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Building a
giant plywood tank III
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first article about making a plywood
tank that I wrote some months ago, still didn't answer certain
questions of some visitors. As I assembled another (smaller) grow-out
tank with this material and the remains of the 3000L/800G tank window,
this was the opportunity to make pictures of each step in the
building process, so readers can see the new tank growing bit by bit
in this article, that can be seen as an addition to the first article. |
 
The boards are cut on precision machines in the lumberyard. Be sure to
make a plan with all boards & strips in advance. A good and simple
tool for this is the standard Paint program that comes with most
Windows versions. Draw a rectangle corresponding to the size of these
boards, and fit in all the pieces. Of course you need to keep in mind
that these people can't saw pieces out, but only a straight part off a
board, so getting the last bit out of each board won't be possible! -
After paying them we can take the boards home to start the
preparations |
All the boards need to be predrilled, so the screws will be mounted in
a correct way. A hit-or-miss approach will definitely lead to a
disappointing result - The panels need to be sanded for a maximal
adhesive strength of the polymer based sealant. |
 
The contact surfaces could be sanded manually, but I prefer a small
electric corner sander. Don't ever use a belt sander, as this damages
the waterproof resin layer very rapidly! - A caliper can be used to
mark the right distances for the holes that need to be predrilled: 9mm
from the side with an 18 mm board thickness and about 1 hole every 10
cm are good measures. Drill the holes very gently, as too much
pressure can damage the resin layer on the backside of the board! |
The tank already in my fish room with both sides screwed to the bottom
board. Because the tank doesn't weight too much, it's standing on an
old door that forms an even support for correct and easy assembling.
See next page for more information. |
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