Plywood tank

[Jcay727]

Hi Guys,

Been looking for a 3 or 4 foot tank recently, but many are either too far away or too much money.

I'm now considering building a plywood tank, lined with fibreglass to make it water tight.

I can get my hands on an 8 x 4ft ply panel (enough to make the size of tank im looking for, possibly 2) locally for about £15 and timber to build the framework and support for about £10, including screws and brackets.

So, my questions to you guys are:

1) Is this a good, cheap alternative to shelling out a large chunk of cash for a glass tank?

2) What's the best material for waterproofing? (obviously tank sealant and glue in the joints and around the acrylic window panel) Is fibre glass resin and mesh a good waterproofing agent, and strengthener? (if not, can you suggest a cheap alternative?

3) Will fibreglass resin leech any harmful chemicals into the water?

All in this will probably cost me about £35-£40. Hopefully get the acrylic cheap, if not free

I'd appreciate your input before I go mad with the power tools.

 

[pookiewn]

A plywood tank sounds great, I was looking into this for a while until my perfect tank came up. There are a few step by step how to's around with the correct resins etc. This is the one I saved for when I was thinking about it. You might find it cheaper to use glass as the viewing panel. Acrylic for an aquarium has to be a cell cast, which can be rather expensive.

If you do decide to go for it, keep us up dated!

 

[Jcay727]

That seems very indepth, will give it a good read tonight.

I think I have a few square panes of glass down the allotment, unsure of thickness but they were used for a window of some sort (fingers crossed they're ok)

I was thinking of building the framework and panelling and sealing the inside. probably 3 foot long, segmented into 3 1ft sections with cross members in the base to support the weight and again segment the rear section framework into 3 using uprights and L Brackets.

Will keep you updated and post some photos if I decide to go ahead.

 

[pookiewn]

If they are toughened glass they should be fine, but make sure that they are thick enough to hold the weight of the water.

A 1ft cube wont be big enough for a fully grown axie, you may wish to rethink this bit. It might work if the tank is two foot width, but that still doesn't give it much room to move around.

Looking forward to the updates