PlanetCatfish.com

I need temporary housing for some plecos, I was thinking about using plywood tanks. What is the pro and cons of these designs and also any construstion links?

I'd say nothing wrong with plywood tanks, but for 1 type of fish......

pleco = woodeater! get the picture?
imagine the fish themselves chewing a hole right through your tank......

plywood tanks are fine for any fish, save fish that scrape and eat wood.
to have a nice peaceful relaxed sleep at night, I suggest you stick to glass & silicone, a proven method for pleco-proof tanks

Not only that, unless you line it with something, then I would have to assume that the wood would eventually weaken, due to the water. I don't think pre-treated wood would help, since the chemicals may leach into the water.

The only possible way is if it were a large, hollowed out tree.

Plywood tanks are usually coated on the inside with several coats of epoxy. I find it hard to believe that even the most wood loving pleco would chew it's way through the epoxy layers.

There is an epoxy paint meant for wooden potable water tanks that you're supposed to use for homemade fish tanks and aquariums. I found some plans online and fully intend to build about a 200 gallon next summer. If I provide plenty of wood furniture, I doubt my plecos will chew through it (especially the otos) :O But if they do, you guys will be the first to know!

I think you will find such a tank perfectly viable.
I have built 8 tanks this way and I found them very durable. It would take quite a pleco to abrade the epoxy coating.

Crazie.Eddie wrote:Not only that, unless you line it with something, then I would have to assume that the wood would eventually weaken, due to the water. I don't think pre-treated wood would help, since the chemicals may leach into the water.

The only possible way is if it were a large, hollowed out tree.

There's something called "Marine ply", which is meant for building boats and such-like. Definitely waterproof in all aspects. Only the seams need special treatment.

Google will find you several hints on building plywood tanks, as will a forum search for "plywood tank" (links have been posted before).

I agree that plecos would not have much effect on the hard epoxy coating that is used in these tanks.

It's also doubtfull that this is actually noticably less expensive than the glass tanks - I find that the expensive stuff for any tank isn't the glass anyways, it's the filter, heater, light and stand that cost more than the "glass". [One sheet of 18mm marine ply, 1200 x 2400 mm from a local supplier here is £55 (US $110) including VAT exc. delivery, and you'll need a decent amount of screws and adhesive as well, so I'd expect the price of material, assuming one sheet would be around £80-£100 (US $ 160-200)].

It's hard to find a "tank only" for sale that is around £100, but it looks like you could quite easiely get something in the order of 48 x 18 x 18 inches for that money.

--
Mats
--
Mats

I have actually built tanks out of the plastic impregnated natural finish type plywood as well as A/C grade epoxy coated plywood with equal success. They epoxy coated tanks are the more attractive.
I agree with Matt that when it's all said and done there is little cost savings vs a commercial tank. That is why I don't make them anymore.
The only way to cut corners is if you get a deal on some 1/4" plate glass and build glass/silicone aquariums. As long as I have kept the height 18" max I have been able to build tanks up to 18"Hx60"LX20"W ~75. I did incorporate longitudinal edge strips and center cross bracing. The tank lasted 15 years until I sold it.

Its in english as I don't think you'l understand Norwegian

Plywood tank

Giant tank

1500 L kitchen tank I used this as an inspiration for building a 300L rivertank (150x50x40 cm). You can use the same plywood as these guys. But do not remove the brown film on the plywood - just sand it a little before you apply epoxy. The guy with the 1500 L kitchen tank realy removed an extra layer of "water resistance"

Best of luck

If you do use plywood/epoxy in a tankm just make sure there are no panaques in there, my Royal would make short work of that epoxy in no time....

Also i believe that marine ply isnt totally waterproof in full contact/submergence applications without further treatment such as epoxying/painting as it is made with a waterproof adhesive gluing the laminations together, however water is still free to permiate into the wood laminat itsself.

synoguy wrote:If you do use plywood/epoxy in a tankm just make sure there are no panaques in there, my Royal would make short work of that epoxy in no time....

Also i believe that marine ply isnt totally waterproof in full contact/submergence applications without further treatment such as epoxying/painting as it is made with a waterproof adhesive gluing the laminations together, however water is still free to permiate into the wood laminat itsself.

Marine ply is definitely not waterproof if you expose cut edges to permanent water. However, the different designs I've seen assumes that you use a sticky, waterproof, compound to "glue" the sides together, so only the edges at the top would be exposed, and you can coat those if you want.

The epoxy resin used for coating the ply should be Panaque-proof for some noticable time, and I doubt that will be the demise of such a tank (at least not if sufficient other "food-wood" is available in the tank - similar to keeping plants with other types of plecos: it works much better if they are frequently fed with vegetables than if you "starve them").

--
Mats

I built a plywood tank many years ago and painted the inside with pool paint it was one of the best looking tanks i had and lasted a long time . But it,s a lot cheaper to use glass
Cheers Slider

Just to throw out some less expensive alternatives. Preformed plastic and fiberglass ponds have really come down in price. I was able to pick up a very nice one (see below) that holds about 75 gallons for under US $200. The waterfall feature was another $50. Less decorative models are even less expensive. For the same price I could have picked up a ceramic-colored plastic pond of about 125 gallons.
Lastly, if looks are not important, a several hundred gallon plastic stock tank can be picked up for under US $100 at an agricultural supply store.
-Shane



Stock Tanks
http://www.nextag.com/stock-tanks/search-html

Now what would you be keeping in that pond?

Now what would you be keeping in that pond?

Killies, barbs and Chiloglanis.
-Shane

Hi Shane,
I take it you just go out and collect killies to replace the jumpers? That habit is why I haven't kept them in my summertime wading pool/ponds.

Shane, that setup is absolutely exquisite! It wouldn't matter a whit if you kept nothing in it - such a visually beautiful presentation would have a home in my patio room anytime!

I take it you just go out and collect killies to replace the jumpers? That habit is why I haven't kept them in my summertime wading pool/ponds.

Actually, the sole jumper has been a Chiloglanis. I kept the pond down a few inches for about a week after adding the killes and barbs. I find that after a week or so, once the fish are comfortable with boundries, they rarely jump. I could always replace any jumpers with the fry they produce. They have spawned a couple of times and the fry are proving easy to raise on crushed flake. Spawning killies is about on a level with spawning guppies, but more of an achievement than spawning cichlids.
Thanks azfisher!
-Shane