150+ gallon tank build

Me either.... me either

 

man that looks great this has interested me in building one also, what was your approx cost for the materials?, and how did you seperate the black and blue in the corners?, any thing youwould change if youcould do it agian? thanks.

 

Looks good, can you take a pic of the homemade overflow boxes from inside the tank? Im curious to see how you did it. Luna

 

Total Costs as follows (in CND dollars):
Wood (Used 9-ply Birch) On sale for 39.99/sheet - used 1 8'x4' sheet and 1 2'x4' piece and have probably enough for another overflow.

Aquapon 35 - $40 - used leftover paint from a friend - i think it's approx. $120 for full cans (2 cans because it's 2-part epoxy).

I used oak for all the boarders - $22.98 - you can also use maple and it's cheaper.

Chocalate bar - $1.25

Paintbrushes - $2.39 each - used 2 - one for blue and one for black.

Roller and tray - $3.79 - used for painting the exterior of tank.

Holesaw for overflow boxes - $8.57

Silicone - $4.56 per tube - bought 2 tubes - still have one and half tubes for putting the glass in.

Glass - $178.47

Respirator - $44.87 - had to get one because I worked in the garage - if you did it outside you probably wouldn't need this, but I would advise it.

Rubbermaid container for sump - $15.77

Paint for exterior - $7.98

Plumbing - Mother works at an air conditioning repair shop - free ninety-nine

Base rock - 197.99 for 100 lbs

New pump - $165.

New sand - $49.99

Sorry for the long post, but this is the breakdown of costs so far. I used 3" screws and they were left over from basement renos.

Luna the pics will come as soon as I can commandeer the appropriate computer.

P.S. Beer is an additional cost that I'm not willing to share

Oh, If i could change one thing - I would have made the overflows longer and possibly deeper. I was trying to avoid the waterline being below the glass but I think I limited the size of pump I can have. We'll see. I also would not use any silicone in the joints before painting with aquapon. I used painters tape to make the black and blue look - Painted the entire thing blue first - 3 coats, then did another 2 coats of black after taping off what I wanted to remain blue.

 

thanks it looks great i think i might try to tackle one around 250 gallons or so..i think im going to use 2 layers of birch though laminated together, i think 3/4 and 1/2 because its going to be around 30" tall, 20"deep and 72" long, im thinking about 3/4 glass for the front.. think it will work? thanks agian. looks great ..

 

3/4" should be lots for 30" tall, make sure it's NOT tempered. I've seen people "get away" with 3/8" ... I'm not saying do it, but it has been done Be careful though. You can only see through one side so it might be difficult to get your bearing while moving stuff in the tank if you only have 1 viewable side... also I've seen people use fiberglass on the inside and then painted over that for added strength.

Luna, here are some pics of the overflow - Hope they clear things up a bit.

 

so when do you think your goingto fill er up?

 

Probably next week. The glass will be here wednesday and siliconed in place wednesday night - Fresh water test on Friday. I'm out of town this weekend so monday i will be mixing salt water if the freshwater test goes well.

 

Are you going to put egg crate or some other material over those overflow inlets? Don't want a fishy to get sucked up. If you've got any of that black epoxy/paint left, you could paint it black to help hide it a bit.

 

Yes, I have acrylic cut and will cut slots in it as needed and silicone to the back side. Thanks for the insight though, never thought of using the epoxy for something else like that.