4300 Gallon Plywood Build (3600+ Take 2)

[nolapete]

Same stuff according to the dealer. I spoke with Scott at the NC distributor who said that it's just a different name for the same product Perma-Dri puts out. Hope I have not messed up here and got bad info....that would be unfortunate! In a mad panic I went to the Perma-Dri website and reviewed the info and MSDS sheets and except for the name on the bucket, it seems to be the same stuff with the same properties.

I had emailed Joann at Permadri asking her what the difference was. I never got a reply and that's been weeks ago. I'll be on the phone with all of them today to get answers

 

[BadOleRoss]

Man, I sure hope there is not a major difference! I am praying for the label on the bucket!

 

[BadOleRoss]

I am confident I will be OK. I went out and read the label (for the first time) and it says all the things I needed it to say. Bascially, safe for fish and waterproof. I am pretty sure the label is the only difference to target the pond folks who might not be using this product.

 

[Open Water Predator]

My friend has liners in his 2600 and other 2000 plus tanks. I initially was going to go that route, but changed my mind after discovering Blue Max and subsequently liquid rubber Zavlar (pond coat in US). At this point, I'm almost inclined to revert back to that idea and use the gallon of Pond Coat I have to stick the liner to the plywood by the bulkhead fittings and where it meets the acrylic. It sure would be cheaper and eliminate having to wait to ship it.

I'm sure the 20 year warranty is void once you cut holes in it though.

It's a win win. I'm planning to use a liner in my 2,500 gallon enclosure (8x10x4).

I can definitely see using the Pond Coat as a gasket around the view panel, but why would you need to use it around the bulkheads though? Shouldn't their gaskets should do the trick?

Good point. At least, though, you know the product is durable enough to be warranted for 20 years.

 

[TheFishGuy]

In pond armors defense. It was my faulty construction that caused the failure. My back wall was 5' top to bottom with only 2x4's every 8". They bowed under the pressure which in turn cracked all of the back seams. The problem has been taken care of. Now there's no "deep end". Hasn't leaked for six months. I still swear buy it... And no, I'm not getting paid to say that. I have a gallon of this rubber stuff, and I talked with the reps for an extended amount off time. (planning a much larger build) Pond coat is not very cost effective seeing as you need six coats in order for them to warranty it. That and you can't use silicone with it. When a product seems to good to be true, it usually is. Pond armor in non toxic in any form, liquid or solid...

 

[nolapete]

Can you shoot a bullet through Pond Armor and have it self heal? Nope! Can you do that with Pond Coat? Yep. Dan at USI Coatings did it just to see if the claims were true. Shot a bullet through it and by the next day it was waterproof again.

He told me that the plumbing contractors love the Permadri products and use them wherever they are doing showers and such. The reason they love it is that they can nail stuff up temporarily through it. Once they remove the nails, the coating self heals and is waterproof again.

Pond Armor is a great product for use on NON-FLEXIBLE installations that won't give like JohnPTC's and VLDesign's builds. As you well found out, when your tank bowed, the Pond Armor gave. If you had used Pond Coat, you wouldn't have had a leak.

In regard to price, properly prepared plywood tank with Hardi board and Pond Armor will run you close to the same price as Pond Coat. Then you have to deal with mixing it and having it set up on you if you're not quick enough applying it. You well know the issues as does anyone who has used it. I'm not knocking the product. It's a great product.

For my application though, it's not the RIGHT product. I can spray the Pond Coat on with a $25 hopper gun from Harbor Freight according to Dan at USI. The Pond Coat coats are thin coats that build upon each other to get to 50-60 mil which is about the thickness of a DIME! 1.27 - 1.51 mm for you metric peeps. That's all that is required for them to warranty the coating.

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OWP, Anywhere there's a hole cut in a liner I'd want Pond Coat securing it to the plywood so it doesn't have a chance to move.

BadOleRoss, that's good to know.

 

[Open Water Predator]

Is this gunshot 'healing' while the product is submerged, actually holding water as in a pond application or just being splashed with water as in a shower-type application? It seems pretty fantastic to think of it mending while it's under the weight of a few thousand gallons. If it, in fact, actually will do this then that is pretty impressive.

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Seems like the bulkhead fitting itself would keep the liner in place.

 

[nolapete]

The shower enclosure/pan would leak after they did the nail up thing with the other products they were using, but I don't know if that's a flooded situation.

I don't know about the gun shot test as to whether it was full when shot, but it was filled the next day to test it.

 

[TheFishGuy]

Not sure I'd ever use anything but wedi board for a shower pan... that's a whole nother story....

I see your point, and while messing with the product... I wasn't impressed... but, minds can change...

 

[Egon]

Hay Pete, when is this thing getting water? We are on page 80 here (strong Italian accent), TheFishGuy took about 10 pages to finish his ply tank...........