cjcoopertag
Member
So how many have you have built there own tank? What issues did you have or having now? What size and how much did it cost for you to build it? Anything would help and Thank You.
How Many Have Built There Own Tank????
- Thread starter cjcoopertag
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cjcoopertag
Member
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fat_tony
Guest
I constructed about 15 tanks about 4 years ago, I used cell cast acrylic for all of them, total cost of the acrylic was about $1500 (The cost of acrylic has skyrocketed since 2003 however) Total cost of tools / bits / blades ~ $600 I had most of the major expenses covered already (table saw / router / Air Compressor / Random Orbital Sander)
I made 10 20gal with curved front corners which I sold on eb@y with no problems for approx $120 each (I have one that wasn't perfect setup as a refug on my 90gal FOWLR)
I made 3 75gal with curved front corners which I sold locally for about $400 each
I made 2 90gal one with curved front corners and one with standard bonded corners both with an overflow in the center of the back Sold one for $300 and I currently have the other setup as a FOWLR which is gradually moving towards becoming a reef tank.
I also made an acrylic stand and canopy out of black acrylic just for kicks.
which I am also using currently for my FOWLR setup
I used Weld-On #3 to seam all of the Joints, the acrylic bender I used was manufactured in Canada, and sold at mcmaster carr the biggest challenge was to get the edges perfectly flat after bending the acrylic for proper joining at the corners.
Oh and when making an overflow box just copy a design that you know works, I made my teeth too narrow and had to hack up my beautiful work to get the flow I needed
The only other advice I can offer is Practice, Practice, Practice I had never worked with acrylic before taking on this project. (yes I pretty much woke up one morning and decided I was going to build my own fish tanks)
I made some of the major cuts (all oversized to allow for loss of material due to sanding / planing) and took the scraps and made sure I had the temperature and time settings worked out perfectly for bending. (black acrylic needs way less time over the heating element to become maleable)
I must have joined 100's of scrap pieces before I found what worked best for me. (sanding the edges to be joined with 120 grit paper on a sanding block, flowing the #3, then adding even pressure to the joint for 20 minutes, then allowing it to cure for 1 hour before moving the piece) I also tried various methods of finishing the edges on scrap acrylic. Standard rubbing compound and a cloth disc on a drill works excellent.
On a side note, everytime someone visits my home and I tell them I built my tank. They either:
1. Don't Believe me
2. Beg me to build them one (I have not built a tank in over 3 years, and will never build another one)
3. Stand there with a stunned look on their face and say "why on earth would you build a tank when you could just buy one on eb@y"
In the end it was a great time / learning experience but the number of hours I put into producing a tank that was good enough for me, just didn't make sense.
Hope this long winded response is helpful, again I reitterate that I would not take on this project if you value your time.
Matt
P.S. I have one cruddy picture of my tank on my homepage www.smalloceans.com if you want to take a peek.
I made 10 20gal with curved front corners which I sold on eb@y with no problems for approx $120 each (I have one that wasn't perfect setup as a refug on my 90gal FOWLR)
I made 3 75gal with curved front corners which I sold locally for about $400 each
I made 2 90gal one with curved front corners and one with standard bonded corners both with an overflow in the center of the back Sold one for $300 and I currently have the other setup as a FOWLR which is gradually moving towards becoming a reef tank.
I also made an acrylic stand and canopy out of black acrylic just for kicks.
which I am also using currently for my FOWLR setup
I used Weld-On #3 to seam all of the Joints, the acrylic bender I used was manufactured in Canada, and sold at mcmaster carr the biggest challenge was to get the edges perfectly flat after bending the acrylic for proper joining at the corners.
Oh and when making an overflow box just copy a design that you know works, I made my teeth too narrow and had to hack up my beautiful work to get the flow I needed
The only other advice I can offer is Practice, Practice, Practice I had never worked with acrylic before taking on this project. (yes I pretty much woke up one morning and decided I was going to build my own fish tanks)
I made some of the major cuts (all oversized to allow for loss of material due to sanding / planing) and took the scraps and made sure I had the temperature and time settings worked out perfectly for bending. (black acrylic needs way less time over the heating element to become maleable)
I must have joined 100's of scrap pieces before I found what worked best for me. (sanding the edges to be joined with 120 grit paper on a sanding block, flowing the #3, then adding even pressure to the joint for 20 minutes, then allowing it to cure for 1 hour before moving the piece) I also tried various methods of finishing the edges on scrap acrylic. Standard rubbing compound and a cloth disc on a drill works excellent.
On a side note, everytime someone visits my home and I tell them I built my tank. They either:
1. Don't Believe me
2. Beg me to build them one (I have not built a tank in over 3 years, and will never build another one)
3. Stand there with a stunned look on their face and say "why on earth would you build a tank when you could just buy one on eb@y"
In the end it was a great time / learning experience but the number of hours I put into producing a tank that was good enough for me, just didn't make sense.
Hope this long winded response is helpful, again I reitterate that I would not take on this project if you value your time.
Matt
P.S. I have one cruddy picture of my tank on my homepage www.smalloceans.com if you want to take a peek.
F
fat_tony
Guest
I used 3/8" cell cast for the 90gal which was 90x18x24. I purchased my acrylic from a local factory that produced Acrylic fixtures for retail stores like Kohl's. To avoid paying high shipping charges. The brand they used was Spartech Polycast. Call around as prices vary greatly from place to place.
Matt
Matt