Vances 700 plywood build.

[Vance]

Well the tank has been full for a couple months now and I am confident enough that I'm not going to have an embarrassing catastrophe, that I want to share! I know everyone just comes for pictures so with further ado...

Starting space:

Framing and whole room tile drip pan to floor drain:

Fish/laundry room

Building the box!! Two layers of 3/4 birch cabinet grade ply. Inside corners reinforced with diagonally cut 4x4s. Coast to coast (kind of...) to external overflow. Eurobraced on the top.

Leveled and in place: hubby for size reference lol

3 layers of fiberglass mat later.

And 3 layers of epoxy resin with kevlar composite.

Setting the glass.

Aquascaping!!

It took two weeks for the RO/DI to fill it... Lighting is temporary.

All that room and they all hang out right there lol

Fish room running with mixing/water change station. First cup of skimmate haha.

Next step is lights. And the closed loops. So anxious to get some sticks in here [emoji38]

 

[Daddy-o]

Wow!!

 

[Rcfiftyone]

Nice looking build! Aquascape looks perfect too. Just curious, what made you decide to go with a plywood build? Previous experience? Cost? Location? Looks like it came out great whatever the reason. Congratulations

 

[Vance]

Thank you! We did plywood because the tank is on a non walkout basement and we wanted to use the entirety of the space we had. No way that beast was going to fit down some stairs! Cost was a big factor as well as this was significantly cheaper.

 

[AlexG]

Nice to see another big plywood build out there. How tall is that tank 48"? What thickness of glass did you go with 1"? I have a bunch of questions.

 

[Vance]

Nice to see another big plywood build out there. How tall is that tank 48"? What thickness of glass did you go with 1"? I have a bunch of questions.

The tank itself is 48" glass is 38"x76" of 3/4" starfire. Ask away [emoji16]

 

[Fritzhamer]

Great build, great dimensions. Ive Been trying to talk my wife into a build like this for ten years!!

 

[Daniel85]

really interested in this. it looks great and i've been wanting to learn more about Plywood builds.

on another note, with it filled, how are you doing the closed loops?

 

[AlexG]

The tank itself is 48" glass is 38"x76" of 3/4" starfire. Ask away [emoji16]

Did you use RTV 108 to seal the glass in place? Are you planing any kind of outer bracing on the sides or rear of the tank with on edge 2x4s or 2x6s?

 

[MarylandTang]

Wow -- that's a ton of great work!

 

[Vance]

really interested in this. it looks great and i've been wanting to learn more about Plywood builds.

on another note, with it filled, how are you doing the closed loops?

I don't know if you can see from the picture of the top but there are 8 holes drilled in the top for "bulkheads". 2 for the main sump returns, three for intakes, and three for loop returns. I didn't want to ever have to drain the tank to service a bulkhead so they are all above the water line.

 

[Vance]

Did you use RTV 108 to seal the glass in place? Are you planing any kind of outer bracing on the sides or rear of the tank with on edge 2x4s or 2x6s?

Just standard 100% silicone for the glass. If you can see it in the picture the glass sits flush inside the inner box and overlaps the outer box 2" on all sides. So I had a nice lip for the glass to sit on while I put down a bead (still took two attempts to get it set without bubbles...). And now that it's full, the pressure of the water holds the glass in place and tight. Hope that answers your question...

You know I debated and debated in my head about adding more support to the back like that, but decided with the 4x4 inside corner braces, eurobracing and the external overflow that two layers of 3/4 hardwood ply would be rigid enough. I am going to watch that panel for the life of the tank though. Looking back even one 2x4 would ease my mind quite a bit, and saved a lot of storage space on my camera lol. I took about a hundred pictures while and after filling down that side to watch for bowing.

 

[Vance]

Nice to see another big plywood build out there. How tall is that tank 48"? What thickness of glass did you go with 1"? I have a bunch of questions.

How big is yours Alex? Have a thread on here?

 

[AlexG]

g

How big is yours Alex? Have a thread on here?

I do have a thread located here: http://reef2reef.com/threads/alexgs-basement-plywood-build-2-displays-one-system.209737/
I also have a youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/algawura2

I ask about the bracing as I am just bringing a plywood 480 & plywood 720 gallon tank online the system total 1600 gallons. My 720 gallon at 36" tall started to show a little bowing in the centers of the plywood sides and rear of the tank. I ended up building a bracing system to re-enforce the sides and rear of the 720 gallon tank. I made a few videos about it on my channel if you want to see what I did to resolve the issue.

 

[Daniel85]

so i may have missed it up above, what are your plans for the final product ( SPS?) what are you planning for lighting, maintenance, running a program?

 

[chefjpaul]

Skills!!
Nice work.

 

[Vance]

g

I do have a thread located here: http://reef2reef.com/threads/alexgs-basement-plywood-build-2-displays-one-system.209737/
I also have a youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/algawura2

I ask about the bracing as I am just bringing a plywood 480 & plywood 720 gallon tank online the system total 1600 gallons. My 720 gallon at 36" tall started to show a little bowing in the centers of the plywood sides and rear of the tank. I ended up building a bracing system to re-enforce the sides and rear of the 720 gallon tank. I made a few videos about it on my channel if you want to see what I did to resolve the issue.

That system is a beast! Very technical, you have a lot going on, hats off. Very interested to see where you take it. Love your aquascapes.

 

[Vance]

so i may have missed it up above, what are your plans for the final product ( SPS?) what are you planning for lighting, maintenance, running a program?

So only half of the tank is mine haha but that will all be sps. Other side will definatly be heavily mixed reef

Lighting I'm planning on a minimum of 10 radion xr30w pros that may turn into 12 though once I see how it looks. +1 for the QT.

Maintenance I test and dose once a week will get a Ca reactor as soon as hand dosing isn't sufficient to prevent swings. So far running 3 socks may get 4 if salt creep becomes an issue on the one uncovered drain from water change station. Media reactor for gfo and carbon. Have one reef octopus space saver 5000 plan on getting another when the fish aka vlamingi gets bigger. Water changes are done once a week through a 55 gallon vat "T"ed off the return pump. I pump tank water (43~ depending on salt brand) straight down the drain from the vat, and them fill with RO/DI out of the storage tank next to it, add a bag of salt let it mix for a while and the open the valves to finish the water change. We will see if that is a big enough water change...

Progam like a controller? I really really really wanted and apex love the monitoring and control. But all of my controllable equipment is eco-tech.... and the vectra l1's that I'm planning on getting for the closed loops aren't even compatible with Neptune.... I'm really hoping eco-tech is going to come out with a monitoring side to their controller including energy bars. But it looks like I'm stuck with reeflink

 

[Daniel85]

thats a great setup you have going/planned. I too wish vortech kept things apex compatible.

by program (sorry for the confusion), I meant are you dosing 2-part, Ca Rx, triton method, Zeovit, etc.

 

[Vance]

thats a great setup you have going/planned. I too wish vortech kept things apex compatible.

by program (sorry for the confusion), I meant are you dosing 2-part, Ca Rx, triton method, Zeovit, etc.

Oops! Lol

Just two part and water changes. Nothing too complicated [emoji38]