Building a Plywood fish tank.

For all you out there that want a bigger tank at half the price but want something different from plain glass tanks. I have made my own plywood fish tank. It is useful and it is sturdy and does not leak. This is to show you all how easy and efficient it is to build a ply wood tank.

Depending on how big or small you would like your tank to be the measurements will always be different from the one in this segment of building a plywood tank.

Here are the materials you will need before starting:

1) Plywood 3/4 inch. sufficient for under 200 gallons, anything over 200 gallons you will need 1/2 inch and 2X4 wall bracing sheeted on the inside of the box.

2) 2 inch drywall screws, better for the wood.

3) Water proof wood glue

4) polyester putty for a wood finish

5) Bondo can be used on painted finish as long as the paint is water proof.

6) Marine epoxy resin or stone effects step 3 counter top coating. ( Potable non toxic to the fish)

7) Measuring tape

8) Drill

9) Hammer

10) Table saw or circular saw

11) Pre cut glass to the size of your tank 150 gallon tank you will need glass at 1/4 inches with reinforced front frame. You need to have the glass cut in this size for the 150 gallon tank, 94 inches by 14 inches.(you can go to crystal glass to get this)

Building Instructions: for 150 gallon fish tank.

1) start with the base panel 24 inches by 96 inches and than measure the back panel 96 inches by 16 inches.

2) Glue these two pieces together and screw them together every 3 inches so that the back panel sits on the base.

3) Measure the side panels to 16 inches in height same as the back panel and than measure the bottom of the side panels to go flush with the base. All pieces need to be glued and than screwed every 3 inches.

4) Measure between the side panels from the inside of the tank and than cut 2 2x4 in that exact length. Make sure that you double check the measurements to the exact length of the 2x4's. due to sometimes the 2x4's do not fit properly because the frame might need to be straightened out a bit, the 2x4's work as spacers but if the frame is not straight than they will not fit. To fix this problem you will need to push or pull the sides until there is no gap. If you have the problem where it is too tight to get the 2x4's in place this is where you will need the hammer to knock into place. (DO NOT SCREW THE 2X4'S IN YET)

5) Take the 2 2x4's and lay them on a flat surface, Take your 3/4 inch plywood and make sure that the ply wood is the same length as the 2 2x4's, Make sure that it is 16 inches in height like the rest of the boards. Now you can glue the 2 2x4's to the 3/4 inch plywood you just measured. Once everything is flush to the outside board than you can screw them together.(SEE FIGURES 1 AND 2)

Here is an update for the 150 gallon tank. See the last figure at the bottom of the page. The 150 gallon tank now has the glass in and looks great. When putting the glass in make sure that you seal it well with silicon. Let dry for 24 hours before you do your water test.

More to come..........

Building The stand for your tank

The most important part of the tank would be building the stand for your tank. You need a place to put your freshly built tank right. Building a stand is not that hard. You want to make sure that when you build your stand that you measure the base of your tank and apply that to how you want your stand.

Steps for building your stand:

1) Measure the leaghnth and width of your tank.

2) Make sure that you have some enough 2X4's for the stand.

3) 3/4 Inch plywood or 3/8 inch plywood for the top of your stand(you can also use an old dressor and design it the way you want it to be)

4) once you have your measurements and the design you want for your stand you can put it together.

5) Make sure that you have Screws and a Drill for this project.

EG of what we did with our stand:

First off we put the 2X4's together and than added the top peice for where the tank will sit.

Second because we have a small living room we added reinforced side and added a top to the stand so that our TV can sit on it. This is for space reasons, see the following picture.(It is not compleate but will give you an idea of how it will look)

The last picture on this hub is of the tv/fishtankstand close to being compleated.