First plwood tank build started..... with pics

[Iffrat]

hey joey ... do you think you could get me the details on the sand that you used?

 

[imcrystal]

WOW. I just read through all of these pages and you have done quite an amazing job. You should be very proud of your tank!!! Beautiful work!! I wish I could do something like that, or wish my bf could.. maybe I should get him studying up on this site... particularly the DIY section =)

 

[joey02]

hey joey ... do you think you could get me the details on the sand that you used?

Will do. i'll see what i can find out.

WOW. I just read through all of these pages and you have done quite an amazing job. You should be very proud of your tank!!! Beautiful work!! I wish I could do something like that, or wish my bf could.. maybe I should get him studying up on this site... particularly the DIY section =)

thanks alot!

The whole time i was in the process of building mine, my GF kept asking "is that all there is to it? just build a wood box and paint it with rubber stuff? i thought there would have been more to it" I thought so too, but there wasnt. what i shared here was the full story, no hidden tricks. it really wasnt alot of work. just alot of reading on other threads like this from this site just to get an idea of some things that need to be considered.. If i were to now say what the hardest part was, it was the sanding, but even that isnt hard. painting is easy... so is screwing screws in, and glueing wood together. no special skills required.

give it a shot! im going to again for sure.

 

[joey02]

here are a couple of videos of the tank. Notice the texture of the rubber due to using a bristle brush for one of the coats. If i used a sponge brush for every coat, it would have been a smooth finnish. i kind of like it though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd6fGvBAbUo&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9eq1uNC0lQ&feature=channel_page

 

[LurkMcgurk]

great build joey, nice vids also.

 

[basslover34]

I Love how the rays still have traction on the Rubber ...seem to have no problems sticking to the walls either... I Love it!

 

[joey02]

great build joey, nice vids also.

thank you

I Love how the rays still have traction on the Rubber ...seem to have no problems sticking to the walls either... I Love it!

great observation. i forgot to mention that. it does seam as though they have excellent traction on the rubber. Unlike the slipping around in a bare bottom glass tank that they had befor.

 

[shrumr0690]

Nice tank. Easy to build. How is that rubber coat holding up?

 

[James0816]

Man I got to get my tank done! I adore rays! Are you hand feeding them?

 

[joey02]

Update:

The tank has been filled for over a month now. no issues at all. The liquid zavlar rubber coating has turned brown as it was reported to do when submerged in water. no effect on the water. water in the tank still matches my tap water. I am now in the plans of building a bigger tank with this same concept.

I recently moved and the tank did fine during the move. i ended up setting it up in my new place and them decided haveing it upstairs was a bad idea, so i then moved it down stairs, which it also survied. I was able to move it on my own which i would have never been able to do with a glass tank.

I am still working on filtration. Right now i have two 1 inch bulkheads plumbed into it, but thats as far as i got with that. i will be doing a wet/dry still to go with my fx5.

I also added two silver arowanas to this tank two weeks ago to go with my stingrays. The marble motoro i ordered did arrive on schedule, but it was DOA, so i replaced it with two aros instead which survived the flight just fine.

I also added a few discus to this tank(not pictured yet)
all fish are doing great.


full tank shot is after feeding, so a bit messy.