Building an Acrylic tank

[Vengitto]

Hey guys, hope all is well with everyone.

I have decided to take on a major project. I want to build my own 120 gal acrylic tank. I have done some research into the build and I think I am ready to begin, but my question is with filtration. I would like to house some oscars/cichlids maybe even piranha/alligator gar, or red tail catfish, not sure yet. I need to know what type of filtration would be best before building so that I can plan for hole drilling and and what not if necessary.

 

[mikem691]

I have no advise on the actual construction but with the stock you are thinking I would double the size. A 120 sounds huge but if you want to do more than 1 Oscar or some of the large guars Its actually rather small.

 

[treemanone2003]

I too have no advice on the construction but will agree on the need for a larger to much larger tank size for some of the species listed. I can offer that with a tank of that size I would go with a sump over an HOB/canister selection. With choosing to go acrylic and potentially a sump, I would look at the following link. While I have no personal experience with it, from what I've studied on it, it appears to be fairly flawless. As well, acrylic would be much easier when it comes to drilling and assembly of the overflow system. Hope this helps a bit.

http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx


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[Vengitto]

thanks so much for the replies. I just returned from a plastic store and they wanted to charge me over 500 bucks for the acrylic. If I can't find it cheaper I'll just be buying a glass tank.

As for the filtration, I was gonna go with the canister, but I have seen some pretty interesting sump set ups that they say are more efficient.

 

[Rpeinhardt]

My friend worked in a plastic fab shop one summer. Most of what she made was fish tanks lol.

I remember asking her about the process because I have looked into making one myself (In the event, I stuck with glass because it is so much cheaper).

She said to use good bracing while the MEK works. Use pins as spacers to ensure adequate flow and be ready to shim sections of the floor piece if it is bowing and creating air bubbles. She also used a blowtorch to smooth the edge that is revealed by cutting.

I'd be interested to hear how the build goes!

 

[Vengitto]

update

Well, looks like the acrylic project is a bust. Seems the materials would cost more than I had hoped, but I did find a 180 gal glass tank on CL for 250... so I will pick it up this weekend and begin the journey. The thing is huge and heavy, I'm feeling a little intimidated lol.

 

[Vengitto]

There are some canister filters on amazon, Sun Sun 350 or something, but they are supposedly good for about 250 gal per hour I think. I was thinking one or two of those plus a sump would be good enough for the 180... Thoughts??

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