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Mazprot DIY Tank Thread

Tentacle Toast;193874 said:
I was thinking of the Plexiglas as a liner, not the actual "build" material. Save some fumes from the rubber at least. Speaking (typing) of...is it rubber specifically for the aquarium industry/marine applications? Do you know the brand most often used? I ask out of curiosity alone; the whole notion of a wooden tank is really interesting:smile:

Well as far as my research has gone it seems that it is typically used in the roofing industry and not specifically for aquarium keeping but i have found one company that boasts an absolutely safe non-toxic non leaching form of it which they sell for pong liners and plywood tanks. It is called rubberizeit (link below)

Im still unsure and have yet to read or hear anyone testimony on it for this reason I am still not going to do any building what so ever before I am absolutely sure a plywood tank will be forever and also not leach anything. If there is even a chance it leaches I wont build one because I cant be killing off octopuses. Because that is just not acceptable.

https://www.rubberizeit.com/video/diy-plywood-aquarium-build-water-proofing-with-liquid-rubber-ug/
 
That would most definitely be unacceptable! Thanks for the link, I'm going to check it out. Please keep us posted if you go that route (& even if you don't), it's always cool to see people's set-ups. You could end up with a truly unique build! Good luck to you
 
Jon Olav has published some very informative blogs about some of his projects, including building two plywood tanks. He sealed them with fiberglass and either marine epoxy, or the less expensive polyester resin. You can find his blogs here.
 
Joe-Ceph;193920 said:
Jon Olav has published some very informative blogs about some of his projects, including building two plywood tanks. He sealed them with fiberglass and either marine epoxy, or the less expensive polyester resin. You can find his blogs here.

I like the idea of fiberglass and marine epoxy way better than liquid rubber. thank you for the link.
 
mazprot;193933 said:
I like the idea of fiberglass and marine epoxy way better than liquid rubber. thank you for the link.
I haven't read anything about using liquid rubber (except above) but I can say that the reason that Jon Olav included fiberglass was that plywood is rather soft/flexible, while epoxy or polyester resin is hard and brittle (without fiberglass). The problem, without fiberglass, was that point pressure, like from the corner of a rock, would easily cause a little crack at the impact point, and allow water to seep into the wood and ruin the tank. Rubber would flex, and not crack, and so would be a more simple (single component) alternative if it doesn't come with its own downside (toxicity? expense? ???).
 
Joe-Ceph;193947 said:
I haven't read anything about using liquid rubber (except above) but I can say that the reason that Jon Olav included fiberglass was that plywood is rather soft/flexible, while epoxy or polyester resin is hard and brittle (without fiberglass). The problem, without fiberglass, was that point pressure, like from the corner of a rock, would easily cause a little crack at the impact point, and allow water to seep into the wood and ruin the tank. Rubber would flex, and not crack, and so would be a more simple (single component) alternative if it doesn't come with its own downside (toxicity? expense? ???).


im still very iffy on the liquid rubber. From what i have read there should be no issues but i like the idea of fiberglass way better, especially if it makes the tank stronger. I dont think a 500+ gallon plywood tank even with a stud wall would hold without something like fiberglass lining it. I believe that my DIY person hasn't tried to build quite as large of a tank as olav did a 500+ gallon tank is some serious DIYing!

Im iffy on it because i dont want to it to be the home of a needy octopus that then gets stressed because i have to fix the tank or whatever due to DIY failures.

Should I try to get this discussion moved to Tank Talk?
 
I would like to move it to Tank Talk for others considering a DIY tank but am working with a very small screen this week and I have fat fingers :roll:. If it has not been moved when I get back, I will move and retitle it to make it easier to find but please keep posting your thoughts so I can find it easily :biggrin2:
 
DWhatley;193983 said:
I would like to move it to Tank Talk for others considering a DIY tank but am working with a very small screen this week and I have fat fingers :roll:. If it has not been moved when I get back, I will move and retitle it to make it easier to find but please keep posting your thoughts so I can find it easily :biggrin2:


Sounds good thank you.

I would love to hear the thoughts of those who know more than I on tank set ups.
 

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