# what does everyone think of this idea???



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

ok so i have been planning to build my own tank out of wood for the back and sides and glass for the front. 2 reasons for thi:

1) wood much cheaper than glass for large aquariums
2) i actually just kid of like the look of it

howeveer my issue is this:

originally i planned just to use non-toxic yaught varnish to seal the wood as i couldnt get epoxy paint ANYWHERE. however i have since spoken about this with many people. some are of the opinion that the varnish will be fine, some are fo the opinion that it will be fine for a while, but after a few years it wont hold the water 100% so i have decided i cant take that risk.

BUT

i still cant get epoxy paint anywhere (that i can afford - it is available from america to be posted but is dearer than the tank would be itself if i boguht it) and i still definitely want to build the tank this way for the above reasons

SO

my plan was to go ahead with the wood and varnish, THEN, put thin perspex on top of the wood to stop any issues with the varnish and seal it in with silicone as normal. to me this has a number of advantages:

1) it makes the varnish totally safe to use as it wont be in actual contact with the water, and even if the water does leak a tiny bit through the perspex joints, its only a tiny bit of water which the varnish would cope with
2) it means i can still have the look i want
3) much less expensive especially since i can get the perspex for free
4) it allows me to have different fish - even witht he epoxy paint or varnish, plecs for example would be out of the question as they tend to rasp on wood and could cause problems

however, what i want to know is are there any issues with this plan that im just not seeing? perhaps im getting too carried away with my "masterplan" to see some obvious, or not-obvious problems

any advise/suggestions would be appreciated as i plan to make a start on it soon


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## jones57742 (Oct 31, 2006)

Julie:

For large aquariums (length wise) the alternates are to use:
very thick glass or 
multiple cross bracing.

This is really "off the wall" and I have never heard of it before BUT

How about laminating thin, transparent "flexible" plexiglass onto the face of the wood.

TR


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

that is a bit off the wall however, it could really work i think! id need to look into it but it seems feasable to me. that would eliminate the need for varnishing really woulnt it (on the inside anyway)? in fact it would attatch better without the varnish i would expect. i am assuming that when you say laminating, you mean heating it while on the wood so that it sort of melts onto the wood? or are you meaning somehting more high-tech than i am imagining?

if this turns out not to be so do-able, would putting thin perspex inside it work? so long as the wood was thick enough and braced in order to take the force?

i would definitely cross brace it - no worries there. no way am i putting that time, effort and money into it for it to falla apart because i havent given it enough support.that ON TOP of my poor fishes if it was to collapse on them while in it. whatever i eventually do it will be thoroughly tested before anything live is put in it.

thanks for that idea btw - id never have thoguht of it myself


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

I say forget about it. I have never heard of wood being used to make an actual aquaruim. There seems to be two many things that can go wrong with this picture.


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

there are a couple of posts on this forum with people doing the same. one is http://www.fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2862

there are also a number of sites i have come across talking about this method of making a tnak. the only thing that bothers me is that the link i showed you is certainly sucessful to the point where it has been filled with water - what happens after that hasnt been mentioned. from www.garf.org it shows you how to build a tank this way as well but i am not sure about the long term effects of using wood, regardess of what its coated in. this si why i was considering using perspex of something inside the wood

thanks


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## Daz (Sep 20, 2006)

Julie, I take it you mean something like this....









Drop me a pm and I will forward you exact instructions. 

This is a 170g tank.


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

i mean something very much like that

pm on its way...

i should also have added that while i say i am looking for something big - i dont mean something of 170g like you showed there. i intend to start off with something smaller - maybe 15 or 20g, then move to something about 90g is i am sucessful with the small one


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

juliewiegand said:


> i still cant get epoxy paint anywhere (that i can afford - it is available from america to be posted but is dearer than the tank would be itself if i boguht it) and i still definitely want to build the tank this way for the above reasons


Julie, have you tried online shopping? I don't know if they come cheap though.

Good luck with your project.


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## jones57742 (Oct 31, 2006)

Julie:

The following may be of some help should you decide to pursue this endeavor.
http://www.athiel.com/lib6/tank.htm

I am not familiar with perspex.

I was referring to a transparent glue (similar to a laminated beam) but spotted very limited.

TR


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

jones: thanks for that link. instructions i got some tiem ago are very similar but that ones you sent mentions getting epoxy resin from swimming pool supply stores which is actually believe it or not something i havent thought of. i will have to look into this more.



> I was referring to a transparent glue (similar to a laminated beam) but spotted very limited.


i see what you mean now - sorry i misunderstood to begin with

blue: thanks. i have searched online but dont really know where to start loking and whenever i just type in "epoxy paint" or "epoxy resin" i ahve little luck finding suppliers. i found one but it wa sin america and didnt say anything about shipping abroad. it also wasnt to cheap at all


thanks everyone


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## jones57742 (Oct 31, 2006)

Julie:

This thread is going by so fast that I overlooked information in one of your posts.

You are probably aware of this but just in case:

The maximum transverse stress in the front and rear walls in a 24" deep x 24" wide x 10' long vessel is not linear with respect to the maximum transverse stress in a 24" deep x 24" wide by 1' long vessel.

ie. the maximum stress in the 10' vessel is not 10 times the stress in the 1' vessel.

I believe (from trying to remember the content of two chapters in a mechanics of materials book 25 years ago) that the maximum stress can be represented by a 2nd order polynomial:

y = ax^2 + bx +c

where
y= maximum stress
x= 10
a <= 1
b >=1

The values of a, b and c will vary depending on the hinge conditions along the sides and bottom of the front and rear walls.

TR


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## daisycutter (Jan 4, 2007)

how about putting a large plastic water tank into a wooden box and siliconeing a window in the side? or perhaps using a water tank and just using the wood as a covering?


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

I never knew you could do that, but one thing. To prove me wrong. I want to see one with fish and water in it. Then I might try t do my own. That actually looks like it would be fun to do.


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## Mrmofo (Feb 11, 2007)

wow yea it does look like it would be fun to do...even make a couple small ones that fit together for a couple quantine tanks, if they r cheap enough to build...


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Mrmofo said:


> wow yea it does look like it would be fun to do...even make a couple small ones that fit together for a couple quantine tanks, if they r cheap enough to build...


all depends on the price of this blasted epoxy paint if and when i find it

not meaning to be pushy but, if the epoxy paint wasnt available to me, or was just too expensive, thin perspex inside the wood work - would anyone have any ideas on why this wouldnt work?

thanks for all the help


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## jones57742 (Oct 31, 2006)

Julie:

As I indicated earlier I was not familiar with Perspex.
After minimal research I learned that Perspex is a Lucite's brand name for acrylic.

Please refer to:
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/perspexmanual.pdf

Some of this handbook is devoted to topics applicable to simple DIY projects and may be of help should you decide to pursue the laminate avenue.

The handbook also contains the materials parameters of Perspex.

Page 29 of the handbook (Page 31 of the PDF file) discusses laminates with not acrylic substrates.

Fortunately this handbook is a British publication and has several British contacts on the last few pages.

TR


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

thanks jones

ill have a good read over this


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## daisycutter (Jan 4, 2007)

theres a detailed section on bulding these on a site im not allowed to link too its a forum and involves ciclids only google knows :angel:


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

daisycutter said:


> theres a detailed section on bulding these on a site im not allowed to link too its a forum and involves ciclids only google knows :angel:


daz actually gave me a link to a cichlid forum with a detailed section on it - im guessing its the same one


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## Mrmofo (Feb 11, 2007)

so exactly why cant u use marine grade silicon?im pretty sure its cheap at home depot or what ever its called in america ive seen it b4, our equivlent is 'bunnings" and it is about 12 bucks a tube and it goes in like a gun think which u can rent out for 10 bucks a day over here


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Mrmofo said:


> so exactly why cant u use marine grade silicon?im pretty sure its cheap at home depot or what ever its called in america ive seen it b4, our equivlent is 'bunnings" and it is about 12 bucks a tube and it goes in like a gun think which u can rent out for 10 bucks a day over here


that would become very expensive to cover the entire wood with. also i dont know how well it would work, or if it would look very nice because itd be really difficult to get smooth all over the wood i would reckon. i think ill stick with using the silicone just the fill on the joints

thanks for the suggestion


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## Mrmofo (Feb 11, 2007)

yea sorry, thats wat i ment use the silicon for the joints i thought u were talking about using laminate for the joints aswell...lol sorry...ever thought of somthing from pool shops some epoxy resin? 2 part water proofing agent..just throwing some ideas out to explore i dont know if we r allowed to post the link but i think the garf web site had how to build tanks big enough for a person to get in with snorkel gear.not sure on the website tho try n google it.they used pool epoxy...but about 10 layers of it and sanded it down, mite be the expensive route but it worked for sure.good luck with the idea tho! cant wait to hear results as im keen on the idea too


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

thanks for that. i have thoguht of swimming pool suppliers but not looked in any yet. tbh after receiving all this advice/warning/suggestions etc im getting a bit nervous aboutt he whole thing. i think i might just save up and buy a tank, then satisfy this diy urge i seem to have by making the hood and stand for it. that way, if i mess up, its just my time and money gone to waste, not fishes lives

i appreciate the help from everyone. probably saved me money, time and disasters lol


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## fish_4_all (Nov 13, 2006)

http://www.garf.org/140.gallon.html

I am guessing that the tank on tis site is plywood but I can't tell for sure. Would definately be a way to save $100's building a big tank, especially with the glass prices in my area.


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

fish_4_all said:


> http://www.garf.org/140.gallon.html
> 
> I am guessing that the tank on tis site is plywood but I can't tell for sure. Would definately be a way to save $100's building a big tank, especially with the glass prices in my area.


Thanks. I had a look on that site a while ago and it's what gavem e the idea TBH. However, I have since just bought another tank as I picked one up second hand pretty cheap. I'll keep all this information in mind for the future though.

Thanks.


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