New tank material

[Scion19801]

Ok so my son and i were talking about a new tank, and what we have around the house for building material. My next tank is going to be constructed out of laminate flooring. We have a few boxes laying around. Going to use 1" x 2" with groves cut in it for the frame, to slip the flooring panels into. The 1 x 2's will be sealed with polyurethane, and any other joints with silicone. We're going to put the side panels so color faces outward, then foam and grout the inside of them. A piece of plywood sealed with polyurethane for the top. Probably going to use indoor/outdoor carpet for substrate, as i currently use it in my last tank i built. Tank size should come in close to 4x2x2. Lighting and heating will be the normal affair.
So can anyone see any possible issues with laminate flooring? I don't think there would be any off gassing or other health risks that i can think of.

I'll post pics as i get everything together and get closer to assembly time.

 

[CooperDragon]

I don't think that should be a problem. As long as it fits together and doesn't have problems with off gassing then it should be fairly similar to a plywood build I'd imagine. Good luck!

 

[Scion19801]

I got all my parts cut, and everything fitted together. Only need to trim my acrylic doors. I got foam cut for my side panels, and a basking platform put in. Got to get another bag of grout. Got the topside of the platform grouted, and also polyurethaned the underside of my top, as it is pine plywood with a pine cross brace in the center. Gonna try to get pics of this tank, as well as my melamine i did, put up tomorrow. Got to also get some small machine screws to mount my doors, and another section of indoor/outdoor carpet for substrate.

Waiting for my t5 tube light setup to arrive later in the week. So got time for poly to air out and grout to hopefully be dried and sealed, and have this tank in service by this weekend if all goes well. Wiring up the tank won't take hardly any time, just got to wait for poly to dry so i can refit the top back in place and drill two holes to run it thru.

 

[Scion19801]

Ok here we go. The first two are my melamine 4x2x2 tank

The rest are the new tank. Got all the grouting done and things are in place and drying.

Not quite done yet, got some more work to do yet.

 

[CooperDragon]

That looks great. I like the placement of the vents. How do you like the acrylic doors so far? Are they clear? Feel sturdy?

 

[Scion19801]

They arent to bad. As long as you know that they are not glass and handle them appropriately, then all is good. I only have one beardie that likes to get up one the doors and tries to claw thru them in his glass surfing mode. They do have a uv resistant coating, so they should stay nice and clear. You got to be very careful when drilling holes for mounting them. I cracked one door on my melamine tank, but got both doors mounted on new tank with no issues.
The vent are 6" x 10". On the backside of the foam i hot glued a screen, that way i dont have to worry about any feeder food escaping.