My 650g plywood tank also Wetsuit

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
stempy said:
I don't know, I'd have to disagree on the overbuilt features being a waste of money. The frame around my tank probably cost an additional $20. I'd call that money VERY well spent, kinda like insurance ;) I can climb on my tank, get in it w/e with zero fear of causing microfractures in the epoxy that would eventually leak!
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What was the extra $20 made up of? I climb on my tank as well on a weekly basis. With the amount of fiberglass epoxy and liquid rubber there hasn't been any leaks either.

Actually I don't consider your tank too overbuilt. I'm mostly referring to the stacked lumber types that uses an entire forest for the tank.
 
Lol yea the stacked lumber approach is a little silly :) the $20 is the few extra 2x4's, nails and glue it took to make the exterior frame of the tank, probably didn't even cost that much. Btw awesome to see your build still looking great, the fish look amazing! Keep the updates coming every so often :)
 
stempy said:
Lol yea the stacked lumber approach is a little silly :) the $20 is the few extra 2x4's, nails and glue it took to make the exterior frame of the tank, probably didn't even cost that much. Btw awesome to see your build still looking great, the fish look amazing! Keep the updates coming every so often :)
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Thanks, I think if i were to do it again I'd put up some framing around the tank too. But I'd probably go bigger. :)

I'll try to take another picture soon. The Armies are getting big and I'm starting to get a little worried I'm running out of room. I just lost a Tin Foil because he got mauled by my GATF.
 
sashimimaster said:
Well the light I have over the tank is just plain flourescent tubes. Can't remember the spectrum but it's whatever you get at home depot. lol

But my question is if the algae scrubber is doing it's job why would I have any in the tank whatever the color?
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bigreef2 said:
Brown feeds off Silicates which the scrubber can not remove. Better to go with T5 bulbs with 10k spectrum.


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sashimimaster said:
Dang it! I wish I would have known that before. Now I have to go for a swim to change the bulbs. Lol
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Consider LED's? Urarejoey used rapid led's...he had a mix of red, blue, and white leds to adjust the color to his liking...just fyi
 
stempy said:
I don't know, I'd have to disagree on the overbuilt features being a waste of money. The frame around my tank probably cost an additional $20. I'd call that money VERY well spent, kinda like insurance ;) I can climb on my tank, get in it w/e with zero fear of causing microfractures in the epoxy that would eventually leak!
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I would agree with this... I think it would be foolish to not include an adequate safety margin on something like this... above and beyond a simple GARF safety rating threshold. There are too many variables on a custom self built tank. Most people making these things are not engineers, so starting on the safe side is smart.

Plus, things change. A good example is the 30 minutes of overflowing that happened on this tank... where did that water go? Presuming that it thoroughly dribbled down the outside of the tank and into exterior seems, then I would say that the structural integrity of the tank was just compromised a bit. Every time something like this happens, the tank weakens. The plywood for sure will not be as strong as it was when built and a bit of delamination has occurred. So this instance alone has ate up a bit of your safety net overhead.

The bottom line, a tank won't last forever... and whatever pre-planned safety threshold factors into that life expectancy.
 
Even with the 30 mins of overflow the tank got a little wet. But with the waterproofiing and wood primer there isn't any signs of weakening. Of course nothing lasts forever but if one feels the need to overbuild for their peace of mind knock yourself out. I'm just saying it's not necessary. Just like the extra warranties they always try to sell you when you buy something. Sure there's always a chance something will fail but it's not worth the cost.
 
I guess I'm just saying that I wouldn't throw out a blanket statement of how unnecessary it is to factor in a safety envelope when the reality is that the opposite is true. Considering the ratio of failures that we see, even from the folks willing to share their debacles here online, a safety margin isn't unnecessary.

Even your own build factored in over building.. you didn't need to put in a fiberglass shell or use the ratios that you did in your mixes. But it made sense to you.

Nice build though, by the way.

Some people can't do their own taxes or have difficulties changing light bulbs. These people need all the advantages to their side as they can get if they decide to try to build something, especially when that something is inherently pushing the limits on material physics.

Even the stacked lumber build, I would admit that it is wasteful if someone used it that had the skills to do otherwise. Though on the original build by Pete, I don't think it was wasteful considering the depth that he was trying to achieve. Some of these others that are only around 2 feet deep, maybe not. But who's to say that the tank won't last decades longer?

Each builder needs to analyse their own skills and weigh that against how much safety envelope they think they need and the cost involved.
 
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