i have been entertaining this thought lately:

i want to build a wooden frame tank with a glass front its demensions will be either 4x2x2 or 3x2x2.

i am very adept at applying fiberglass and resins (surfboard repair) and was wondering if a good resin gloss coat over the fiberglass would be harmful for fish?

i plan on making my own cannister filter w/extra prefilter at the intake tube. much like the one i posted about before.

my purpose for posting this is to get any criticisms, input, ideas, experience and whatnot about water gardens and tropicals. anything will help!

tooth

wow what a neat idea!! Sorry I don't have any input on how to put it togehter!

Here's a DIY site. http://www.garf.org/ On the left side, there
is a scroll down section with DIY. Then click on tank building.
It has a plywood/glass tank option. It'll give you an idea for
supplies.

I'm not sure on the fiberglass and goldfish. Like any other
product, ask yourself if there is anything that can leach out
and be harmfull to the goldies.

Hopefully this will be of some help to you.

if the resin you use is a two part epoxy, i would say that after it fully cures, it would be safe, but its just a "sort of" educated guess. in general, the two part epoxies are safe for fish, although messy and difficult to apply sometimes.

also, in building a 2 foot front, the glass should be 1/2 inch, to hold that much weight. 1/4 inch will crack under the stress of that much water.
probably you knew this, but i love to hear myself type.

thanks, paul and mike.

i kinda figured that i was going to have to use 1/2 inch glass (at least). im pretty positive that once fully cured, fiberglass resin will be fine. im going to check out that link and see about some pointers too. ill let you guys know how it turns out.

tooth

Take pictures as you go, always helps out later!

Many people use fiberglass for tanks. As long as the gloss-coat resin is inert when cured, then it will be okay. Actually, isn't resin similar or identical to cast acrylic? I would think that cast acrylic would be a good choice for your tank too. And as far as glass goes, I am thinking you need thicker glass for the front with a height of 2 feet. Acrylic needs to be at least 1/2 inch at a height of 2 feet and glass usually needs to be thicker. Mostly babbling here- hope it's of help to you.

Tim

I remember someone on another board sharing pictures of there huge thing they made like this..... .... it was a koi pond in the ground and it was about 2 feet comeing out of the ground the part that was out of the ground was fiber glass so that you could see the fish,from top and side.
It was rather neat it was way over 3000 gallons.