[kaljukajakas]

I wanted a 20" wide by 40" long by 12" high reservoir and an 8" high table to fully use the space in my cabinet. I couldn't buy one so I decided to build it. One that would last for a good many years.

First of all, I got some 3/4" exterior grade plywood, which was cut up. Then the edges were painted with polyester resin, cured, and covered with masking tape. Some matches were used as spacers between the pieces for the next step.



The masking tape and matches are needed to keep the plywood panels from sticking to each other and getting the edges messy when several panels are covered with fiberglass side-by-side. I used polyester resin. Just laid out some panels, stretched some fiberglass cloth over them and worked in the resin with a squegee. Covering plywood with fiberglass while the boxes are assembled would have been a real PITA. You'd end up a mess of frayed fibers that stick everywhere, the fiberglass pieces would slide about etc...



Then the excess cloth was cut off with a sharp knife, the masking tape was removed and the pieces were glued together with epoxy and then screwed together as the glue was curing. The fiberglassed side is of course the interior. Fiberglassing the exterior didn't seem necessary.



If enough epoxy was used the boxes will already be watertight. To make them even more watertight I applied 4" wide seam reinforcement tape to the interior corners. First I painted the corners with polyester resin, then applied the tape so it stuck immediately and then brushed on some more resin to saturate the tape. Then I also painted the exterior of the boxes with resin and gave the entire interior an extra coat.



Next three holes were drilled in the table and E&F fittings were installed. Just some 1 1/2" sewer pipes that slide up and down inside two female pieces set into the table for double overflows and a drain from a sink for the pump. Again, lots of resin makes everything waterproof. I used about a gallon of resins (epoxy and polyester) for the entire build.



Finally a couple of coats of dark grey potable epoxy paint on all surfaces that come in contact with water as a finishing touch.

Thats pretty cool. Once in a while I think of building something like that but wonder the cost effectiveness. How much did the resisn and fiberglass cost to build something like that?

Is the resin 2 part that you have to mix? Did you use any filler in the resisn? My only experience with fiberglass has been on jetskis

[kaljukajakas]

I used two part polyester resin for most of the build. 3 quarts of resin plus the hardener was about 25$, the fiberglass was about 10$ and a quart of epoxy and hardener was about 20$. No fillers were used and as can be seen in the fittings pictures the cured fiberglass+resin coating is pretty clear. The epoxy is somewhat unnecessary though. A coat of polyester could have been dyed black and once cured it's also pretty inert. Or for an extra nice looking finish, the freshly cut plywood could have been dyed with the darkest wood stain you can find. Good quality stained plywood that's properly sanded and covered with clear fiberglass would look pretty nice. You could use it as a coffee table when not growing

[B420]

Looks good. Can you explain your overflow fittings more? I like the idea of using PVC pieces but not too sure exactly what kind of piece you are using.

[kaljukajakas]

Just take a regular plastic sewer pipe, the kind that bulges at one end where there's also a rubber seal. You can connect them end-to-end. Look at EFfittings2.jpg to see what I mean.

Cut the female part off one of such pipes where it starts to narrow down to the regular pipe diameter. You now have a short piece of pipe that has a groove for rubber ring in it and a slightly larger ID than the OD of the sewer pipe. This short piece can slide up and down the pipe. I just glued it inside a hole in the plywood. Had to trim the rubber though, it sat too tightly initially.

[BlueberryTerry]

Very clean and well done... I like it!!

[poiasd]

Now I know how I'm going to build my tables.
I hope we get to see how it performs

[libby]

Any update on th1s????????

[pontiac]

IS THAT.......................... ...... SOME DIY??

[kaljukajakas]

Thanks guys, it'll be a few weeks yet before it goes into service.

Hooked up a JBL ProFlow Maxi 1000 pump to the system and tested it out: table fills in 5 minutes to 6" and empties in 10 minutes. Should be OK. It's a shame though that most aquarium pumps are designed for small hoses and thus limit flow... Then again they're so cheap I could get second one.

The DIY part of this E&F build is not over though Can anyone guess what the following will be used for?





Hint: there's bunch of small holes drilled into the bottom of the plywood box (where the big hole in the 4x4x2" block of wood is). The holes are covered by a rectangular piece of felt that sits on the inside of the bottom of the box.