Ply Wood Tank

Discussion in 'I made this!' started by viking, Jan 6, 2003.

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  1. viking

    viking Plankton

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    Cairns, QLD,Queensland
    Maybe to help this new section get off the ground i'll post about my one and only DIY effort. A 300 gal plywood system.
    I say system as i tried as far as possible to make as much as possible from plywood. Thats tank, hood, sumps and apart from some strong uprights the stand too.
    [​IMG]

    Much more, well actualy a bit more info can be found on my web site (still working on it sometimes) at My reef setup

    Cheers,
    Viking.
     
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  3. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    That's great viking. I don't know anything about plywood tanks. How do you safely treat the wood for saltwater use?
     
  4. viking

    viking Plankton

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    Matt,
    The wood inside the tank is painted using a food grade epoxy paint. I put 5 coats of this on the inside surface. The paint also has another feature in that its very hard, so does resist scratching a little. Care must still be taken but its not easy to scratch through.
    Cheers,
    Viking.
     
  5. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    Paint? That's wild. How long is that supposed to last?

    What do you seal the wood together with?
     
  6. viking

    viking Plankton

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    Matt,
    who knows but they reckon about 20 years. By seal the wood do you mean against leaks? If so the paint does that too. This stuff is like steel when its dry.
    Cheers,
    Viking.
     
  7. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    20 years is worth it.

    No, I mean the edges of the wood that touch each other. You don't use silicone with wood, right?
     
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  9. viking

    viking Plankton

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    Matt,
    When the tank is put together the edges are glued and screwed together. I used a three inch long wood screw every 3 inches along all edges. This makes for a very strong box. On the inside the paint does a good job to make a water seal but we also run a bead of silicone (after painting) in all corners to make sure. The glass front is held in place with silicone and all edges of the glass are sealed with silicone too. It sticks well to the paint.
    Cheers,
    Viking.
     
  10. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    Wood screw every 3 inches? Man that is strong. Cool project. I was checking out your site. Cool looking site! All your tank pics are fuzzy though! Did you compress the crap out of them or something?

    later,

    matt
     
  11. viking

    viking Plankton

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    Matt,
    No mate thats the way i take photos. Never been very good at that. I even borrowed a $1000 camera and they were the best ;D
    Feel free to pop round and take some shot for me.
    Cheers,
    Viking.
     
  12. karlas

    karlas Fire Goby

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    thats a very interesting tank set up never seen one made outta wood before thats sometin u can say not everybody has ;D
     
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