# DIY Acrylic plywood tank



## CaVang (Aug 10, 2005)

Hello,

I would like to build a arcylic plywood tank.
does anyone have experience with ?

Thank
CA


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

The problem with acrylic is that silicone does not stick to it very well and it makes it difficult to adhese to the plywood. You would have to drill and bolt the acrylic to the front using a rubber gasket to get your seal around the perimeter.


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## Stickzula (Sep 14, 2007)

If you use acrylic epoxy to seal the plywood, you should be able to use solvent to weld the acrylic window to the plywood. I have no experience with this, but it makes sense that it would work similar to bonding 2 acrylic sheets together.


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## CICHLUDED (Aug 4, 2006)

Have you read the article in the libraryâ€¦?
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_list.php

.


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## CaVang (Aug 10, 2005)

Did anyone try to use weld-on 45 to glue plywood and acrylic together ?


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

Here's a suggestion from a company to use two part epoxy to bond the acrylic to the plywood. And that's not their product. They make a liquid rubber coating you can seal plywood or an old broken concrete pond with.
http://www.sanitred.com/waterproofing-b ... dfountain/


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

Interesting. I had looked up Sanitred 4- 4 1/2 years ago for my tank but decided to go with the Sweetwater epoxy instead. At the time they didn't have that article.

When I first started this project I had wanted to go with acrylic for the front but quickly abandond the idea as being unworkable. A while later I had the idea of coating the outside edge of the acyrlic that will come in contact with the tank with epoxy. I went down to Acrylic Tank Manufacturing here in town and asked how well epoxy would stick to it. They told me it would work just fine.

I got pretty excited at this point and posted the idea here hoping to get some comfirmation to bolster my enthusiasm. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... al+coating Unfortunatly I recieved no answers so I abandoned the idea again. I had to much time and effort in the project to take the chance.

I am now at the point where the only thing left to do is put the glass in but the acrylic idea may be back on the table.

Thanks for the article McDaphnia. :thumb:


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## CHBGator (Oct 5, 2006)

That epoxy on the Acrylic and plywood with silicone in the middle is a great idea. Still don't know about the Sanitred tho way to many steps and think about all the curing times between all those different coats. I'd also ask TFG about it because I'm not sure hes to happy with the Sanitred product.


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

Yea I looked into the Sanitred pretty hard and it seemed to have a lot of good quailities but after looking at the price I decided to stick with the Sweetwater because of it's proven track record.

I can get the acrylic cheaper then tempered glass here but I've already used up all my epoxy to coat the tank and sump. Maybe I'll look into some cheaper 2 part epoxy available locally since it will be isolated from the inside of the tank anyway.


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## CHBGator (Oct 5, 2006)

I should clarify about the not knowing about the sanitred method. I meant about the method they used in the Article McDaphnia posted on the sanitred site. That whole process seemed way to long, to many steps involved.


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

I agree. Given thier prices and the number of steps and products you would have to use to achieve thier results kind of puts a damper on the whole thing. My idea was to just paint the perimeter and outside edge of the acrylic with two part epoxy and slap it into place with silicone as you would glass and just run another bead around the inside edge.

I may just stick my neck out and try it.


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## SLIGHTLY STOOPID (Dec 23, 2004)

> I may just stick my neck out and try it.


There are lots of people here who might rather use acrylic than glass in their DIYs who are interested in a way to get it done. I am planning to use the plywood/acrylic method for my tank. I think I will be doing a background for it as well.  8)


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

iceblue said:


> I agree. Given thier prices and the number of steps and products you would have to use to achieve thier results kind of puts a damper on the whole thing. My idea was to just paint the perimeter and outside edge of the acrylic with two part epoxy and slap it into place with silicone as you would glass and just run another bead around the inside edge.
> 
> I may just stick my neck out and try it.


It seemed to me they were trying to find every possible way to use every possible Sanitred product in making the tank. However to bond the acrylic "window" and to protect against UV, Sanitred went with two part epoxy. That says something for epoxy. Which is the reason for the link.

I like epoxy for plywood tanks. I like to put in two coats of gloss white followed by two coats of gloss black. I like MDO for the plywood. (That is a world different from MDF, for those who are alphabet challenged in the plywood categories.) I like to keep seams and joints as simple as possible. I like wood screws, but the price and convenience of deck screws has led me to use them many times with no problems. Drywall screws are not made to hold plywood together and the heads pop off easily.


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## TNprogrammer (Jul 28, 2008)

I'm not sure I really understand what people mean when they say a "plywood" tank. Do you actually mean that the walls are plywood, and not glass? If so, won't the wood soak up the water and leak/break? Thanks.


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