LARGE Plywood Tank Build

bronco300

Active Member
woohoooo, I finally was able to add the fish I had been looking for for a while!
Meet "Racer," our Red Stripe Anthias...pseudanthias faciatus...he is so freaking awesome, and better yet he is staying afloat wonderful and in the water column fine...hopefully he'll continue to do great as their are some issues with them as they can be a deepwater species....so hopefully no decompression issues....ENJOY the pictures!




and he is even getting along with the others already
 

loogielv

New Member
hey Bronc..sorry to bother you again. I'm trying to incorporate your wave box design into my design, but i'm hung up, and i've re-read all the parts where you mention the wave box.
How did you connect the wave box to the main tain? I see that the wave box was made separately, and the side of the wave box became the side of the inside tank. But how did you get the wave box to stick to the tank?
If there's no overlapping parts, how did you

[hr]
them together, or did you just glue the edges together?
I'll upload a pic of my design so far..maybe i'm missing something?
 

loogielv

New Member
sorry, for some reason i'm not getting emails when this thread updates..i'll have to just keep checking it...
Originally Posted by Bronco300
http:///forum/post/2844040
we talkin an all glass tank or a plywood like mine with just one sheet
just like yours. plywood with one viewing side.
Originally Posted by Brandan

http:///forum/post/2843897
Have fun sleeping at night with 20mm glass. I would HIGHLY recommend calling a reputable tank builder to confirm the glass thickness on a tank of that magnitue. To do a tank that is 8" long, I could see something with 24mm glass or greater MAYBE; but to do two more panes of glass that are over 3" long, that is where I would worry. You will have a TREMENDOUS amount of pressure that will be placed at the bottom depths of the tank with a height of 40+inches. Read into Bernoulli laws of fluids a little, you will soon see how great the pressure rises in relations to the depth of your fluid.
The glass wouldn't be the complete 40", but more like 32-34" tall and 7' long or so. give or take. Also the tank wouldn't be filled to 40", but more like 38"... I've seen 48" tall with 1/2" tempered (and 8' long), but there was a center brace down the middle of the glass. Still that's 4'x4' on both sides of the center brace in just 1/2" tempered running for a year or so... ty for the input btw.
Maybe it'd just be better to drop the tank down to 8'x40"x36" tall? that would put the viewing pane below that 30" magical mark which is ...good. i guess. dont really like they it'll look though. I want those extra few inches
 

mboswell1982

Active Member
hey bronco, the build looks great, and, ugh, so evil lol, now im having more an more ideas, but i got so many on my plate right now its not even funny LOL
i do have a question for ya though
im looking at building 2 tanks next summer, identically sized tanks, one for me, one for the gf, by that time more than likely wife LOL
60"Lx24"Wx18"H, what size glass would u recommend i use? and, lets see if i get this right, im sposed to use non-tempered glass right? cause these are gonna be drilled LOL.
now, those suckers come out to 112 gallons, was gonna do 79g, but, she wanted bigger LOL so i said yes ma'am LOL who am i to argue with bigger tanks, right? lol
would a 40g sump be enough? or should i make the sump a lil bigger than that? say 50g or so? and i plan on building the sumps myself as well, outta acrylic though, not glass LOL
thanks man
mike
 

bronco300

Active Member
Originally Posted by nwdyr
http:///forum/post/2847145
Hey , we got more fish
thats right I said WE
cool stuff bro

lol, nice..hopefull i can find some more i wanted soon but who knows
Originally Posted by LoogieLV
http:///forum/post/2847281
hey Bronc..sorry to bother you again. I'm trying to incorporate your wave box design into my design, but i'm hung up, and i've re-read all the parts where you mention the wave box.
How did you connect the wave box to the main tain? I see that the wave box was made separately, and the side of the wave box became the side of the inside tank. But how did you get the wave box to stick to the tank?
If there's no overlapping parts, how did you

[hr]
them together, or did you just glue the edges together?
I'll upload a pic of my design so far..maybe i'm missing something?
look at the pictures closely...basically i make my wavebox..4sides and the bottom...I made the actual tank the length i wanted on the bottom and the back....so the wavebox i made then fits at the end there...but the bottom of the wavebox will actually sit on the bottom panel of the tank...and the back of the wavebox will be against the back of the wavebox, where i nailed and glued it in place...that make more sense?
Originally Posted by mboswell1982

http:///forum/post/2850567
hey bronco, the build looks great, and, ugh, so evil lol, now im having more an more ideas, but i got so many on my plate right now its not even funny LOL
i do have a question for ya though
im looking at building 2 tanks next summer, identically sized tanks, one for me, one for the gf, by that time more than likely wife LOL
60"Lx24"Wx18"H, what size glass would u recommend i use? and, lets see if i get this right, im sposed to use non-tempered glass right? cause these are gonna be drilled LOL.
now, those suckers come out to 112 gallons, was gonna do 79g, but, she wanted bigger LOL so i said yes ma'am LOL who am i to argue with bigger tanks, right? lol
would a 40g sump be enough? or should i make the sump a lil bigger than that? say 50g or so? and i plan on building the sumps myself as well, outta acrylic though, not glass LOL
thanks man
mike

are you talking about all glass tanks, or plywood tanks? gotta make that clear so i know what i'm looking at,lol....and NEVER complain with bigger tanks, soon it'll all go downhill and any hopes of progress crushed(not really, but its just as likely to happen,lol)
For the sump, honestly I'd go as big as you can...and the most important thing I like to consider is having your sump large enough so you can have a decent sump, but also enough room for the tank to overflow if the power ever fails so nothing overflows on the ground(make sense?)..like my 2 100gallon sumps are big enough to get some nice filtration hopefully, but still have extra room that if my main pumps stop or fail and the tank drains down to the overflows, my sumps can hold that extra water and not overflow.
 

mboswell1982

Active Member
they're all glass builds, acrylic is nice, but i prefer glass, and its gonna be twin tank, basically sandwiching a 65" big screen tv, the stand, well, its kinda hard to describe, its kinda gonna be a corner stand, with a 7' center, for the tv, 10' wings for each tank, but its gonna be in 3 sections, each section with a 2-4 inch high lip around it, and completely water sealed, same deal with where the sump is goin underneath, totally watersealed, with a 2-4" high lip surrounding the trough that the sump sits on lol i mean, i could always do 60g sumps, the size doesnt really matter, neither does the weight lol, i can reinforce as much as i want, cause our living room is basically gonna be build around these bad boys LOL or rather, designed around em LOL whatever, u get my meaning i hope LOL.
another question i have is, do u have step by step pictures or diagrams of setting up a sump, our current build is a 40g breeder with a 20g long sump, and i really dont know what im doin, when i start it that is, on how to build the sump LOL and im buyin the tanks already built, those 2 tanks at least, not building them myself lol
and now, she once again changed the length on me, i laid it on wood how big it was gonna be, and she said, LONGER lol, so, now im makin em 72" long by 30" deep by 18" high, i told her i aint changin it again, that that is the biggest they are gonna get LOL
 

crimzy

Active Member
Bronco, I haven't kept up with this thread but that tank turned out amazing.
Good work... you deserve the spoils of your labor. Enjoy it.
 

grumpygils

Active Member
Bronco,
Just caught up with your build. I believe I am now convinced I will scrap the build and buy my 10 foot tank! I would love to see your list of "what was I thinking?" and the other things that didn't work and did work as far as plumbing, flow, wiring, equipment ect.... Great job! You should be very proud!
Mc
 

loogielv

New Member
Originally Posted by Bronco300
http:///forum/post/2850853
lol, nice..hopefull i can find
look at the pictures closely...basically i make my wavebox..4sides and the bottom...I made the actual tank the length i wanted on the bottom and the back....so the wavebox i made then fits at the end there...but the bottom of the wavebox will actually sit on the bottom panel of the tank...and the back of the wavebox will be against the back of the wavebox, where i nailed and glued it in place...that make more sense?
yup. makes perfect sense. I never caught that before. So your tank is the length you want it, minus the wave box. i knew that would be the easiest way to add separate chambers. awesome man. ty
 

brandan

Member
Well, I guess an "update" from my side is due. Unfortunately there is no progress here except for laying out the glass for the 2nd sump. It has been outrageously cold to be siliconing, so I have skipped on assembling the second sump for a week or so. Tomorrow is supposed to stay above freezing for almost all of the day here in Indy, so it looks like after getting stuff shipped for other auctions, trip to UPS, Xmas shopping, and cleaning, I will have time to work on the sumps late tomorrow afternoon. My goal is to have them to you buy the end of the weekend Luke. We can deal with the baffles and bracing once we get them moved down to your place.
 

brandan

Member
Well the sumps are done, all they need now is baffled once they get to Luke's house. Now for the pic of the second sump.
Well, I'm off to a different forum. . . . So long SWF.com. I announce this my last post.
Happy Reefing!
 
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