Fish Room Redux - 3600+ Gallon Plywood Tank Build

nolapete

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2007
2,726
9
38
New Orleans, LA
I realized this afternoon while I was out getting lunch that I can build most of the tank structure and still utilize the french doors to bring the acrylic in through. I only need to leave enough of the left side unfinished for the french doors to open. This just got very interesting.
 

cvermeulen

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 4, 2007
1,876
3
36
Los Osos, CA
Might be hard to get your liner installed with a giant chunk of acrylic in the middle of everything... I guess you could always hoist the acrylic up towards the rafters, install the liner, then install the acrylic. Is it just too much of a PITA to bring the window in through the rest of the house?
 

nolapete

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2007
2,726
9
38
New Orleans, LA
We opted to fit everything on the front face then come back on Saturday and glue and screw it. We're not done fitting everything yet, but should be done with at least the front wall and hopefully some of the back, side wall away from french doors, and floor sections by noon Saturday. A couple pics of the front wall progress.

001.JPG

003.JPG
 

nolapete

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2007
2,726
9
38
New Orleans, LA
Finished up final framing pieces then glued and screwed the whole thing. The primary addition to the last photos is a 2x10 header board that spans the entire 13' of the face of the tank. A few small framing pieces too. Tuesday, we'll be cutting out the drywall front and framing the outside from the viewing side. I'll take more pictures then. I opted to not use gorilla glue to coat the surface that contacts the acrylic. The Dow 795 bonds to everything, so it will provide the barrier between the acrylic and wood. I have to run a bead of construction adhesive around where the 2x4 meets the 2x6, but other than that it's done.
 
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