Aba Zappa
New Member
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- 24
So i began building ody's new enclosure a couple weeks ago it's goin to be all acrylic with a 30 gal section of water. It's 180gal total can't remember exactly the dimensions but it's around w4.5'xd2'xh2.5' give or take i lost my blueprint and i'm out of town so i can't give exacts.
I started by welding the back panel in place after scraping all sides to be mated until smooth and free of high/low spots. then welded the right side panel in base first than the vertical joint meeting with the back.
after that the left panel was put in the same as the right then the divider for the water and land sections. Again all mating edges must be scraped smooth and even. the divider is 7.5" high giving me around a 30gal section for him to swim.
Finally i put the front pane in and let it cure for a few days.
Only tools i used were the solvent and applicator bottle some electrical tape and a steel square. An extra set of hand would be very useful though. It's surprisingly easy to work with and if you have the $$$ to do i would recommend it. I've never worked with acrylic before and despite this it came out very nice.
I still have to build the stand/filter compartment, the background, and plumb it for the filtration system. I had to put this all on hold to repair my jeep, that being done i can continue work on this and hopefully have it done in the next 2-3 weeks.
here's a pic of him chowin down on some stinky snails.
If anyone has any questions on doing this pm me or check youtube after a good week of research on there i was pretty much an expert ( not really but i felt like one) all i have to say though is it is very easy and go into it confidently i think it's actually easier than making a glass or wood enclosure but much more money than the latter.
I started by welding the back panel in place after scraping all sides to be mated until smooth and free of high/low spots. then welded the right side panel in base first than the vertical joint meeting with the back.
after that the left panel was put in the same as the right then the divider for the water and land sections. Again all mating edges must be scraped smooth and even. the divider is 7.5" high giving me around a 30gal section for him to swim.
Finally i put the front pane in and let it cure for a few days.
Only tools i used were the solvent and applicator bottle some electrical tape and a steel square. An extra set of hand would be very useful though. It's surprisingly easy to work with and if you have the $$$ to do i would recommend it. I've never worked with acrylic before and despite this it came out very nice.
I still have to build the stand/filter compartment, the background, and plumb it for the filtration system. I had to put this all on hold to repair my jeep, that being done i can continue work on this and hopefully have it done in the next 2-3 weeks.
here's a pic of him chowin down on some stinky snails.
If anyone has any questions on doing this pm me or check youtube after a good week of research on there i was pretty much an expert ( not really but i felt like one) all i have to say though is it is very easy and go into it confidently i think it's actually easier than making a glass or wood enclosure but much more money than the latter.
