new plywood tank build diary

well its begun, i got a delivery yesterday of 10 16' lenghts of 4x2 and an 8x4 sheet of 1" thick plywood so i started cutting today. i decided on a lenght on 6'6" and added 2" (thickness of front and back sheets) to the dept for the top of the frame. then from the offcuts i determined the height which worked out just under 3' high so it'll be at an ideal viewing height for the tank.
here's a pic of the timber cut to size to get the main stand assembled.

then came the task of assembling it so out came the screwgun and screws (5x80) and measured where the studs were going. i decided to leave a slightly wider gap in the middle because thats where the single door will be to the storage area below... well it'll hold all the crap i keep falling over in the fishroom . i think the 2 outside gaps are 18.5" and the centre one is 20.5". the plan was to box in the suport joists for strenght so thats why the are in doubles with the thickness of 4x2 between. when the studs are finished they will amount to 6"x4" in total... should deffinately be strong enough!!


now that the stand was together it was time to cut the base. i measured the total lenght of the stand and deducted 2" for the 2 end panels which gave me the base lenght. the width was made to suit the full sheet width so i only had to cut the lenght.


thats where i'm at for the moment and can go no further untill i get more plywood in a couple of weeks for the tank. only filling in the frame in the meantime to keep busy but all the plywood offcuts will be going into the top bracing so there should be little waste.
anyways here's some bit i got for the sealing stage:
10kg epoxy resin
5L of acetone for cleaning of rollers etc
50m x 100mm woven tape for the internal corners of the tank

Great stuff, love any diy goings on,
Can't wait to see the end result!
Do you do nixers?

Looking forward to following this. Would love to do it myself but not sure are my DIY skills or lack of up to it!

Have ya a cutting list(wish list). I always have timber floating round.

john

Fair play to yeh davey, and best of luck with it, cant wait to see all the pics cause i know this is gona be good, whoooo

your going well davy
just for more strenght you should double up the head and sole of the front and back stud
are you putting 4 bits of 4x2 on the flat from front to back on top of the bracing,so it will be the 1 level all around the top.you will be sitting ure ply down on this so it will need to be supported
best of luck mate you can do it

cheers guys, feels good to have started it

@john... thanks for the offer pal but think i'm ok for it, only other timber i think i'll need a 2x2 batons to strengthen the inner corners

@mossy... cheers for the tip (i'll be relying on the likes of yourself and others who have been there to spot possibly flaws before i fall for them ) i only thought of doubling up on the plates when i stood back and looked at the thing assembled ... could still do it but then i think the tank would be too high without shortening the studs
yea i'll be building up the joists to the same level, the original plan was to use 7x2's for joists and notch them around the head plates but thought this way would be better.
cheers for the vote of confidence

anglecichlid wrote:

Great stuff, love any diy goings on,
Can't wait to see the end result!
Do you do nixers?

very few to be honest and none fish related unfotunately... just like most others though i'm always available

Great work here dave, looking forward to seeing a top notch job ( we are all looking , no pressure ) love DIY jobs

Davey you finally started it fair play mate i have being waiting for this one,

Would be a good idea to do as you say with the stand as will help it out a also in the long run,

Do you have an idea on how many Liters it will work out in the end ?

Are you going to be running some sort off sump for a Ex filter?

Keep us posted cant wait to see it up and running

Sean

john... thanks pal, considering the little cost involved compared to an all glass tank its well worth it and then there's the pleasure of having done it yourself .... be good to see more doing it also, maybe not so big if its not needed, but their easily heated too..

sean.... cheers mate but was delayed to long imo ... from previous calculations it was working out close to 2500L but when i can i'll get a more acurate volume because its changed a few times since
filtration will be through a pressurized pond filter, was gonna use a sump but chickened out (thats a hell of alot of water )

davey_c wrote:

Is that not a bit overkill for 'that' tank???

to be honest prospect i don't think its that much overkill because its supporting a hell of allot of weight but if some people think it is then that's brilliant... be alot worse to be told its not sufficient enough
i'b be more worried about it being a frameless tank realy but i can't see there being any problems because i've followed other frameless tank builds where they were using up to 1.25" thick ply on tanks almost 4foot tall without problems... their stands were quite similarly built also

dave

Reckon he talking about the little tank in the pic....

jwm wrote:

Reckon he talking about the little tank in the pic....

.... never even cop'd that ..... abit of a slow day for me today

Just wondering what your going to use to seal the inside of the tank and where are you going to buy it.I have a tank with a crack in it and I often thought of breaking it up and making 4 tanks from the remaining glass

Cant wait to see this as it progresses, best of luck

Chris

filled in the upright on the stand and built up the joists, all measurements were taken in situ... stand is quite sturdy now but realy need to start the tank when i can!!

to keep this up to date.
i got plywood for the front and back during the week and have them cut to size, just need to cut the window out but i'll take some pictures soon (forgot to do it at the time) just need to get a digital scales now for measuring out the epoxy so i can glue it all together. i'll be able to cut the braces too and assemble it less the side panels but that's where its at for the moment!

nice job looking forward to seeing it finished. What do you think it will be costing when finished

gettin there davey

ck1 wrote:

nice job looking forward to seeing it finished. What do you think it will be costing when finished

not ioo% sure but i'd say maybe about 800e less filter/heater/lights so more or less for a sealed box on a stand so hopefully it'll hold water

a few pictures....

for the front/back panels 1st i cut the lenght and then the height, offcuts will be used for bracing the top of the tank.







then for the front panel i measured in the thickness of the plywood (the front will be screwed to the bottom and sides as will be shown later) and an extra 2" for the corner braces (will also be seen later) because that gave me the approx glass size.... thats the blue line.... the inner pencil line is a 2" flange allowed the whole way around for a decent space to bed in the glass with silicone. these measurments are aproximate to give a window cutout size





then i cut the window out! using a holesaw i drilled the 4 corners and then cut the straights with my battery saw's. enery straight cut is done using a straight edge and this time i used a plywood offcut to make it handy.









and here's our window!!... oh i forgot to say, before i cut the window out i measured the aprox glass lenght (blue line to blue line) and compared it to the diagonal lenght of the opening (corner to corner of the pencil line)... the opening was a tad small but only by .5".... alot i hear you say??... well when its devided over both sides then the glass only needs to be .25" shorter either side so still 1.75 for bedding in the glass which is plenty.

@ johnH.... eventually got the pic's up but had to be done individually. but at least their up pal

You did find this difference before you got the glass ?

hey justin, what difference is that? sorry if the question is self explanatory but my heads all over the place at the mo pal

"and here's our window!!... oh i forgot to say, before i cut the window out i measured the aprox glass lenght (blue line to blue line) and compared it to the diagonal lenght of the opening (corner to corner of the pencil line)... the opening was a tad small but only by .5".... alot i hear you say??... well when its devided over both sides then the glass only needs to be .25" shorter either side so still 1.75 for bedding in the glass which is plenty."

Your glass panel needs to be shorter or the opening made bigger ?

ah, should have known lol. yea the glass will be .5" shorter.

i haven't ordered the glass yet so i can order it to a suitable size that will also fit through the opening diagonally. whereas not to confuse things but its relevant to say that if the tank was any lower the diagonal of the opening wouldn't have been long enough so the glass would have needed to go in through the top before bracing.

I'd imagine thats the dodgy bit, when the glass is being held flat to slide ru the window frame diagonally?
I can see how you'd need a body in the tank.
Is the outside length of tank is 6ft? ( cant think of sheet size)
Im thinking of making one too, but just concerned about the finish.
I'll have to lend a hand when you at the next stage.