I'm seriously considering building my own 300 gallon rectangular acrylic tank in my basement. I'm thinking of building my own to save a little money, avoid having to squeeze a giant tank down my stairs, and to have a fun project to work on over the next few months. I'd like to keep some bigger marine fish in the tank, maybe a small shark or ray or some larger non-reef safe fish. I have a reef tank, but I've always wanted to have a large format/FOWLR tank as well.
Anyway, since this could be a pretty big undertaking, I know I'll need to gather some knowledge before diving in. I'm pretty handy, I enjoy DIY projects, I have plenty of tools and experience working with wood and other materials, but I've never worked with acrylic (let alone large sheets of acrylic that need to be bonded together). So I thought I'd start with some questions about tank design and construction:
First of all, based on the bit of research that I've done about building an acrylic tank, it looks like the panels are fastened together using Acrylic cement. I see a lot of people using a product called Weld-On 4 to bond the acrylic panels. It looks like once the panels are bonded and the cement is fully cured, people use clear or black silicone to seal the corners. So, first question: does anyone suggest a different product or method to bond the panels?
I've seen some large tank designs with metal bracing on the corners. Some have bracing on all corners, some just on the bottom, some on the bottom and top, but not the vertical edges. I've also see tanks with what's called EuroBracing on the top, which I'd be fine with, but I don't know if I'm able to do it with acrylic since I'm not comfortable making large or rounded cuts (I'd be fine with cutting some strips and small pieces). I'd like to build an 84" x 36" x 30" tank. So this leads to my second set of questions: how do I figure out whether or not I need bracing on the corners? What about EuroBracing on top? Can that be done with strips of acrylic and cement?
And since I could be potentially housing some fish that may want to jump, I'm guessing I'll need some kind of lid. Has anyone had experience building their own lids out of acrylic? Ideally, I'd like something with hinges or slides. I'd rather not just throw a loose sheet of acrylic over the top and call it a lid.
Well, I think this is more than enough to get a discussion going. Once I get some of these questions answered, I'll move on to further design topics such as filtration (overflow & sump location), plumbing, lighting, and eventually a stand to hold this massive thing. I know this is going to be a long process, but I'm interested to learn more and I want to make sure I do it correctly. Thanks in advance for your help and insight!
Anyway, since this could be a pretty big undertaking, I know I'll need to gather some knowledge before diving in. I'm pretty handy, I enjoy DIY projects, I have plenty of tools and experience working with wood and other materials, but I've never worked with acrylic (let alone large sheets of acrylic that need to be bonded together). So I thought I'd start with some questions about tank design and construction:
First of all, based on the bit of research that I've done about building an acrylic tank, it looks like the panels are fastened together using Acrylic cement. I see a lot of people using a product called Weld-On 4 to bond the acrylic panels. It looks like once the panels are bonded and the cement is fully cured, people use clear or black silicone to seal the corners. So, first question: does anyone suggest a different product or method to bond the panels?
I've seen some large tank designs with metal bracing on the corners. Some have bracing on all corners, some just on the bottom, some on the bottom and top, but not the vertical edges. I've also see tanks with what's called EuroBracing on the top, which I'd be fine with, but I don't know if I'm able to do it with acrylic since I'm not comfortable making large or rounded cuts (I'd be fine with cutting some strips and small pieces). I'd like to build an 84" x 36" x 30" tank. So this leads to my second set of questions: how do I figure out whether or not I need bracing on the corners? What about EuroBracing on top? Can that be done with strips of acrylic and cement?
And since I could be potentially housing some fish that may want to jump, I'm guessing I'll need some kind of lid. Has anyone had experience building their own lids out of acrylic? Ideally, I'd like something with hinges or slides. I'd rather not just throw a loose sheet of acrylic over the top and call it a lid.
Well, I think this is more than enough to get a discussion going. Once I get some of these questions answered, I'll move on to further design topics such as filtration (overflow & sump location), plumbing, lighting, and eventually a stand to hold this massive thing. I know this is going to be a long process, but I'm interested to learn more and I want to make sure I do it correctly. Thanks in advance for your help and insight!