4300 Gallon Plywood Build (3600+ Take 2)

[2wheelsx2]

Thanks for the kind words. I hope it lives up to all the hype

I just caught on to this thread last night and I can tell you that just by being, this tank lives up to all the hype.

 

[nolapete]

Looking great! How long does it need to cure between coats? And about how long is it taking you to apply each coat? Does it dry a different shade? I'm wondering how hard it will be to know where you've applied the 2nd coat, and/or if you've missed any spots. And lastly, how many coats are you going to apply?

There's no curing time required between coats. The CORRECT process of applying Permadri product is to layer thin coats until you achieve the desired thickness. In my case, 60 mil (thickness of two credit cards).

I'm indoors, so I don't believe there's any difference to how it dries in shade. It dries pretty fast, so I wouldn't suggest applying in direct sunlight.

There's a difference between dry and cured. It will be dry to the touch with a little tackiness within minutes, but until it is down to 15% moisture content it is not fully cured. It is water-based and cures by evaporation. This may take up to two weeks depending on weather, humidity, temperature.

I'm applying 15 gallons which was the recommended amount for my project. Each gallon covers 20-30 sq. ft. with the appropriate thickness. I have 300 sq. ft., so going conservative end 20 sq. ft. per gallon, 15 should be just enough.

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Sad day today, I lost my long time aquatic friend, my fat sleeper goby. She was very old and died during the night. I was hoping she'd have a chance to swim in the big tank.

 

[nolapete]

Not a good day for fish evidently. I found that the Herichthys sp. turquoise group beat one of their own to near death. I heard a lot of fussing in the tank late last night, but didn't think anything of it. Guess I should have looked. The fish is still alive, but barely. Moved it to another tank. I'm pretty sure it's a female based on body shape and coloration compared to the others. There's a dominant male and female in the group of 5.

 

[Redearsunfish]

sorry to hear about your fish..

....the new pictures are incredible - a dream tank by any standard!

 

[nolapete]

Second coat is done. Trimmed it out with a brush then rolled the rest. Picked up the ladder then rolled the spots it was in with a roller on a pole. Takes about an hour and a half to do an entire coat. I don't use a roller pan. I dump some coating on the floor and use it like an artist uses a palette. When it gets close to being gone, I roll it out on the floor around where I dumped it. Works great.

Looks like the Herichthys sp. turquoise isn't going to make it. It's good and bad really. It's bad that it got killed, but it also means the others are trying to pair off. They spawned in the past, but never produced viable fry. Two different ones out of the 7 adults I had spawned with a H. temporalis. Weird huh? I'm pretty sure they produced wigglers. The botia got to them though. I finally gave the temporalis back to my friend. Hoping they'll get busy soon.

 

[BadOleRoss]

I love the floor dump paint method!

 

[nolapete]

I love the floor dump paint method!

Me too. Why waste it having it dry in the pan? Makes sense to get use out of as much as possible.

 

[zennzzo]

Comin' along just fine...

 

[TheFishGuy]

I've heard H. tourquoise can be like that, smae thing happened to a fellow OCA board member... only thing is he lost 8 of the 14 he had.... Speaking of herichthys, do you know of anyone whos got any deppi? I've got a huge male...

 

[kallmond]

Great news about the 2nd coat done, sorry to hear about the fish. Its amazing how attached we get to certain fish.