New plywood tank

[Paschendale52]

I put the finishing touches on the new 180 gallon plywood aquarium today. We moved to Albuquerque a month or two ago and bought a house, so I got to put a nice big aquarium right near the front door. Its 3/4" plywood sealed on the inside with pond armor and silicone and decorated/reinforced with walnut hardwood trim. The tank is 6' x 2' x 2' and has LED lightning and an MVB UV/heat source on a 12 hour timer. The topper is extruded aluminum with acrylic windows and the basking platform is some scrap cherry hardwood. Eventually the 2x4 frame on the bottom will get a walnut/maple wrap to make it all look nice and clean.



This is a close up of the basking platform and cross bracing. The black PVC on the left are the two intakes for the twin canister pumps.



Three of the four year and half old map turtles were hiding because of all the activity with getting the backing platform in, but this guy was out exploring.



I'm a little concerned about the rock stack being too close to the surface to the right of the basking platform. The map turtles dive for cover really quickly when they're out and someone/something moves. I've seen them with smaller dives into the water hit the front of their shells or their head on plants/rocks/glass, but it seems like this is a bigger jump and so I ought to move the rocks. Any opinions on the matter?

Thanks for looking!

 

[wellington]

It looks great. Can't believe you made an aquarium for water out of wood.
Is any of the wood exposed to the water or does the plexi cover up all the wood?
As for the rocks, I have no suggestions except if you think they might hit them, then I would change it.

 

[Paschendale52]

It looks great. Can't believe you made an aquarium for water out of wood.
Is any of the wood exposed to the water or does the plexi cover up all the wood?
As for the rocks, I have no suggestions except if you think they might hit them, then I would change it.

Its the 4th one I've made now. The others got left behind when moving. Some of them had minor leaks after 3 years, but all of them taught me a lesson. I don't think this one will leak within 5 or 10 years. The marine epoxy coats all of the wood and then joints get reinforced with silicone. The glass covers up some of the walls and is siliconed in place. In the past leaks have been at places where I drilled holes for bulkheads and then didn't get an adequate seal.

I'll move the rocks.

Thanks!

 

[Toddrickfl1]

That's really nice!