# DIY Acrylic Tank Build / New update



## matt

Hi all ukaps diy'ers,
This is a project I've had in the pipeline for the last year or so now,ironically recent ill health has afforded me the time to actually crack on and get it done,I'm very happy with the results so I thought I'd share with you guys.

Cut to size acrylic sheets





Base and front panel cemented









Next the side panels









And the back panel





Bracing





One completed acrylic tank





Tank dimensions:
Base: 980x475mm
Front and rear panels: 980x400mm
Sides: 455x400mm
Bracingx3 455x50mm
Acrylic thickness: 10mm
All acrylic was cut to order,cost inc delivery:£126.62
The acrylic sheets was purchased through Acrylic Online – Cut to Size Acrylic | Cut to Size Solid Polycarbonate | Polycarbonate, other vendors are available but I found this company's website very easy to use,you simply put in the acrylic size you want in mm and it gives you a price per sheet instantly,none of this Email us your specifications and we'll get back to you in a few days(maybe)nonsense.

Acrylic bonding agent used:
Scigrip weld on 4sc 473ml £6.93
scigirp weld on 16 473ml £7.91
Carriage £8.00
Purchased through Multibond Solutions Limited - Adhesives, Sealants, Tapes and Surface Treatments
The bonding agent which is called an" Acrylic cement" (but not really a cement,don't ask)causes a chemical reaction between the two acrylic pieces causing them to bond or fuse together,I'm not really sure of how it really works,I like to think of it as magic or google it for a proper explanation.
Anyhoo this stuff works quick,like real quick within 3 minutes this stuff is stuck hard and will not move without force and causing real damage to the acrylic,I spent the best part of 30-45 mins making sure that each piece was lined up perfect and dead flat at an 90 degree angle,then checked it again and again and once more just to be sure,then again from a distance,then again from another corner of the room and then finally once more just too make absolutely sure,then knocked it with my elbow as I turned round to grab the acrylic cement/bonding agent/magic liquid And repeat process this time elbows tucked in.
As you can see I have two different types of acrylic cement,the weld on 4sc and the weld on 16.
The weld on 4sc is of liquid consistency and is the only one of the two that I acutely used for this build,the weld on 16 is a thicker liquid consistency like that of a gel type superglue and is only needed if after construction you find any gaps or leaks to fill said problems.

Picture of acrylic cement




Okay,next up applicater bottles look a bit like this










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Used to apply the acrylic cement cost £5 from ebay there is loads of suppliers on there so take your pick,I think the ones I got were N gauge size but to be honest a smaller size needle would have been better as I found out when I first used one and ended up spilling half the bottle all over the the place,luckley on any other surface than acrylic it quickley evaporates and leaves no marks,any spilt on acrylic however will leave a white mark and look unsightly on the tank as I found out.

Ok,so before you begin there are a few things you need to do in order to get a good bond,frist and most important check that the pieces acutely fit first,I moked mine up by simply by using tape,as long as all the acrylic is square it should stand under it's own weight

 The moke up




When the acrylic arrived there are saw marks on the cut edges,one way to get rid of them is to use a router,having never used one myself I didn't feel comfortable enough to start now as I didn't want to ruine it by taking to much off or slipping and doing  severe damage.
An alternative which I used was wet/dry sand paper and some good old elbow grease.
Starting with 1200grit,this was the grade paper that I used to to completely remove all the saw marks
being very careful not to stay on one area to long to cause un-even ware,it's worth pointing out at this point that I used a flat sanding block which is very important as by using a dead flat surface to sand the acrylic is crucial so not to round off any of the edges.
Also keeping the wet/dry paper wet at all times so you don't burn or melt the arcylic due to friction,I simply kept a bowl of water near at all times,too near sometimes which ended up with many a wet foot/floor sock changing palaver(oh well,live and learn).
Once I had gotten ride of all the saw marks with the 1200grit grade paper which is a very slow a boring process I then moved on to 1500 grit,eventually working all the way up to 2500 grit wet/dry.
As i moved up a grit grade it became easier each time as less time and effort was required as the surface became smoother each time,I spent no more than about 1 minute on each surface with the 2500 paper before I was happy with the finish.

With all the sawn surfaces now flat and smooth it was time to glue,the hardest and the most important panel first,the front panel.This needs to be perfect as it will dictate how the whole tank turns out,get it wrong and it could be a  disaster as stated earlier the bonding agent works fast and once it's stuck it's stuck.As you can see in the 2nd and 3rd photo from the top I used the help of two clamps,now the problem with using clamps is that if you apply too much pressure to the base you'll stop the liquid cement from entering the gap of the two panels and it won't bond properly,but I needed the use of the clamps as there was a slight bow to both the panels used for the front and back and the clamps aloud me to hold the corners in place so I could straighten the front panel to aline perfectly,luckly for me it worked well

Nearly there...................................

Now with the front panel in place time to do the sides,this bit was a piece of cake with the front panel lined up perfectly lining the sides up was easy and took just a few minutes,now with the sides sorted
the back panel just fell into place...yay.

I should have probably gone through this bit earlier but all the panels front and sides do sit on top of the base panel,I hope these basic drawings are adequate enough to show you what I mean

Front facing view



View from above



As you can see from this drawing the front and rear panels run the full length of the base panel,where as the side panels sit inbetween the front and rear panels.
It's also worth noting that you have to allow for the thickness of the acrylic when ordering your panels
for instance my tank base is 980mm L x 475mm W so the front and rear panels are 980mm L.
But because the thickness of the acrylic is 10mm's the side panels cannot be 475mm's.To fit inside the front and rear panel they have to be 455mm's to allow for the 20mm difference between the front and rear panels.

Right think I've covered nearly everything just a few more bits.
I finished this project early last thursday afternoon around 1400 and left it to stand for just over 48 hours,around 1600 satuarday I took it in my car around to my mum's house to fill it with water,because I live in a flat with no covered outside space I didn't want to risk filling it up and flooding my place.The next photos were taken at around 1730 yesterday










So just over 48 hours filled with water and no visible signs of leaks or dampness anywhere.
The bit of tape on the top left of the tank is to indicate the water level when filled and appears not to have at all,so fingers crossed it will be good to go soon 

If I think of anything else of use I will add as and when I remember.

And if I can do it anyone can do it,this is my very first tank build,Iv'e never attempted one before,but it won't be my last.
Good luck to anyone else who gives this a bash,if you need any help pm me or leave a message on this thread and I'll try my best to help out if I can.
Now go and start building your own acrylic tanks and saving yourself £££'s along the way


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## EnderUK

nice, I'm very interested in doing this in a couple of years on my next tank.


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## foxfish

Awesome, not the easiest job & it looks great. were the edges very smooth cut, did you consider mitred corners?


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## Alastair

Great job matt. Saw a guy showing how to make these on youtube. Is that where you got your idea. 
Looks brill. 
All youve got to do now is watch you dont scratch it ha ha


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## ian_m

matt said:


> The bonding agent which is called an" Acrylic cement" (but not really a cement,don't ask)causes a chemical reaction between the two acrylic pieces causing them to bond or fuse together,I'm not really sure of how it really works


It's a solvent (no chemical reaction). The solvent softens the acrylic so the surfaces fuse together and when the solvent evaporates it leaves a solid acrylic joint. The thicker cement is acrylic dissolved in the cement and is/can be used to fill gaps left where you have failed to achieve bond using the solvent, however as you state, do it right first time and you won't need the cement.

Brings back memories of about 20 years ago helping a mate make an acrylic tank. Only hints I can offer/remember are:

- You can place pins in the joint, add solvent/cement and pull out pins. Need two people doing this as once solvented you have seconds to remove the pins.
- Make sure all cuts are flat, use sandpaper gently to prepare the edges.
- Use a very bright light to inspect the joints. If you have a miss-made joint (ie solvent didn't penetrate the gap fully) wait 24hours for rest of solvent to dry/evaporate, cover surrounding area with masking tape and apply acrylic cement to "fill the gap".
- Spilt solvent/cement attacks the acrylic but with care can be polished out with Brasso and fine cloth. Practice on a scrap piece first.
- You can use a blowtorch to flame polish (and Brasso) the remaining exposed edges. Practice on a scrap piece first.
- You can of course drill holes all over your tank for overflows, dip tubes etc etc which glass tank owners can only dream of.


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## darren636

I applaud you.

Clap clap.  


I would be terrified to fill it up!


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## James D

Superb job Matt.

A word of warning for anyone wanting to try this though... if the acrylic's cut on a saw and/or diamond polished - no problem, if it's laser cut (which it would have been if you ordered it from our website) the solvent will cause the edges to 'craze' which looks bloody awful (I'm not sure if it would even be water tight).


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## ian_m

darren636 said:


> I would be terrified to fill it up!


If done correctly the joint is as strong as the acrylic. Trying to break a joint is impossible the adjacent plastic will break first.


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## foxfish

ian_m said:


> It's a solvent (no chemical reaction). The solvent softens the acrylic so the surfaces fuse together and when the solvent evaporates it leaves a solid acrylic joint. The thicker cement is acrylic dissolved in the cement and is/can be used to fill gaps left where you have failed to achieve bond using the solvent, however as you state, do it right first time and you won't need the cement.


Surly the solvent causes a chemical reaction, is that not a general term use for any bonding with a solvent... the solvent causes a chemical reaction that softens the materials allowing the contact point to adhere together?


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## NexusIcon

Looking forward to seeing more!


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## tubamanandy

Really enjoyed reading this - well done !


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## matt

EnderUK said:


> nice, I'm very interested in doing this in a couple of years on my next tank.


Good luck


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## matt

foxfish said:


> Awesome, not the easiest job & it looks great. were the edges very smooth cut, did you consider mitred corners?


Thank you! All the edges still had the rough cutting marks and needed a fair amount of sanding,I went down the route of sanding as I don't trust myself with high powered
spinning blades


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## matt

Alastair said:


> Great job matt. Saw a guy showing how to make these on youtube. Is that where you got your idea.
> Looks brill.
> All youve got to do now is watch you dont scratch it ha ha


Thank you very much!
Yes the guy on youtube is where I got the idea,the one I saw was when he built a 3000g acrylic tank in a 6 part tutorial,he droned on a bit but it is an excellent
guide,King of diy is his youtube channel loads of good diy aquarium how too's.
I'll do my best not to scratch it lol.


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## matt

ian_m said:


> It's a solvent (no chemical reaction). The solvent softens the acrylic so the surfaces fuse together and when the solvent evaporates it leaves a solid acrylic joint. The thicker cement is acrylic dissolved in the cement and is/can be used to fill gaps left where you have failed to achieve bond using the solvent, however as you state, do it right first time and you won't need the cement.
> 
> Brings back memories of about 20 years ago helping a mate make an acrylic tank. Only hints I can offer/remember are:
> 
> - You can place pins in the joint, add solvent/cement and pull out pins. Need two people doing this as once solvented you have seconds to remove the pins.
> - Make sure all cuts are flat, use sandpaper gently to prepare the edges.
> - Use a very bright light to inspect the joints. If you have a miss-made joint (ie solvent didn't penetrate the gap fully) wait 24hours for rest of solvent to dry/evaporate, cover surrounding area with masking tape and apply acrylic cement to "fill the gap".
> - Spilt solvent/cement attacks the acrylic but with care can be polished out with Brasso and fine cloth. Practice on a scrap piece first.
> - You can use a blowtorch to flame polish (and Brasso) the remaining exposed edges. Practice on a scrap piece first.
> - You can of course drill holes all over your tank for overflows, dip tubes etc etc which glass tank owners can only dream of.


Yeah I read about the pin method but I was on my own with this one,so wasn't really a choice.
The flame polishing to get rid of spills is something I'll be trying very soon


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## ian_m

foxfish said:


> Surly the solvent causes a chemical reaction, is that not a general term use for any bonding with a solvent... the solvent causes a chemical reaction that softens the materials allowing the contact point to adhere together?


The solvent is purely a physical reaction, it dissolves and softens the acrylic. Solvent is generally a mixture of di-chloromethane and tri-chloromethane (chloroform) and in thicker cement has plastic dissolved it. As a kid (1970's) I saw the wonderful "art" works at local library made from Perspex and I wanted to do that. Got loads of Perspex off cuts from local hardware store, smoothed edges with wet and dry, but getting any glue/solvent proved impossible in those days. In the end my dad got a bottle of tri-chloromethane (chloroform) from his work, which worked wonderfully. Placed bits together and capillary action drew the solvent in and within minutes bits stuck. Bigger gaps filled with glue made by dissolving Perspex in solvent. Getting chloroform today I suspect will be impossible.


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## discusdan

Hey all, 
sorry to thread hi-jack but im going to be making a nano acrylic tank and possibly mitering the corners.

Does any one know if PVC cement is the same as acrylic cement?
It's a fraction of the cost and if it works on acrylic i'll save some money and go for that.


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## Alastair

discusdan said:


> Hey all,
> sorry to thread hi-jack but im going to be making a nano acrylic tank and possibly mitering the corners.
> 
> Does any one know if PVC cement is the same as acrylic cement?
> It's a fraction of the cost and if it works on acrylic i'll save some money and go for that.



Hi dan. No pvc cement wont bond to acrylic unfortunately


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## discusdan

cheers for the reply Alastair.

Done a bit more research and found the same answer, pvc cement won't work on acrylic.

Seems some people make there own acrylic cement using pure Methyl Ethyl Ketone and some acrylic shavings.
Might give this a try as I only need a small amount.


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## sanj

Brilliant Matt,

really well done and thanks for posting. I may well be tempted to try this at some point.


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## matt

discusdan said:


> cheers for the reply Alastair.
> 
> Done a bit more research and found the same answer, pvc cement won't work on acrylic.
> 
> Seems some people make there own acrylic cement using pure Methyl Ethyl Ketone and some acrylic shavings.
> Might give this a try as I only need a small amount.



Not sure I'd take the chance of making my own,the weld on 4 isn't a huge expense at £7+pp.

I do have a fair bit left tho,if your anywhere near colchester your welcome to come and take a bit.


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## matt

sanj said:


> Brilliant Matt,
> 
> really well done and thanks for posting. I may well be tempted to try this at some point.



Thanks sanj, 
they also do polished edged acrylic aswell,think I may try this next time as it will save a lot of time sanding tho it does cost a little more.

Good luck.


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## dphood

Hi,

I was thinking of building a acrylic tank myself but at the moment i'm finding it difficult to find cell-cast acrylic in the uk (from what i've read is what you need instead of using extruded acrylic, correct me if i'm wrong). I had a look at www.acrylic-online.co.uk previously mentioned earlier in the post but cannot see anything labelled as cell-cast. Is it named as something completely different. Is this something you can help us with?

Thankyou


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## webworm

Take a look at the following, might help.

https://www.theplasticshop.co.uk/cast-perspex-sheet-index.html
https://www.simplyplastics.com/cata...heet/clear-cast-acrylic-sheet/c-24/c-83/p-203

Obviously you should assure yourself that anything purchased is suitable for the application you wish to use it in.


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## dphood

Thankyou they look helpful sites to get custom made dimensions cut. Do you think Cast acrylic is the same as Cell-Cast Acrylic (as most of the DIY tips and info originate from the USA suggest using cell cast). There the predominant product used in USA is Chemcast® GP which they call cell-cast acrylic.


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## foxfish

I think acyclic  has lots of trade names, Perspex is the UK name I think .... https://perspex.com/product-ranges/perspex/clear/


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## zozo

As far as i know the common international trade names are Plexiglas® GS (Cast Acrylic) and Plexiglas® XT (Extruded acrylic) and Perspex® Cell Cast
Plexiglas and Perspex are registered trade names both are the same product acrylic probably with minor propperty differences. Looking at the Perspex site it seems it only is produced as cell cast can't find any references if they also have extruded, so if it bares the name Perspex it possibly is a garanty it's cell casted. Plexiglas® produces both versions GS/XT. The truth about the Perspex is a phonecall/email away.. +44 (0) 1254 874000 E-mail info@perspex.com


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## dphood

Sorry for the late reply, thankyou zozo. Thats really useful, ill contact them first before ordering up the perspex for the aquarium.


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