I guess I never started a build thread about the tank here, so I'll copy my other one. Let me know what you think.
This will eventually be the home to my alligator snapping turtle. I've been keeping her in a plastic kiddie pool for about a year and a half, and I'm starting to question how much longer it is going to hold up. That, and it looks pretty crappy. So, I'm building her a new place. It will hold about 220gal or so after its finished. It has a 4'x5' footprint, with 18" high walls. One 5' wall will have a glass window, the rest will just be plywood. I'm using 3/4" BC plywood for the main box, using the sanded side in. The top and bottom have 2x4 bracing all the way around. I might end up putting a few cross braces in, but it seems like its going to be pretty darn sturdy as is.
I built a false wall about 8" out from the back wall, which will hide all the filtration. On the left end of the false wall you can see the overflow part. Right below this will be a plastic container to hold some sponges for easy mech filtration. Then, the water will flow over a baffle and onto a drip tray, where it will drain onto biomedia of some sort, then get pumped through the hole in the false wall into a spray bar setup of some sort. I have a bulkhead fitting that goes in the hole. I designed it around the filtration in a Seaclear System II setup, from pictures.
All seams are being covered with fiberglass mat strips, as well as a strip around the top to cover any screw heads. The rest will be covered in an epoxy resin. I am using a resin made by MAS Epoxies. They were very helpful with all of my questions, and their product has been used for plywood fish/turtle tanks before by several universities. I bought the slow-cure hardener, which gives the resin a pot life of about 27min before it starts getting too gloopy to brush on.
As it stands, I'm done with all the fiberglassing, as soon as its dry I'll start the first coat over the floor and walls.
Outside the box. The board with the green paint all over it was a test. The epoxy can be tinted using plain old acrylic paint. I wanted to test it out to make sure I had some idea of how much to add. I added way too much for the test, so its taking a long time to dry.
Where the window will go
Behind the false wall - the two cross pieces will hold the tray for the mech filtration.
Overflow. These pix were taken before I did the last of the fiberglassing, around the top.
Epoxy and hardener. I bought a half gallon of resin and a quart of hardener. It's designed to mix at a 2:1 ratio....super easy to eyeball in the container, no need to accurately measure and make a mess like I usually do.
Thanks for looking, will post more as progress is made.
This will eventually be the home to my alligator snapping turtle. I've been keeping her in a plastic kiddie pool for about a year and a half, and I'm starting to question how much longer it is going to hold up. That, and it looks pretty crappy. So, I'm building her a new place. It will hold about 220gal or so after its finished. It has a 4'x5' footprint, with 18" high walls. One 5' wall will have a glass window, the rest will just be plywood. I'm using 3/4" BC plywood for the main box, using the sanded side in. The top and bottom have 2x4 bracing all the way around. I might end up putting a few cross braces in, but it seems like its going to be pretty darn sturdy as is.
I built a false wall about 8" out from the back wall, which will hide all the filtration. On the left end of the false wall you can see the overflow part. Right below this will be a plastic container to hold some sponges for easy mech filtration. Then, the water will flow over a baffle and onto a drip tray, where it will drain onto biomedia of some sort, then get pumped through the hole in the false wall into a spray bar setup of some sort. I have a bulkhead fitting that goes in the hole. I designed it around the filtration in a Seaclear System II setup, from pictures.
All seams are being covered with fiberglass mat strips, as well as a strip around the top to cover any screw heads. The rest will be covered in an epoxy resin. I am using a resin made by MAS Epoxies. They were very helpful with all of my questions, and their product has been used for plywood fish/turtle tanks before by several universities. I bought the slow-cure hardener, which gives the resin a pot life of about 27min before it starts getting too gloopy to brush on.
As it stands, I'm done with all the fiberglassing, as soon as its dry I'll start the first coat over the floor and walls.
Outside the box. The board with the green paint all over it was a test. The epoxy can be tinted using plain old acrylic paint. I wanted to test it out to make sure I had some idea of how much to add. I added way too much for the test, so its taking a long time to dry.
Where the window will go
Behind the false wall - the two cross pieces will hold the tray for the mech filtration.
Overflow. These pix were taken before I did the last of the fiberglassing, around the top.
Epoxy and hardener. I bought a half gallon of resin and a quart of hardener. It's designed to mix at a 2:1 ratio....super easy to eyeball in the container, no need to accurately measure and make a mess like I usually do.
Thanks for looking, will post more as progress is made.
