Fish Room Redux - 3600+ Gallon Plywood Tank Build

I was about to embark on a project for building 6 plywood and glass tanks to make better use of the Z-Beam racks I have in my fish room. These tank were going to be 72"x24"x18" so that I could have one on each of the 3 shelves of each rack. They would have been 135 gallons each.

I was reviewing some of the tank construction threads here and on AC to see what the overall consensus was for best practices. I started discussing this with my friend Jack who has 2 2600 gallon glass front plywood tanks using pond liners. It was at that point that I recalled that last year he had offered me one of the large pieces of glass he isn't currently using to build my own plywood tank.

I had mentioned to someone that I had always been taught to "Go Big or Go Home!" I had an epiphany and realized the opportunity I have in front of me.

Why have a room filled with tanks when you can have a tank that almost fills a room?

I have to wait to go home to make some accurate measurements, but my preliminaries off the top of my head are that I can go a max of 144" length and 96" width. I would like to go 60" deep.

I had another project planned to install my 210 (84"x24"x24") in the fish room in such a way that the front was inset into the wall it shares with my dining room. I'm scrapping that project now as well. The viewing window will most likely be 84"x34" depending on the dimensions of the piece of glass I get from Jack.

My calculations for various different sizes and what the capacity would be:

Length 120
Depth 60
Width
48 1496.10
60 1870.13
72 2244.16
84 2618.18
96 2992.21

Length 132
Depth 60
Width
48 1645.71
60 2057.14
72 2468.57
84 2880.00
96 3291.43

Length 144
Depth 60
Width
48 1795.32
60 2244.16
72 2692.99
84 3141.82
96 3590.65

The tank will use my friend Jack's technique of pond liner with gasket as shown below.

Instructions from an email he sent me:

Once you put the liner in, you fill it with water to make sure it seats as close as possible.

Then, drain the water and dry it completely. Usually I let it dry for a day or two but you can cheat by using a hair dryer.

Then you glue a 2 inch wide and 1/4 inch thick hard rubber strip to the rubber liner using rubber cement. Try to let the gasket be about an inch away from the actual viewing opening which will be cut away later.

The hard rubber strip acts as the gasket.

Next apply a bead about 1 inch thick of Dow Corning 927 silicone between the gasket and the viewing opening and a bead about 2 inches thick from the gasket to where the water will come into contact. See attachment.

Take the glass panel and place it at the bottom of the tank where it will soon remain.

Place pre-measured 2x4's to put pressure on the glass and press it against the silicone and gasket.

Leave the 2x4's in place until the silicone dries fully.

Add extra Dow 927 to fully seal the edges of the glass.

Then, praying loudly and sincerely, slowly fill the tank (empty of gravel and decorations) The water pressure will press against the silicone and gasket thus releasing the 2x4's.

If all has gone well, there will be no leakage.

Take a razor knife and cut the hole in the rubber liner from the outside, thus exposing the glass for viewing.

If no leaks after about 2 days, drain the tank, put in the filtration gravel and decorations, refill the tank with water, add the fish and..... "Voila!!"

Click to expand...

[yt]eRksEMXmBuw[/yt] Video of one of his 2600 gallon tanks.

Starting off will be various cichlids, gobies (fat sleeper and marbled), and other stuff I have. After I sell off my smaller tanks, arowanas, rays, and possibly a group of plecos to grow out to breed.

And the winner is:

Internal dimensions 118 x 98 x 60 = 3000 gallons!

The room is 190 x 140 and I need 66 clearance on the 190 and 36 clearance on the 140. Allowing for 2x6 lumber all around and 1/4 plywood with plumbing tucked inside the studs and outside of the open radius of the room's doors.

The boring phase 1 begins:

Clear area in garage to receive current contents of fish room.

Empty current contents of fish room into garage.

Possibly open up ceiling and raise it to have exposed 4x6 beams and allow for more room about the tank. I'll have to give up some attic space, but I don't use it anyway.

Well, when life deals you some lemons, add some liquor and then make whatever you were working on BIGGER!

The fish room length overlaps the dining room and kitchen, so the dining room length is shorter than the fish room. In other words, the viewing window is going to have to be offset in the tank to the right side. In order to fit the viewing glass, I'm going to have to block the french doors from opening. Oh well, after I move everything out of the fish room I won't need them anyway. I could probably just remove them and close in the wall like it was before Katrina. It only had a small window in it. We'll see once I get everything out of the room.

I'll have a 36" of clearance on the left side and back of the tank. I just won't have any access on the right side except from above.

The good news:

The tank will now be 144x98x60 = 3665 gallons

Any internal filtration I want to add can be on the offset side out of view.

I know fish will swim out of sight, but it's just something I'll have to deal with.

The fish room is a mess, but relatively organized after I got rid of a bunch of tank projects over the last week or so.

Teaser pics:

View from foyer
View from kitchen

Viewed from laundry room:
Wall shared by fish room and dining room/kitchen
French door wall
AC and door wall

Wall shared by laundry room

Here's a little drawing I did trying out Google Sketchup. I still don't have it figured out yet.