Wooden Tank

[Mourinho18]

Okay, here's the deal, I'm building a 350 gallon plywood/wood tank. I'm going to fit it with pond liner and divide the tank into three sections. 50 gallons, 125 gallons, and 175 gallons. It's going to be 7' x 4' x 2' but I'm only going to fill it up to 20 inches.

Today is day one and it basically just involved purchasing some of what I'll need to build it.

3 pieces of plywood which are each 8' x 4' and approximately 3/4 inches thick.

Also purchased 16 pieces of 2' x 3'.

The actual building will take place this friday and I'll def. post some pics. Speaking of which, how do you post pics .

Wish me luck.

 

[guppy]

I hope it works out for you, measure twice and cut once as the saying goes. I like 2"x12" myself because when you cap it with 2"x6" laid flat it can be safely sat on. Materials, just the wood, for a 2'deep x4' wide x8' long set up runs around $90 at someplace like Lowe's or Lumberman's. Do you have Lowe's stores there? They sell liners plenty big for two of those for around $60.

To post pics into a thread just download into your computer's picture or document file then after you have started a post go below the message box to where it says "go advanced" and click there, that will open a window where you can scroll down to where it says "manage attachments" click there and it will open a little window where you will see several slots that say "browse" click one and select your picture then click "open" then "upload", repeat for more pics then close that window and click "submit". that should do it. Make sure they are jpeg files and it is best if the pics are only 400 or so pixels on a side. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

 

[rayman45]

pics pics pics

 

[Mourinho18]

Thanks for the advice there guppy. Me and my pops are basically making a project out of this. We purchased the wood at Lowe's for $67 after a 10 dollar discount which is pretty decent. What we're gonna do is get some cheap liner and have one layer of that underneath the pond liner for extra support in case of a rip.

Thanks about posting pics. Gonna put it all together friday since it's my only free day and I want to make it a one day project since I've already got some little buddies I want to move in.

 

[guppy]

One thing I havused as an under layer is the heavy clear plastic sheets used by builders to cover openings in walls and such. I also put a couple of inches of sand or fine gravel inside on the bottom which helps to hold down ant bubbles that might form beneath the liner and IMO improves the looks. Lowe's also carries 1300gph pumps for about $99 and a reasonable filter can be made from a 20g rubbermaid tub that sits inside the tank. add a few potted water lilies and you are set.

 

[Sixx101]

I would test fold the liner in each seperate compartment several time before even attempting to make a cut.

 

[guppy]

I would test fold the liner in each seperate compartment several time before even attempting to make a cut.

Very good idea Sixx101, by the way, Welcome to MFK. Is that a bounty hunter from Cowboy Bebop as your avatar, I love that show.

 

[Mourinho18]

Let me just add that (guppy), I'm using your advice on the diy tank dividers using the egg crate. I've been looking for something to use where I can divide my tank but still have the water flowing freely about. It also works out perfectly with the sizes since the tank is 4 feet wide and 2 feet high .

Just thought I would mention that I'm going to keep

2 red terrors in the side with 175 gallons

4 Geophagus abalios
4 heros sp. rotkeil
4 caquetaia spectabile

and hopefully
4 caquetaia myersi in a 125 gallon section

and

4 cichlasoma oblonus in the 50 gallon section

 

[guppy]

very nice, it should make a great display. How are you going to hold the dividers in place?

 

[Mourinho18]

to be honest I havent really decided how I'm going to do that. I'm hoping it can hold with rocks but it'll probably need more support when the fishies get a little bigger. How large are the holes in , theegg crates, because i dont want absolutely any fishies swimming from one side to another freely, including future possible fry.