Our homemade tanks and a few of the inhabitants ...

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VickiandKev

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Jan 27, 2010
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We have spent the best part of 6 months building our breeding setup in plywood. We looked at other alternatives and decided that plywood would be best for our needs and our fish for various reasons.

We have a three tier stand of 2ft x 2ft x 1ft tanks, these hold my calico BN breeding colony in the top, the keepers/growouts in the middle and my OH's pair of musk turtles in the bottom.

We have a three tier stand of 3ft x 2ft x 1ft, the top one holds my OH's colony of L46, the middle holds my longfin bristlenose colony and the bottom one holds our L183 colony.

Then a three tier stand of 6ft x 2ft x 1ft. These are just being finished and the top will hold our L128 colony, the middle our L200 colony and the stocking for the bottom one is not yet planned ... we will probably make this a mixed tank for our assorted plecos.

Then we have the four tanks on the side - the top left is larger growout bristlies, the top right is calico and albino bristlies, the bottom left is smaller growout bristlies and the bottom right is QT for our keeper plecos we've imported. We have an L081, L199, L134, L080 and I'm trying to persuade my OH to let me add a few more of the 'box fillers' we got :p

Then we have the stand built last minute to hold the imported fish - I don't think we thought it through that properly until last minute and then bought a load of 4ft x 15" x 15" to do up and use for cheap and knocked together a stand.

Then we have our pride and joy, the living room tank. We have an 8ft x 4ft x 18" - this was just finished and tested a few days ago and my community have now been moved in. It needs proper sliders, lighting and painting to make it look nice.

Underneath the living room tank is a 6ft x 2ft x 1ft growout for bristlenose babies which still needs to be finished.

I will add photos bit by bit ... but here's one of a mock-up of one of the first tanks we built ... a 3ft x 2ft x 1ft.

 
V

VickiandKev

Member
Jan 27, 2010
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rpp1973 said:
I will look forward to seeing this thread progress:hi:
is it 18mm WBP plywood? and are you using epoxy to finnish the inside?

all the best with it
Rob.
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It's 18mm ply for all of the tanks except for the 8ft which is 25mm ply :)

We've used pond liner on the 3fts and 2fts and Technoseal (liquid rubber membrane) on the bigger tanks.

We have a three tier stand of 2ft x 2ft x 1ft tanks, these hold my calico BN breeding colony in the top, the keepers/growouts in the middle and my OH's pair of musk turtles in the bottom.
Click to expand...



We have a three tier stand of 3ft x 2ft x 1ft, the top one holds my OH's colony of L46, the middle holds my longfin bristlenose colony and the bottom one holds our L183 colony.
Click to expand...


And the zebs that live in the top ...





Their tank layout:



That's all for now, will post more throughout the day :)
 
V

VickiandKev

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Jan 27, 2010
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North London
The 6fts, not yet up and running but will be soon.



The tanks for the imports, each level holds two tanks


The fry and QT tanks


Me and two of our dogs sitting on the stand for our living room tanks


Kev sitting in the mock-up of our 8 x 4 living room tank


Tank being water-tested


Living room tank after being planted


All filled with fishies in :D


Just now putting the glass into the 6fts, and hopefully should have all of our 6fts up and running in the next few days :D
 
thegeeman

thegeeman

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Apr 21, 2009
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In the house of gee
Awesome stuff:clap:

Anychance you could do a detailed guide of building the 6fts?. I am tempted to get 2 more and this kind of set up looks very interesting.

Cheers

thegeeman
 
V

VickiandKev

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Jan 27, 2010
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North London
thegeeman said:
Awesome stuff:clap:

Anychance you could do a detailed guide of building the 6fts?. I am tempted to get 2 more and this kind of set up looks very interesting.

Cheers

thegeeman
Click to expand...
I will see what I can do :)
I didn't take nearly as many photographs as I should have building this lot, so it might be more of a textual guide than photographic but I will do my best.

This setup is certainly a lot cheaper to set up and a lot more economical long term than a conventional setup using box steel stands and all glass tanks it's something worth considering if you can put in the work and manage the DIY bits.
 
D

Doodles

Retired Staff
Apr 8, 2009
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Excellent thread, the tanks at the bottom are the type I would rather have, I really like long thin ones.

Cool dogs btw
 
Marsbar

Marsbar

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Apr 26, 2009
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Lincoln
They look great, I wish I was brave enough to build my own tank, did'nt pay enough attention to my woodwork classes:wb:
 
Mooo

Mooo

Member
Aug 11, 2010
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Jervis Bay, NSW, Au
lol Geeman..
Very nice set up..
I have to ask,
What is the chance of them leaking? more or less than a glass set up?
I've had glass tanks leak on me, so I was interested how the wood ones stand up to the pressure over the years...
Thanks for sharing your set up with us , It's awesome...
 
V

VickiandKev

Member
Jan 27, 2010
135
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16
North London
Mooo said:
lol Geeman..
Very nice set up..
I have to ask,
What is the chance of them leaking? more or less than a glass set up?
I've had glass tanks leak on me, so I was interested how the wood ones stand up to the pressure over the years...
Thanks for sharing your set up with us , It's awesome...
Click to expand...
This is our first time building plywood tanks (and some were a better job than others!) but when I did my research people were claiming their plywood tanks had lasted 20 years without a leak and were still going!

I think if you do it all properly and carefully then they are much less likely to leak than a glass tank, and much less likely to randomly crack (as some glass tanks of ours have done!). They're also harder to break yourself, which is always a good thing if the tanks are in a high-traffic area or if you're accident-prone (as I am!).

Of our 11 tanks, there is only one that has leaked, and, being honest, I knew that when I first made and filled it but I just filled it lower. I wanted my fish to have more space. But that tank will be re-done once the inhabitants' bigger plywood tanks are holding water. If it had have been a better job in the first place it wouldn't leak lol!

I actually trust these tanks much more than I do my glass ones!
 
S

SilverDub

Member
Apr 27, 2009
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Absolutely awesome......fairplay.

you better not keep big Panaques though, just in case they decided to eat there way out.
 
T

TExeter

New Member
Jul 28, 2009
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London
This is a great post.
I am interested how you finished the viewing panel, is it glass or acrylic and how did you glue it in place.

This has been on my agenda for years and i have been spurred on by your set ups.
Can't wait to read the breakdown. Good luck and great work.

Screw fix here i come :woohoo:
 
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