Ok what would you have done different

[Buccaneer]

[quote="StirCrazy
Do you have pics of how you made this? and also would it be hard to make both sides viewable on a tank like this?

I had been thinking of trying one of these for a long time but I had a few questions I couldent get answered.
1, could it be made "braceless" with out having it look to bulky?
2, could you use fiberglass resin to seal it up or is the epoxy better?
3, how big of a wood lip did you have to leave around your glass? could you get away with say a 2" overlap to maximize viewing area?
4, anyother tips/hints on wood tanks would be great.

Steve[/quote]

Sorry ... no pics on the construction

1 ... it can be made braceless with a 5" lip around the top ... I put one glass brace in the middle of mine for " peace of mind "
2 ... " West Systems " is a 2 part epoxy .. you put the epoxy over fiberglass to add strength and the epoxy waterproofs it ( this epoxy is not cheap but it is potable water safe ... wont leach toxins )
3 ... I have a 5" lip and if I remember a 2 1/2" " frame " around the front glass
4 ... epoxy/fiberglass your wood before assembly ... some have assembled the tank and then epoxy and then the front glass ... my suggestion is to do the wood first

The key to a wood tank is planning and waterproofing ... I used 1" MDF and if MDF gets anywhere near water it's game over right ? ... as I did have a rock disaster once that forced me to redo the interior ... I since then made a arogocrete wall on all wood areas ... so essentially the outside walls are one big live rock
Plan for plumbing ... you mentioned earlier on that you would like just one overflow well this is what I have and in hindsight would go with one on each end ... 8 ft is too far to skim the surface unassisted so the return from the sump is a few inches below the surface on opposite end " pushing " the surface water in that direction


HTH

Cheers