Would you buy a house with a built in monster sized tank? Say 300 to 500 gallons?

[FINWIN]

I'm with Sinister-Kisses on this; I'd love to have a giant tank like that, but I'm a firm believer in "If you want it done right...do it yourself!"

We have lots of threads on here detailing DIY tanks that are marvels of careful construction and intelligent design...and we have lots of others that make me wonder how the builder can possibly think that the ideas being used can work. The potential for damage and destruction caused by a dumb mistake at levels like this is almost limitless.

Oh, I see, it's apparently okay if it's inspected by a qualified person? Who exactly is qualified to do this? And why would such a qualified person ever risk his/her reputation on somebody else's DIY job? Once the tank is built, there are some basic aspects of it that can probably be seen and determined to be good enough...or not...but there are many aspects that are simply not visible and not testable. Sure...get an engineer to "inspect" the thing. He charges you $500 and says "all good!" Fill the tank...crack your foundation...flood the house...destroy furnishings, floors...start a nice mould culture growing...and the engineer will, at best, say "Ooops! My bad! Here's your $500 bucks back!"

I've been on too many multi-million-dollar construction projects that were riddled with unbelievable examples of poor design, poor execution and lack of QC to ever trust somebody else, whether they did the work themselves or simply hired some fly-by-night outfit to do it.

SK has it right: "I don't trust anyone".

You've worked with major construction? I know there are a couple of companies in the region that specialize in internal aquarium builds...the drafting, layout logistics, the whole bit. And of course schedule and cost. You have to contact them first, tell them what you want and go over details (better have a budget first tho).

If I had more space I would LOVE a built in flat hex tank (2ft tall) about 6 feet on the diagonal, or a squared out tank 6'.

 

[jjohnwm]

If it was a house...with a colossal plywood tank, which jjohnwm had built.....never in a million years!!! Lol. Only joking buddy.

Lol, no problem. I would never use plywood...or all-glass or all-acrylic either, for that matter...for a truly big tank. Strictly reinforced concrete structure and glass window for me, sitting directly on or incorporated into the home foundation.

You've worked with major construction? I know there are a couple of companies in the region that specialize in internal aquarium builds...the drafting, layout logistics, the whole bit. And of course schedule and cost. You have to contact them first, tell them what you want and go overdetails (better have a budget first tho).

I'm just an electrician; I ran wires and installed lights.

But I've worked on large industrial projects and seen just how poorly some aspects of construction are handled. Standards are set; designs and plans are created to guarantee safety and durabiity; and then when the build starts it is a never-ending race to the bottom to see how many corners can be cut without being caught, how much nonsense can be gotten away with, how much time and money can be saved.

If that's how these huge ten-year projects are handled...how is a small-potatoes job like a built-in fishtank going to be done?