water in it next weekend?necrocanis;2762637; said:I wish! Gonna be a while for that. Has to be fiberglassed, and gelcoated, with the windows in place first!
18' x 9' x 3.5' catfish tank build in progress.....
- Thread starter necrocanis
- Start date
Yet another wish! I did however get one of the frames for the top windows cut. Now I just have to epoxy it and set the acryllic. So there is still a little progress being made. That took me about an hour or so. I'm going to go to home depot sometime this week to look for handles for these windows. I'll have to borrow my neighbor's camera cord again later this week so that I can post some pics I've been taking.
necro
i have made the frame of my tank (see my thread below) and i have the epoxy resin,
a quick question is do i need to prime the ply surface with anything before painting the epoxy? i have filled all the holes of screw heads, and i need to get cracking with the painting before the missus gets home so the smell of the epoxy clears the house LOL!!!
help will be greatly appreciated
i have made the frame of my tank (see my thread below) and i have the epoxy resin,
a quick question is do i need to prime the ply surface with anything before painting the epoxy? i have filled all the holes of screw heads, and i need to get cracking with the painting before the missus gets home so the smell of the epoxy clears the house LOL!!!
help will be greatly appreciated
What a fantastic build and kudos to you for keeping us informed with the status! I really like your attention to detail.
Just curious, though, why did you choose wood as your framework for something this large? Wouldn't cement blocks for the walls be a better choice or was money a big factor?
Keep up the great work and keep the updates coming!!
Just curious, though, why did you choose wood as your framework for something this large? Wouldn't cement blocks for the walls be a better choice or was money a big factor?
Keep up the great work and keep the updates coming!!
Great progress man, keep up the good work. I can't wait to see it finished. Hopefully I'll be more active in the uber tank area by mid summer
Hey guys just dropped in for a quick pic update! To answer a few questions. I chose wood because of practicality for myself. I do not plan on living here forever and I think it will be much easier to forklift out a wooden tank, or to cut it in half for removal and moving easier than a cement tank. I do not wish to alter my garage for this build. As for preping wood for epoxy, just make sure to clean up any wood dust or debris, and you should be set.
Now for the pics. There's some pics of both the jag, and dat skeletons that I'm working on right now. Also there is some pics of the window that I cut the frame for. It's still a really rough frame, but I plan on using epoxy that I have for this frame. I'll prep it and scuff the acrylic where it is going to be overlapped by the wood. Still undecided weather to just use the epoxy to set the window into place or to make the frame epoxied and then use silicone to seal it. Might just do a combo. Put the frame and acrylic together with the epoxy and then silicone around the seams for piece of mind. Ehh!
Now for the pics. There's some pics of both the jag, and dat skeletons that I'm working on right now. Also there is some pics of the window that I cut the frame for. It's still a really rough frame, but I plan on using epoxy that I have for this frame. I'll prep it and scuff the acrylic where it is going to be overlapped by the wood. Still undecided weather to just use the epoxy to set the window into place or to make the frame epoxied and then use silicone to seal it. Might just do a combo. Put the frame and acrylic together with the epoxy and then silicone around the seams for piece of mind. Ehh!
Hey didn't even see you there buddy!amazonfishman;2769191; said:
So where you been hiding? Gonna send me a P Bass to put in my tank? ehehehe! What size tank you planning? you might finish before me at this rate lol.
Oh the second to last pic is basically the window assembled upsidedown. There's three parts. The top is also the lip and the second part is a piece of ply the same thickness as the acrylic to create a complete enclosure around the acrylic and the thir piece is to trap it in completely if that makes any sense.
Seems to me you could make that frame a little narrower all the way around to buy yourself some more viewing area. 1-1.5" of overlap should be more than enough.
As for epoxying the acrylic in place - you don't want to do that. Use something like DOW 832 to bond the acrylic to the frame after the frame is epoxied. If you use epoxy, the acrylic will want to fracture the epoxy as it bends when you fill the tank. Something like a silicone allows the tank to move and settle as it's filled.
As for epoxying the acrylic in place - you don't want to do that. Use something like DOW 832 to bond the acrylic to the frame after the frame is epoxied. If you use epoxy, the acrylic will want to fracture the epoxy as it bends when you fill the tank. Something like a silicone allows the tank to move and settle as it's filled.
