in the future.
Can’t wait to see the water in this beast!!!
 

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Ok day 4 after buying paint and tank has 4 coats. This epoxy is going great just kinda smelly. I also painted the overflow box with its first coat of epoxy.I have also been painting the top brace boards that will be glued in with silicone and screwed in. I bought a Kreg drill jig just for this project but I'm sure I will make use of it elsewhere. I still plan on glass install this Saturday as My son in law is from Wisconsin and a huge Packers fan so I have to get it done early before the game. Then next week I'm off to Phoenix for the week so that will be good so that the silicone can set up without me out there messing with stuff. When I return it will be time to start the plumbing.
This is tank tonight after scuffing with scotchbrite pad
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This is a sample of the wall construction. This is a plug I drilled out for a bulkhead. 14 layers of wood plus fiberglass.
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This is picture of tank after tonights painting along with the overflow box.
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Incredible project you have going on here, I really enjoy watching it come together. Thank you for providing all the details.

I’m curious about the scotch brite scuffing; why did you do that? Was it just this last layer or was it between each epoxy layer?
 

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With the glass going in this weekend the date for first water test will be set! I will have plenty to do during the next 4 weeks but I plan on waiting 4 weeks after installing glass before adding tap water for test. This will give me time to do plumbing, Aquascape and a lot of cleaning and trim around the outside also I will need to get lights hanging. So right now first water hopefully will be FEB 13-20. If all goes well I will drain and immediately go to salt water. It will take some time to make that much water so maybe full by end of FEB. I think I will be buying a new RODI because my current one only produces 75 gal per day which will take 2 1/2 weeks to fill and I think I need more capacity just in case of some kind of emergency in the future.
I assume you have also viewed Alex G's build? He's using some huge containers for the sole purpose of increasing water volume and providing emergency water. They will be tied in to the system. Seems like a great idea for bigger systems like this. Maybe something to consider?
 
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Incredible project you have going on here, I really enjoy watching it come together. Thank you for providing all the details.

I’m curious about the scotch brite scuffing; why did you do that? Was it just this last layer or was it between each epoxy layer?
I did this for a couple reasons. I have done a lot of custom woodwork over the years and it’s just normal to sand between coats. Now with this epoxy product they say that’s not necessary but makes me feel better about it. The main reason though is it has kind of a gloss finish and by sanding when I apply the next coat it’s easy to see what I’ve done and not miss spots
 

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Wow you deserve a round of applause, I've read all of these and makes me want to build another tank. I build a tank for my frag tank out of 2x4. I am amazed by how well yours turned out. Mines still in progress dont know how I want to do my plumbing.
 
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Not a lot of progress but I did get some really important things done today. With the glass install planned for Saturday I needed to get the glass inside. I have had it out in the trailer I used to pick it up just because I did not want to be moving it around. It is really heavy and I did not want to take a chance on breaking it. So today I moved some stuff out of the building where the tank is like the old tank. I have a guy coming to pick it up Saturday. This way we have plenty of space to work. I had my son in law and a friend from work come over to help. I tell you what those guys at glass cages made this piece of glass look light and it liked ti kill the 3 of us carrying it. not sure exact weight but somewhere between 250-300 lbs. So I wanted it in with the tank because that building is heated and I did not think it would be a good idea to try and install the glass if it was cold. The temp Saturday morning will be around 30 deg. SO applying silicone to warm tank and sticking on cold glass just did not seem to be a good idea. SO glass in moved and ready for Saturday morning install.
Here it is 3/4" think Low Iron Glass from Glass cages.
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Oh and my large green serpent star was out this evening so I got a quick picture of him. He's easily the size of a dinner plate.
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Wow, that's some glass right there! :0) Going to be cool to see the install.
I have everything set up. Tank is ready, Friends are coming over at 10:00am tomorrow. By early afternoon glass should be installed.
 
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I just finished reading all 15 pages and it was well worth it! This is a great build and I will be following along for sure.
Thank you I have really enjoyed the build (except for maybe the fiberglass part) and this forum which is a great resource.
 
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Wow you deserve a round of applause, I've read all of these and makes me want to build another tank. I build a tank for my frag tank out of 2x4. I am amazed by how well yours turned out. Mines still in progress dont know how I want to do my plumbing.
Thank you.
 
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