Building my own aquarium!!!

[Krypt]

Not only that, but your also going to have around 200 gals suspended in the air, that's around 1600lbs. You'd have to build a giant stand for it to sit on and the cost of the materials alone to build such a stand would cost way more then just buying a bigger tank outright. You can often find 125/150 gal tanks on craigs list for about 1/4 of the cost of what your trying to do.

 

[Gti_Leo]

its not really the larger the tank, its the taller the tank the thicker the glass has to be or acrylic. i've looked into this exact thing and at the end of the day to have the glass cut to the exact same size with a nice finish on the end will probably cost the same as a new tank.

 

[Just.A.Bit.Salty]

I think you will end up spending more money with the idea you have now. Not to mention the HEADACHE I see for you in the future while building it lol. What will be bracing all the weight for the additions? How will you clean the tunnel go up and across or get dead fish out and how will you light all of that. It is for sure an AWESOME idea if you have the money and the smarts.

 

[Hinds04]

Buy a flat screen hang it on the wall and buy a 6 or 8 foot tank, my lfs has sales on tanks 1$/gallon

 

[Hinds04]

plus will your floor support that weight?

 

[Deep Seven]

If you want to connect your tanks together you could place them side by side and use an airlocked waterbridge that would allow fish to swim up out of one tank and down into the other. I've seen a few that looked pretty neat.

I have to admit, I've been trying to think of how your idea in the pictures could work. If the top tank was sealed to prevent air escape, and there was a baffle extending down a few inches into the lower tank where it comes in from the upper tank, I can't say it won't work. There will be some counterbalancing forces in action. It's possible the upper tank could implode, instead of blowing out the lower tank. One of the problems, you would really need to be able to seperate the two tanks to do anything in the upper tank. And any air leak in the upper tank would cause the water to empty into the lower tank.

I really like the potential of your idea, but there are definate hurdles to overcome, and I wouldn't want to try it out with a couple large aquariums jury-rigged together in my living room.

 

[Wmusic0w87]

Hahaha i wont just let the glass hang in the air ... Im a carpenter i can build a strong enough stand and make it look good... And the lower tank is the one thats gonna be completely sealed not the top one.. To clean the glass ive seen sponges w magnets and for the dead fish i have cleaner shrimp in there and other scavangers... Isnt that the whole point of them being there... Not to mention that my sebae clown gets all the frozen fish that i throw in the tank and gives it to my anemone

 

[Deep Seven]

... And the lower tank is the one thats gonna be completely sealed not the top one..

Then I'm afraid it won't work. The tank is designed to be it's current height. If you seal it and connect it to the tank on top, it would add pressure equal to the height of the second tank. The bottom tank would have to be designed to handle the greater pressure. If you had a custom built tank for the lower one you could do it, but I don't think there's any way you could add another tank above the current one.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Won't work, many reasons.

 

[Deep Seven]

Here's a webpage discribing the waterbridge idea I mentioned earlier. If you wanted to add a second tank that fish could swim to and from, I think the waterbridge is your easiest and safest option.

Bio-Elite Aquarium Water-Bridge