Building a House with a Large Fish Tank- Need your Advice

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

I am setting up a 20 foot run with 2 aquariums bookending a TV....good advice on here....As others have said, I would still consider adding more depth and less height.... I run my protein skimmers air intake from outside even in the Florida summer....the intakes from the outside are in the shade....I need consistent PH control....I also use a mini split for humidly control.

 

[Socaltoaz]

Right now I'm planning 36 inches deep and 48 inches high. I can easily go 48 inches deep. Access is not an issue as I will have access from both sides of the tank.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Artificial coral inserts

Artificial coral inserts

Speaking from experience here as a guy who had to maintain a few of these.
Over time they get full of algae and are a b-- to clean, never got it all.
Even saw an episode of tanked where the Rainforest Cafe had to redo theirs over.
I would think this over a few times & then probably go with rock anyway.

 

[Socaltoaz]

We are planning on doing a Fish Only tank. No corals.

 

[mm949]

great dimensions..!
i wish mine was wider, but i love the length....(sounds like a personal problem)

 

[RJT]

I'm looking forward to this build. Brilliant to pre-plan and ask questions.

Will you do the maintenance yourself? If so, how do you envision water changes? Will there be a water storage unit in the storage room? Is there enough room for a fresh water and saltwater storage unit?

Since the plumbing will be in the concrete slab does the architect or builder have any concerns about potential problems over time with maintaining the 25 feet of plumbing under your house?

 

[Socaltoaz]

I'm looking forward to this build. Brilliant to pre-plan and ask questions.

Im smart enough to know when to ask for help and the community has been great

Will you do the maintenance yourself? If so, how do you envision water changes? Will there be a water storage unit in the storage room? Is there enough room for a fresh water and saltwater storage unit?

Im planning on hiring a service but will definitely be doing some of the maintainance myself. We are going to create a dedicated fish room where its plumbed with drains, sinks etc so that all ancillary duties can be carried out there. What I specifically need to put in that room is still yet to be decided.



Since the plumbing will be in the concrete slab does the architect or builder have any concerns about potential problems over time with maintaining the 25 feet of plumbing under your house?

not at all. He didnt seem concerend at all about this. He did say that he is going to run the PVC piping in a sleeve so that if there ever was a leak, that the leak would not affect the slab. But essentially they do this all the time for the toilets, the sinks etc - the rest of the plumbing for the house.

 

[Socaltoaz]

I spent some time today looking at the plans. From where the fish tank is situated to where the fish room will be, The space is roughly 24 feet away- which means I need to run about 25-30 feet of PVC. The space I have allocated is an area behind my office and under the stairs. I think I can get about a 12 foot wide and 6 foot deep space. the good news is that adjacent to the space is a powder room so all plumbing and drainage will be there. Im planning on setting it up for efficiency and allowing me to do all water changes with ease. Set up a sump, flip a switch and drain the excess. Flip another switch and have water that has been mixing go into the tank. Boo ya! Very excited to see this all coming together.

 

[RJT]

Will the powder room be dedicated to the tank, i.e. are there going to be water lines going from the tank to the powder room?

 

[Monkeyfish]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's a "powder room?"

 

[Socaltoaz]

Powder room is a dedicated bathroom on the first floor of the house. Its just a stand alone bathroom not attached to any bedrooms. We have a powder room and behind the powder room is where we will put the fish room.

 

[Monkeyfish]

Powder room is a dedicated bathroom on the first floor of the house. Its just a stand alone bathroom not attached to any bedrooms. We have a powder room and behind the powder room is where we will put the fish room.

Aha. Thanks. I never heard that term before.

 

[Socaltoaz]

I think people in different parts of the country call it different things. Its a powder room, you know, where women can go take a dump, errrr I mean powder their nose.

 

[aldiaz33]

I love the look of tall tanks! A large footprint (long and wide) is nice, but the "wow factor" of a 48" tall tank can't be beat. Maintenance can be a chore, but if you have the right tools, it's not so bad.

I have a 10' long x 3' wide x 4' tall tank and I love to see people's jaw hit the floor when they first see the tank.

My 2 cents worth of advice:

When comparing quotes, make sure that the thickness of the acrylic is clearly specified so that you can compare apples to apples. If one quote is significantly lower than another and the acrylic thickness is not specified, you can be pretty sure that the cheaper bid is going to cut costs by going with the thinnest material they can get away with. Since it sounds like you are getting estimates from the bigger players, they will likely use appropriately sized acrylic so this is probably a moot point. At 48" tall, I would say the absolute bare minimum should be 1.5" thick, although I bet the builders you are getting bids from would use 2" which would be even better. My tank is made out of 1.25" acrylic and the amount of deflection is a lot more than I'm comfortable with; in my opinion, it's definitely underbuilt.

I would suggest not skimping on the tank. Go with a reputable builder so that you know it's not their "first rodeo." I hate to even mention it with that beautiful looking floorplan, but that amount of water can cause some serious damage. Reviewing/revamping your insurance policy to make sure water damage is covered in the event of failure is probably a good idea.

I don't have too much advice in regards to the setup/filtration other than a comment on the pipes running beneath the slab. There is a guy here in Northern California with a 600G tank who buried his plumbing going out to a filtration shed in his backyard. His goal was to cool the tank by burying the pipes, but it works too well. His "geothermal chiller" works so well that in the winter his power bill to heat the tank is astronomical. In AZ, I'd imagine that you would want all the cooling you can get. I have no idea what depth would be ideal, but I'm just throwing that out there as something to consider; burying the pipes at X depth may save you some money on your electric bill.

Looking forward to seeing your progress. Good luck with your build!

(My apologies for the long post)

 

[Socaltoaz]

Thanks Al. Great post and I appreciate the input. I too think a tall tank will have a wow factor. I stopped by a local LFS and they had a 32 inch tall tank and I thought that was impressive. It got me even more excited about my 48 inch tall tank. At first I was wanting to do a wall of water with 60 inch height but the community here talked me out of it.

Noted on the 1.5 inch thickness. Will keep that in consideration.

With regards to the pipes, we are going to meet on the final specs and dimensions. Im also planning putting in some dedicated solar panels that will provide all the electrcity that I will need for the tank and equipment. The advantage of doing it before they break ground is that I can use all the great advice here to plan things out properly.

 

[txaggie09]

Cool thread, will definitely be following.
I hate how my house is set up right now (for fish tanks, otherwise its not bad) and am already looking at plans for the next one, even though i may not be building for another year or two. Like you, I want to get everything planned in advance. Building a house is stressful enough, might as well eliminate as many headaches before hand as possible. Keep us posted on how everything is going. I like the proposed dimensions of the tank. 4' tall will certainly look impressive.

 

[aldiaz33]

Don't let these guys with their little stubby tanks talk you out of getting what you want...60" tall would be dope!

Just make sure you have enough clearance over the tank. I know a guy who had a 900G built and with the added height of the stand only had 12" clearance above the tank; that really limited his decor options and made maintenance a complete nightmare. When he moved it into his house it was a complete Homer Simpson, "Doh!" moment. He probably should have gone shorter, but you're probably not limited to 8' ceilings.

If you end up going with a sump under the tank, clearance above the sump is helpful too, so you would want the stand to be fairly tall. So 8' ceilings aren't going to cut it, but 10'+ should work.

Solar panels are a great idea. A tank this large is definitely going to draw some juice. A generator to keep the system running in the event of a prolonged power outage is also probably not a bad idea.

 

[Socaltoaz]

I've got 20 foot ceilings in the room. Can really do anything I want in terms of size.

Hmmm, no you got me thinking again of the 60 in height. Decisions decisions.

Would you do a sump under it? Is it necessary? Frankly I was originally not planning it as I wanted to keep everything clean in that areA. Just let the PVC pipes run to the fish room and have the tank about 2 feet off the ground and if it goes up 60 inches, man that would be a nice 7 foot tall statement in the room!

 

[jjk_reef00]

A generator to keep the system running in the event of a prolonged power outage is also probably not a bad idea.

Excelent point, I would look into a gas generator to back up the entire house. The Generac Guardian get good reviews but I haven't looked into it in very much detail.

 

[jjk_reef00]

I've got 20 foot ceilings in the room. Can really do anything I want in terms of size.

Hmmm, no you got me thinking again of the 60 in height. Decisions decisions.

Would you do a sump under it? Is it necessary? Frankly I was originally not planning it as I wanted to keep everything clean in that areA. Just let the PVC pipes run to the fish room and have the tank about 2 feet off the ground and if it goes up 60 inches, man that would be a nice 7 foot tall statement in the room!

Wow 60" would be amazing! Even if you do not want a sump you will probably want a closed loop system (that would likely be placed under the tank) for that tall of a tank. IMO you should plan the water flow pattern as if it were a reef because it will help with keeping the tank clean. Lots of flow will mean big pumps and or powerheads. It is also a good idea to run extra PVC pipes to your fish room in case you need to incease flow/returns or if one were to leak for some odd reason.