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Unread 02/21/2008, 05:47 PM   #1
michealprater
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DIY 300 gallon plywood aquarium plan thread

I am in the early stages of planning my DIY 300 gallon plywood aquarium. I have read several plans online and think I can do it. As I come up with questions I will be posting them in this thread. Thanks in advance for everyones help.

First Question.

I will be putting a layer of fiberglass sheeting over the entire wood portion of the plywood, I will then seal it in using West System Marine Epoxy. My question is, I want to paint the inside of the aquarium blue. Should I paint the wood prior to sealing it with the fiberglass and epoxy, or should I paint it afterward? Please let me know which one, and what type of paint I should use.

Second Question.

Where can I get two corner acrylic overflows, and one box for the center. Is this something that will be ok to glue and seal with silicon on the fiberglass covered wood surface?

Third Question.

The tank will be an approximate of 300 gallons, 96"long x 24" high and 30" wide. How many overflows will I need and what size bulk heads should I install?

Thanks.


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Unread 02/21/2008, 09:48 PM   #2
ccampo
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For the first question and ideas as well take a look at this shark tank :

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/article...00g_tank_1.php

It was also painted blue, looks great.

For the remaining questions I'll let others answer and learn from them too.


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Current Tank Info: 210g SW mixed reef, 30g SW
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Unread 02/22/2008, 05:25 AM   #3
turtleman10
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You can get a tint for the epoxy and save a step of having to paint the tank. I found a good resource for plywood tanks are these guys. http://fingerlakesreef.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=13


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Unread 02/27/2008, 08:23 PM   #4
Aqua Keepers
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I'm thinking of building a 300 gallon plywood aquarium in a year or two as well. So, I'll be following allong. Let me know if you start a build thread.


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Unread 02/27/2008, 09:49 PM   #5
sfsuphysics
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There's one guy, and I really am sorry I can't be more helpful, who did a plywood tank, with a coast to coast (is this the term now? ) overflow, so the number of drains is irrelevant. But if you're doing plywood it definitely is something to look into, why make the inside of the tank look cluttered with things like overflow boxes, just let the whole backwall be an overflow!


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Unread 02/28/2008, 08:35 AM   #6
FuzzyZipperbaum
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go to the large reef tanks thread on this forum, there are a bunch of threads on plywood tanks.... and most paint it after the fiberglass...


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