Has anyone ever tried building an aquarium?

[Wyomingite]

Is yer heart set on a totally glass enclosure? There are plenty of builds for Do It Yourself plywood tanks using 3/4" exterior or marine grade plywood, using various non-toxic watertight coatings for the interior (Pond Armor, for one example off the top of my head), with a sheet of glass for the front. Ya can see one build in progress here: http://www.freshwatermadness.com/diy...-bulid-t26.htm. Another good place for ideas is Monsterfishkeepers.com, though those tanks tend to be extremely large.

Google Do It Yourself plywood aquariums (or fish tanks); there are dozens of resources out there. Some of these tanks have been in service for 20 years. I've been doin' my homework for a while now, 'cuz I planned on building a 675 gallon tank in my fishroom up until a coupla weeks ago. Then Mrs. WYite decided she didn't want my 180 in the family room after all. So my 10' of space suddenly became 4'.

These builds take into account the final product being used solely for fish and are built to withstand the weight of water. For a vivarium, I wouldn't expect you'd need a full 3/4" for the sides and back; 1/2" or maybe 3/8" would be adequate, depending on the height to length ratio. Ya would likely have to add a couple of braces along the back and sides for long and tall tanks, and would probably want 3/4" for the bottom to account for the weight of the substrate, water, landscaping, etc.

Wood is easier to work with than glass, it's more forgiving of error, and far cheaper when ya start looking at builds for large enclosures. I do a bit of woodworking on one side of this, and I've repaired, disassembled, reapplied silicon, and rebuilt numerous glass tanks on the other side. I've bought a lotta wood and a lotta glass over the years. The biggest financial outlays of a wood build would be for the glass front piece and the coating used to waterproof the wood. Even then, though, the cost is reflective of the builder's choices. The idea that appeals to me is the options, your imagination is the limit.

WYite