# Anyone here ever built a plywood aquarium



## MDR (Feb 20, 2012)

I'm new here but far from inexperienced with fish. I was wondering if anyone had ever built their own large (250gal+) plywood aquarium. I am planning one for a summer project that is in the neighbourhood of 350 gallons and am curious where other builders acquired glass (my build will need 5/8" to 3/4"). As well, what methods you used to seal the aquarium. I looked at threads on MFK and I will probably be using Zavlar to seal because of cost. 

Cheers.


----------



## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

There's some threads on RC about some guys who made plywood tanks, maybe check them out.

Personally for me, the labour cost of a plywood tank is not viable. Silicone is cheap, and if you know where to buy your glass panels, the cost of the glass is affordable. And if you know how to weld, you can make a steel frame and rim (depending on the size of your tank).

PM me if you want to my supplier for thick glass panels. Clear, tempered, starphire, they have it.


----------



## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

The best place I have found for this info is on www.monsterfishkeepers.com
Many large wood tanks have been built and documented with step by step details on that site.


----------



## Windowlicka (Mar 5, 2008)

Hi and welcome!

There was a member here that posted about their plywood tank a while back now, but I'm not entirely sure whether that member is still 'active' on the forum?

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3870&highlight=plywood+tank

There's been a spectacular (and very detailed) 5000ltr plywood build on ReefCentral by a fellow Brit "d3hree" that I've been following lately:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1990657

(A bit of a read, but this guy's use of 3D CAD/CAM SW is incredible - his design pictures look like photographs!)

HTH?


----------



## MDR (Feb 20, 2012)

PM sent!

My summer job involves framing houses, and I plan on insulating between the upright studs to minimize heat loss so plywood and 2x4 is most appropriate for me.

I've done a lot of searching on monsterfishkeepers (MFK) and there are some very impressive builds on there. Windowlicka, I took a look at those builds as well and they are definitely impressive, if only I had the resources for saltwater. For now though, I will stick with african cichlids. Hopefully I get around to putting this together withing the next 2-3 months, when I start, I will try and update this site on progress regularly.

Cheers
Dave


----------



## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

i was just lookin at those and their amazing.
kudos to whoever tries


----------



## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

I knew a fellow that built a tank 8ft. long by 4ft. wide and 4ft. high for salt water 40 years ago. It was coated with epoxy at that time. I know an other fellow following my advice that made all his own tanks. Arborite in 4x8 sheets was glued to 4x8 sheets of 3/4 plywood with 3m contact cement. It was then cut to size and screwed together using silicone in the seams.

I built a 40 gallon one back in the late 50's. I was probably one of the first to try it. I had and used it for many years.


----------



## MDR (Feb 20, 2012)

Thank you to everyone for the responses. I've thought about it some more and decided that rather than diving right into something which could prove to be costly and a gigantic mess if it fails, I'm going to start small and build either a sump or a smaller sized aquarium to "test the waters" before going off the deep end.

Cheers


----------

