Plywood tank build.

[Jeremy Minervini]

Hello all. I’m planning a 7ft long x 3ft wide x 2ft tall
My questions are

1 how do I brace it so it doesn’t bow out.
2 How do I even connect it together ? I was thinking wood glue and screws in conjunction.
3 what is the best product to use so seal it.
4 how thick of plywood should I use ?

 

[andrewey]

In the nicest way I can put this, Please hold off on your build. You're going to have a huge mess on your hands. You need to do a LOT more research and any answers here will only doom you. A simple reply isn't enough- you really need to spend hours learning all you can before you begin based on your questions. I'm not trying to put you down, but it's not as simple as you've made it out to be and it's clear what you need now is to do some reading.

 

[kput]

Start here, then head over to monsterfishkeepers.com and read through their builds.


At that height, you should be fine mimicing the bracing method DIYKing uses. That's roughly how I'll be building mine at 30" height.

Wood glue at all pieces that touch, screws 1.5-2" apart
Best product to seal IMO is Pond Armor. Fiberglass cloth for the internal seams.
3/4 Birch plywood is your best bet. The brand Home Depot carries is the best I've found as it doesn't contain fromahldahyde (sp?)


Check out my build thread, I'm starting to work on a 96x36x30 plywood.

Monster Build - Kput's plywood 400 build - Home for my sweet baby Cowfish

Hello all! I entered the reef scene here about 6 months ago, and tend to go a bit overboard, so here we go! I currently have a 120 gallon mixed reef, I purchased the tank used back in January, and reused the sand, rock, etc. so the tank is faily well established. After having the tank for a...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[JoshH]

I would start your research journey here as well...

Monster Build - AlexGs Basement Plywood Build 2 displays one system.

So I had to move to IL for work which forced me to tear down my 120gallon display. I had a basement sump with a large refugium tank and water storage. I had a great setup and the tank did really well. It was sad to tear it all out but it had to go when I got the word I was moving. I did not...

www.reef2reef.com

@AlexG goes into great detail over how he designed and built every aspect of his two plywood tanks. TONS of info to scour through

 

[Jeremy Minervini]

In the nicest way I can put this, Please hold off on your build. You're going to have a huge mess on your hands. You need to do a LOT more research and any answers here will only doom you. A simple reply isn't enough- you really need to spend hours learning all you can before you begin based on your questions. I'm not trying to put you down, but it's not as simple as you've made it out to be and it's clear what you need now is to do some reading.

My build Is for the future... this is where I’m starting the research I in no way stated I wanted this tank done by next week or even in the next 6 months. I hope to have it done latest a year from now. So thank you , but no thank you.

 

[Jeremy Minervini]

Start here, then head over to monsterfishkeepers.com and read through their builds.


At that height, you should be fine mimicing the bracing method DIYKing uses. That's roughly how I'll be building mine at 30" height.

Wood glue at all pieces that touch, screws 1.5-2" apart
Best product to seal IMO is Pond Armor. Fiberglass cloth for the internal seams.
3/4 Birch plywood is your best bet. The brand Home Depot carries is the best I've found as it doesn't contain fromahldahyde (sp?)


Check out my build thread, I'm starting to work on a 96x36x30 plywood.

Monster Build - Kput's plywood 400 build - Home for my sweet baby Cowfish

Hello all! I entered the reef scene here about 6 months ago, and tend to go a bit overboard, so here we go! I currently have a 120 gallon mixed reef, I purchased the tank used back in January, and reused the sand, rock, etc. so the tank is faily well established. After having the tank for a...

www.reef2reef.com

Thank you so much.

 

[Larry L]

There's a lot of good posts available on this site to learn from, go to the "Search" in the upper right and look for "plywood tank build".