How to build my own huge aquarium?

[derrick80f]

Glass is much heavier than the acylic and I would imagine even more expensive in the thickness you would need for this tank. I've read that properly bonded acylic will give you stronger seams than glass and in a tank this size you don't want a seam to split. For glass that is probably at least 1.5" think I would have to go with low iron to keep the green color to a minimum, I don't believe acrylic has that problem. Even DIY this is not something for a person on a tight budget. But after you do all your research and if you decide to give it a go I hope you start a build thread to document the process. I'll be following along and wish you success.

I am skeptical of acrylic because I haven't ever seen it in person on a tank and I have heard how easy it scratches and all. I know glass holds up and doesn't scratch but 1.5" thick? Seriously I haven't heard of a home tank that thick.. post below or.. above I guess, says 3/4" I believe. I want something thick and sturdy but that I can still clean with a magnet, lol.

When you say "not for someone on a tight budget" do you mean all of the equipment required for a tank that large or power to run it? Honestly I don't care if I build it and it sits cycling while I slowly add the equipment one piece at a time. I know everything needed is going to be on a much grander scale than for the 150g I currently have, but I don't mind going slow with it. If power bill is going to go up $200/month, now that may be something to consider.

 

[albano]

I am skeptical of acrylic because I haven't ever seen it in person on a tank and I have heard how easy it scratches and all. I know glass holds up and doesn't scratch but 1.5" thick?

Sorry to say…glass scratches, and those scratches are permanent.
Most (if not all) public aquariums are acrylic.
I’ve been using acrylic tanks for over 30 years and would never go back to glass.

 

[Timfish]

Well, having built a few tanks in my time, my experience has been "off the shelf" saves time, money and labor.

 

[oreo57]

If power bill is going to go up $200/month, now that may be something to consider.

OLD estimates..

Electric Bill for Large Aquarium (1,000 gallon+).

Just curious to know what your average electric bill is for your aquarium? I just installed a pool and the pump runs about 12 hours and I got a decent jump in my electric bill. I have a lot of equipment that I use for work mostly server and networking equipment so I already spend on average...

forums.reefcentral.com

Calc link here:

Electric Calculator

I wrote a Google Spreadsheet several years ago for calculating the electric usage of my freshwater tank. I've updated it some and added protection to some of the cells. Electric Calculator Feel free to try it out. Please provide feedback if there is any problems with the functionality of...

forums.reefcentral.com

1600 watts of lighting 10hr/ day and .10KWH is $48/month.

 

[BrianD]

Usually when people DIY that size of tank it is because they have the skill set to do it, not because they are looking to save money. The reality is that the tank will just be a small portion of your overall cost. David MC Lee is one person I know that has the skill set and has built some incredible tanks. I would just be cautious. A failure in a tank that size could be catastrophic both from a financial and potentially personal health standpoint.

 

[BrianD]

Obviously Tim is a better reference than me

 

[Timfish]

Obviously Tim is a better reference than me

Thank You!

The main reason I started building big tanks was I got screwed by a company out of Las Vegas who built an 800 gallon 1 1/2" out of square and was looking at having to file bankruptcy. (and I'm an independant cus who has to do everything myself.) Fortunately I had a friend in the acrylic manufacturing industry advising me and access to a ~800 ft³ oven for thermal forming only 40 miles away. Big acrylic tankks can be built with just wood working tools and blades but ti does take a very good attention to detail, familiarity with lifting and moving heavy objects that can't be scratched and an ability to figure out potential problems ahead of time. I would add expericne building smaller tanks and sumps definitely helped shorten the learning curve going big.

 

[SantaMonica]

How about building it like a pond. Could be a 6' cement angled wall, sealed, where you look down on it like a real reef, or you could put a single viewing glass on the front. This would be highly insulated, and cheap.

The only problem is the cost of equipment to run it and raise in power bill cost

If you choose the proper livestock/biotope, you could probably get by with no light/heat/cooling bill at all if your house temps are kept within reasonable limits.

 

[derrick80f]

How about building it like a pond. Could be a 6' cement angled wall, sealed, where you look down on it like a real reef, or you could put a single viewing glass on the front. This would be highly insulated, and cheap.



If you choose the proper livestock/biotope, you could probably get by with no light/heat/cooling bill at all if your house temps are kept within reasonable limits.

Well, the pond-like idea does sound appealing, but I like multiple viewing angles, I was thinking like all around.. could still do cement I guess though. As far as lights.. I gotta have lights on my tank lol

 

[Janeer]

I don't recommend to use acrylic, it's really quickly becomes scratched, I have a bad experience. Only glass. But the thick is another question.
project home page

 

[BeanAnimal]

Buy an acrylic 500 and frame a wall for it and be done. You will have 5x the cost, hassle and headache trying to DIY a tank this large. there are several old build threads here documenting large builds and dozens at the old monster fish forum site. I have a feeling that you have no idea what you are actually getting into.

search for COPPS build thread here.

@BrianD who was the guy banned back in the day with the monster skimmer and tank build. The dude with the lambo and other cars he moved to his new home on a car carrier? I know you have to remember that.

NVM I found it… the infamous Bill Wann. That may have been 20K gallons… not 2K

 

[David MC Lee]

Usually when people DIY that size of tank it is because they have the skill set to do it, not because they are looking to save money. The reality is that the tank will just be a small portion of your overall cost. David MC Lee is one person I know that has the skill set and has built some incredible tanks. I would just be cautious. A failure in a tank that size could be catastrophic both from a financial and potentially personal health standpoint.

Thanks Brian

 

[Axel33]

Well, having built a few tanks in my time, my experience has been "off the shelf" saves time, money and labor.

View attachment 32375264

View attachment 32375265

View attachment 32375268

Wow a curvy fishtank how hard was to build this thing?

 

[Timfish]

Thank you! Hardest part was figuring out dimensions that would fit a 8' x 4' sheet of acrylic and make best use of the space available and still look good when filled with water. Going over a standard size sheet of acrylic basicly doubles the cost. Building the oven and mold really isn't that hard and any moderately capable carpenter can do. Most difficult part about gluing it together was moving around heavy pieces of acrylic without scratching anything. If anything it's tedious, using two part glue SciGrip # 40 between preping, glueing, cleaning up and finish prep there's about an hour of labor per linear foot of glue joint.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I used 1/2 cell cast for my sump - laid out in cad and had local plastic supplier cut it on their CNC. The edges were nowhere near solvent ready so I had to clean each edge with a router. Just a 50 gallon sump was far more work than I had anticipated. While I have the skillset and tooling to build a large acrylic display, it is not an endeavor that I would ever come close to considering as a project.

In fact - I would buy a sump now too...

 

[Misled]

Bean, I did the same some 20 years ago. It wasn't that hard, and having TPI on the North Side at the time made it somewhat easy.
With that being said, I also wouldn't do it again. It was fun learning it all, but I.m pretty old now. Pretty sure it would have cost the same as just buying it.

 

[BeanAnimal]

TPI is where I purchased the cell cast and had them do the CNC. They were kind enough to work with me and give me jobber pricing even though they knew it was for a hobby project.

As it were a few years later - I reached out to grab 2 sheets for another project and they wouldn't talk to me because I did not own a "sign making" business.

I am so not "DIY" acrylic anymore that I just a few weeks ago donated a boatload of acrylic to the club. Likely enough to do a dozens of floating view boxes for an acrylic workshop (that there is no chance that I will be running).

 

[Timfish]

Yeah, off the shelf is more than adequate most of the time. But being able to do DIY can help make the best use of space available for sumps/refugiums/ATOs. It's fairly straight forward cutting sheets of acrylic though. A cordless circular saw with a carbide blade and 50-60 teeth gives a really smooth cut using a small stream of water to keep the blade cool.

 

[shred5]

Ever considered a plywood tank with glass front.
Tons of info out there on how to build them. Seem not to bad to do if you have some carpentry skills at all.
If I did a really large tank that would be it. Also the plywood offers some insulation and is easily drilled.

 

[toreefornototreef]

There is a lot to consider in a tank that size! Fish only or Reef? Filtration - sump - water flow - pumps - UV - protein skimmer -heating - chilling - the stand - emergency power -lighting - cost of maintenance - cost of the fish and coral and more.
You are looking at a 10 to 20 thousand dollar investment and also the time that it takes to maintain the aquarium
If you a planning to maintain it yourself would go more then 30 inches high any higher you’ll have to put on a mask and snorkel to work on it!
Not trying to discourage you but there is a lot to consider.
You might think about designing a place in your new house for a 300 gallon peninsula tank great view on 3 sides and very manageable I built this 85 gallon with a 20 gallon sump and I have over $4000 invested including livestock !