Finally filled my DIY 200 up...
- Thread starter cvermeulen
- Start date
I thought I should follow this up with some lessons I learned!
I moved about 6 months ago, during which process I tore this tank down. Having examined the dry tank in detail I have to say I am _amazed_ that it was not leaking. The epoxy coating has many doezens of cracks in it. Some places where the epoxy covered screws, the screws are rusty. Every corner joint is cracked, and in some places the epoxy can easily be peeled off by hand. This is after approximately 3 years in service.
Now, some might say 3 years isn't bad, but this tank cost me a fair bit of money and time to build. I say 3 years doesn't cut it.
Why did it crack? Well there is the possibility that I did a crappy job. In some places in the tank, this may indeed be the problem, however the issue is too uniform around the tank to all be application errors. Mainly the issue is that epoxy is really not designed to be a coating like this. It cures hard, it's not terribly UV resistent, and the wood substrate is flexible. I suspect some UV degradation took place (though it is cracked even where it was not exposed to UV), and mostly, the wood moved about over it's lifetime, cracking the sealant. Another factor may be that the epoxy was quite a viscous product, which prevented it from properly soaking into the wood and forming a bond.
IF I COULD DO IT AGAIN: I would definitely not use epoxy alone for sealing the wood. I would at the very least use a fiberglass cloth reinforcement with the epoxy to help it resist cracking. Ideally, I would use epoxy (or probably polyester) resin and fiberglass tape to do all the seams, and then seal the entirety with a product like liquid rubber or zavlar. This would likely last quite a bit longer than the epoxy alone did.
Hope this helps someone out when choosing a coating!
I moved about 6 months ago, during which process I tore this tank down. Having examined the dry tank in detail I have to say I am _amazed_ that it was not leaking. The epoxy coating has many doezens of cracks in it. Some places where the epoxy covered screws, the screws are rusty. Every corner joint is cracked, and in some places the epoxy can easily be peeled off by hand. This is after approximately 3 years in service.
Now, some might say 3 years isn't bad, but this tank cost me a fair bit of money and time to build. I say 3 years doesn't cut it.
Why did it crack? Well there is the possibility that I did a crappy job. In some places in the tank, this may indeed be the problem, however the issue is too uniform around the tank to all be application errors. Mainly the issue is that epoxy is really not designed to be a coating like this. It cures hard, it's not terribly UV resistent, and the wood substrate is flexible. I suspect some UV degradation took place (though it is cracked even where it was not exposed to UV), and mostly, the wood moved about over it's lifetime, cracking the sealant. Another factor may be that the epoxy was quite a viscous product, which prevented it from properly soaking into the wood and forming a bond.
IF I COULD DO IT AGAIN: I would definitely not use epoxy alone for sealing the wood. I would at the very least use a fiberglass cloth reinforcement with the epoxy to help it resist cracking. Ideally, I would use epoxy (or probably polyester) resin and fiberglass tape to do all the seams, and then seal the entirety with a product like liquid rubber or zavlar. This would likely last quite a bit longer than the epoxy alone did.
Hope this helps someone out when choosing a coating!
Rebuilding this tank.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...682-Plywood-Tank-Resto-Recombobulating-my-200
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...682-Plywood-Tank-Resto-Recombobulating-my-200
