Building an acrylic tank

Okay, so I'm not in as much of a hurry to replace my 55gal tank now that my BN pleco died yesterday. He was the reason I wanted to upgrade after cracking my 55gal, because in the 20gL he was in, he was like a bull in a china shop. So, that leaves me time to save up for what I want instead of settling for whatever is cheap.

That being said, the space we have for a tank is kind of awkward as far as the tank dimensions we can fit there. It's in the entryway, right as you walk in (inside wall). I want to go with the largest tank possible for that space. The problem is, the tank can't be more than 5 feet (60") long and 18" wide. The biggest tank I can find dimensions for that fit those criteria is the 110gal X-high, which measures 48" by 19" by 24". However, this size tank is extremely difficult to find where I live, new or used. The next usable size would be a 90 gallon (a 120gal is 48" by 24" by 25", but we can't fit a tank more than 18" in that spot without making it impossible to walk into the house through the front door). A 90 gallon would be okay, but like I said, I want the biggest possible.

So, I started looking at prices of acrylic at the local hardware stores and for a 60" by 18" by 24" tank (so roughly 115 gallons), I'd be looking at right around $200 for acrylic (including tax). Glass would be significantly more expensive, which is why I'm looking at acrylic. To build a stand would be around $50-75, tops, and I could even make a hood for it for not much more.

Has anyone here ever built their own custom tank? Was it extremely difficult or was it relatively easy? With acrylic, aquarium silicone would be the bonding agent of choice, correct? Any tips or thoughts?

 

I have never built my own aquarium but I have played around with some scrap acrylic seeing if I could do it. You do not bond acrylic with silicone as you do with glass. Instead you use a solvent to sort of fuse the pieces of acrylic together. I would highly recommend getting some scrap pieces to play with first as it is sort of an art to join the pieces together straight and with no inperfections. Especially doing a tank over 100 gallons, a slight imperfection could be disasterous.

 

This is the most concise set of instructions I've found so far. Does this look about right?



I will definitely be playing with the scrap acrylic first before I even think about attempting it on a grander scale.

Now that I re-read that link, it does say to use a solvent (WeldOn, I believe they call it). Somehow misread that the first time.

 

One thing I did not see on that guide is about the type of acrylic to use. I did some research myself and you want to use cell-cast acrylic not extruded acrylic. The cell-cast has higher tensile strength.Here is a link to a good guide I found over on

 

The link in post #4 to Aquarium by Brad Newton was broken so I've removed it.

Ken