thinking about making a huge tank

[mkurtzer70]

thinking of making a wallquarium but don't know if i want to use glass or acrylic glass is deffinantely cheaper any cons?

 

[pat8you]

Depending on what size you want to go. Many companies switch over to acrylic around 250-300 gallons. Don't thing you can get a glass tank bigger then that. I believe it is because of strength issues but i'm not exactly sure why.

 

[yetee]

pat is right, it depends on the size of the tank. If its going to be huge I would use acrylic. Not only is it stronger but acrylic is actually much clearer than glass. I think after glass gets over 3/4" it starts to get a very noticeable green tint to it, while acrylic can be very very thick and still be crystal clear.

 

[mkurtzer70]

yeah i'm thinking way over 300 gallons i'm thinking 8 foot tall by ten foot wide by four foot deepnow how many gallons that would come out to but i know glass is about 100 dollars cheaper than acrylic on peices that big and i was thinking of just buying the sheets and going from scatch myself

 

[fisch]

yeah i'm thinking way over 300 gallons i'm thinking 8 foot tall by ten foot wide by four foot deepnow how many gallons that would come out to but i know glass is about 100 dollars cheaper than acrylic on peices that big and i was thinking of just buying the sheets and going from scatch myself

Plugged the numbers into an online calculator and it came to 2394. Would be a little less depending on the thickness of the sheets.
You're looking at about 20,000 pounds filled.

 

[pat8you]

i was thinking of just buying the sheets and going from scatch myself

Holy monkey nuts that would be very brave of you. I don't think i could sleep at night knowing i had made a tank that big my self. lol

If you make this tank you better have a ton of picture so we can all watch as it goes together and gets started up.

 

[Joker741]

You might want to call a tank builder and give them the size you are looking for and see what thickness of acrylic you are going to need for a tank that size. I would love to see that when it was done.

What are you thinking for filtration?

 

[taylorodw]

Plugged the numbers into an online calculator and it came to 2394. Would be a little less depending on the thickness of the sheets.
You're looking at about 20,000 pounds filled.

10 tons, for the uninitiated.

I hope you have a structural engineer.

 

[CaptainAhab]

Is there a fantasy section to this board?

 

[Joker741]

Is there a fantasy section to this board?

You never know, he may have the money (going to take a ton) to build this tank. In addition to money, he will need to find and talk to a lot of people to pull it off though.

 

[beglely]

im intrigued to see how this will turn out if u do it...tank construction is a few years out for me but something im def interested in

 

[mkurtzer70]

no got the money to fund this project but 20,000 pounds is a lot of weight it would be a ***** to move if i ever had to thinking i'll put it on the back burner for a little bit until i'm done building my house i'll deffinately ha ve to make some sturctrual support wherever i decide to put it and it will deffinately hav e to stay where i put it. plus i'll have to take scuba diving lessons so i will be able to clean it good

 

[thincat]

Just think...a 5gal bucket of salt for every PWC...

 

[Joker741]

That will probably be $15,000+ in live rock alone.

 

[yetee]

no got the money to fund this project but 20,000 pounds is a lot of weight it would be a ***** to move if i ever had to thinking i'll put it on the back burner for a little bit until i'm done building my house i'll deffinately ha ve to make some sturctrual support wherever i decide to put it and it will deffinately hav e to stay where i put it. plus i'll have to take scuba diving lessons so i will be able to clean it good

you will also have to take into account the sheer weight of the tank while it is empty. I worked with a 1600 gallon acrylic tank and with nothing in it, if my memory is correct, it weighed over 4000 pounds. your tank will be almost twice that size so you are looking at a total weight of around 30,000 lbs assuming 10 lbs/gal. also you have probably already looked at prices but I know that 1600 gallon tank new was around $100,000. So you are looking at a very expensive tank.

 

[thincat]

Here is a shot of me cleaning my tank!

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

I want one of those =D

 

[atomiclord]

I'm thinking of getting one of those big yellow / camo fishes with the funny pink tail.... just like in the picture above...

 

[Justin1989]

They have some one putting together a rather large tank on reef central. The tank is actually stressing a I beam. The tank your planning is probably 3x that. The crazy.

 

[pat8you]

Here is a shot of me cleaning my tank!

Wow is that really is you that is crazy. I've seen that tank before on the site that makes the tank. They have some insane tanks.