poly-wall to waterproof plywood aquarium
- Thread starter singleton96
- Start date
sorry the real name is plastex panel. If no one has use it please tell me what you think about using it to waterproofing a plywood aquarium
so no one has build a plywood aquarium with frp (fibre-reinforced plastic) someone please say something i just want to hear what you think
Standard FRP has been used to make plywood aquaria but I don't know of any links or websites to steer you towards.
As far as the Plastex panels my main concern would be what you would use to seal the interior edges and corners. Some of these wall panels have a very low surface energy. This is a good thing as it makes them more chemical resistant and much easier to clean. But these same properties also mean that it's very difficult to get a good bond with the cleanable surface. So just because there is an adhesive that sticks to the back doesn't necessarily mean the same adhesive will stick to the front.
In the past decade more and more adhesives are coming out that bond with low surface energy plastics. How flexible and waterproof these are I do not know. They need to be able to stand up to significant pressures if your tank will have any significant depth.
It might be that regular old silicone will stick. It seems like there are recommended adhesive lists for the poly-wall but I didn't read enough to see if they'll stick to the front as well as the back of the panels. And then there's the question of they'll stick well enough for aquaria use.
This stuff is made for lining shower stalls and the like. I used it once in a basement renovation and found that GE II did stick to it but I had to remove a shower valve cover that was siliconed to it and found it pealed off pretty easily. I wouldn't trust that particular silicone to provide a joint that would hold up to water pressure. Maybe others would, but GE II pealed right off 2 weeks after it was applied to a surface that I had cleaned with alcohol prior to application.