200g Plywood Build

[Flake]

The seams are all wood glued, heavily screwed and the siliconed in. I bought a full sheet of plywood that fits, so I could just jig around a center brace and just attach the whole thing to the top.

The sump's on hold for now. I was going to just build a plywood one into the stand, but I could only find enough sealant for the tank and don't really want to use a pond liner. I think i'm going to have to special order glass, so I have the time to find it, but for now, my chore is getting this sealed and the stand built

 

[Flake]

Yup. It should form a pretty water tight seal. It worked for a guy's 1500g build, it should work for my 200g.

 

[fishmonkey]

so flake, do you have the glass to make the tank yet? i cant wait to see that tank full of pristine water and excellent looking fish and inverts (even though thats a few months away with cycling and everything)!

 

[Flake]

Sadly no. I called the glass place near me today for an estimate on getting starphire glass. They'd have to special order it, so they'll have to call me back with the cost. :[

 

[Etunes]

Wow, great job. But i do have to say this is the first time i have heard of a plywood DIY tank. A tank made out of plywood just sounds weird.

 

[Flake]

Thanks! It sounded weird the first time I saw one. After looking at a few of them, I quite like the look. It's interesting to have a way to fully customize a fish tank without the enormous expense of all glass or acrylic.

 

[fishmonkey]

so whats this starphire glass? is it like extra clear or something lol

 

[Flake]

Starphire is supersuper clear. It doesn't have the greenish tint some glass has. This picture I found on reef sanctuary pretty much made up my mind for me.

 

[fishmonkey]

oh wow! yeah get the starphire! is it a lot more expensive?

 

[Flake]

It is. But it's not too far off the cost of acrylic, so i'm hoping it won't be too expensive to order and deliver. Fingers crossed!

 

[partypalooza5]

How thick of glass will you need? like 1"?

 

[Flake]

3/4 inch glass.

 

[fishmonkey]

are you going to make DIY lighting or are you going to buy it? what kind of lighting are you looking at?

 

[Flake]

I'm going to buy. I don't trust myself with electrical wiring. I'm thinking some high wattage T5s or something for corals.

 

[fishmonkey]

cool. no MH?

 

[Flake]

i'm not sure. I haven't really shopped lighting much. I wanted to actually be able to measure the top first before I shelled out cash. What do you think would support corals well enough in such a big tank?

 

[Etunes]

It is gonna be tough finding lighting. You could buy 2 fixtures and put them on the tank next to each other.

 

[Flake]

That's what I figured i'd have to do. two 30something inch fixtures would cover it all with room in between for the center brace. No sense lighting plywood

 

[fishmonkey]

yeah with that big of a tank you are probably going to want to get 2 MH fixtures. do you have any idea how big top of the tank is going to be at all?

 

[Etunes]

OK, answer me this. Whats the difference between MH and T5s? Do they allow you to keep different corals or something? Are they stronger light?