building plywood tank anyone used pond shield
- Thread starter CRF50HUGO
- Start date
There are several builds in the DIY build sticky where people have used pond shield/pond armor. Give those a read. The key seems to be to follow the directions and make sure you have a sturdy tank that would flex a lot when filled.
I just used some black Pond Shield on my build. Check out the link in my sig. Haven't put the glass in yet so I can't tell you for sure whether it worked. I can tell you that it's a little tricky to work with. It's extremely thick - sort of like honey in consistency. I found that it was difficult to get an even thickness on the coat and there were a lot of areas that I had to go over and patch after I was done with the first coat (to be fair, the instructions do say that you'll have to do this). Also, I didn't get the 60sq ft coverage indicated on the 1.5qt kit. Probably more along the lines of 50 sq ft.
In my case I used it over a layer of fiberglass cloth and West Systems 105/206 so I'm fairly confident it will hold water but if I had used it as a stand alone layer over wood I would be a little worried.
In my case I used it over a layer of fiberglass cloth and West Systems 105/206 so I'm fairly confident it will hold water but if I had used it as a stand alone layer over wood I would be a little worried.
I tried to use pond shield for my build it failed for more then one reason. the pond shield was tricky to work with really thick, didn't get the full coverage. so i would say order double the amount you think you have to use unless it is available locally because you want to keep applying coats with in the time period because sanding this stuff is not fun. it did leave a nice glossy coat, had almost no smell except for the alcohol i thinned it with.
Awesome stuff if your tank doesn't flex. It's not meant to be used on unstable structures.
Pros: No smell and not toxic to work with
Cons: Hard to work with, need 2x product for coverage
Oustide of that it's by far the most reliable coating I have seen in use. There are others but nothing that has been proven to be better yet IMO.
Pros: No smell and not toxic to work with
Cons: Hard to work with, need 2x product for coverage
Oustide of that it's by far the most reliable coating I have seen in use. There are others but nothing that has been proven to be better yet IMO.
I used ames blue max, it 800% fexiable so it will not creak and leak like expoy will. I tried 2 different kinds of expoy paint they both leaked after just a few days. blue max is liqued rubber and it make you build 8 times stronger 175.00 for five gallon and no smell while applying it. you can check out my photo on monster I just posted them to day the tank has been up for 2 months no leaks water crystal clear. I have 2 silver arowana in it.
Does Blue Max dry tacky or solid? I didn't see if you could buy less than 5 gallons at a time. I would have a lot of left over if I had to buy 5gs.
If it wasn't for the fumes Sweetwater would be my first choice. Pond Shield is still the best solution IMO.
If it wasn't for the fumes Sweetwater would be my first choice. Pond Shield is still the best solution IMO.
if you making a ply tank Greenterra is the guy you wanna talk too he made a nice tank 800g its sick im gonna make one like his but 16' long over 1400g its gonna be nice but i gotta finish my house first so i wont get to start for a good year from now >.<BadOleRoss;4435972;4435972 said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7nKf_kE4YI <<<greenterra' tank
The coating needs to be 3 mill thick that the thickness of a dime. the tank you are planning is just a little bit smaller than my, mine is 77 x 30 x 36 it took 4 gallons. on Ames web site there is both a phone number and an e-mail address for technical help. I called and spoke with a teck before buying blue max. Turn out he was a reef tank guy from way back and was very helpful. it goes on almost like paint and at about the same thickness so lots of coat. get cheap dollar brushs that can be thown out inbetween coat is much easier than trying to clean out the brush and resueing it. Blue Max is tacky until fully curred which takes 15 days. They have some cool viedo of blue max on there web sit one of kids making a boat out of cardboard and bluemax and it worked.