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?

 

[Sassafras]

I'm in the "I wanna do it myself" crowd, so my answer to the original question would be "no". When I set up a tank in the monster category, virtually nothing is purchased from a fish store or online aquarium supply vendor except for possibly the circulation pumps. I design and build most everything from the tank, stand/cabinet, canopy, lighting, filters, plumbing to the controls, electrical and water distribution systems. I just can't imagine walking into a house and finding a 1000 gallon aquarium system and saying, "Wow, that's just the way I would have done it, gotta have it".

 

[ken31cay]

I would love to have this but as mentioned by others above I would want to go through the build process and do it myself. I built my home and have done other projects (through architect and building contractor) and I can say that the only way to do something 'right' according to your personal preferences (at that point in time) is to do it your self, so to speak. But there's little chance of me actually doing this since my home has all thick concrete walls internal and external and I don't plan to build another house here.

 

[fishdance]

A quick search of real estate for sale with keyword 'aquarium' shows about a dozen properties even in a small country like Australia. Tank sizes range from 4m to 10m and one had marine sharks in a repurposed swim pool. The real cost is in filtration and infrastructure.

A 1000 ~ 2000 gallon tank isn't really a monster tank these days is it?

 

[andyroo]

Kind'of a bias crowd for this question...
I'm guessing you're wanting to do an in-wall build & having to make the case to the homeowner/co-owner?

We built a 220+ into the hallway wall in our whole-farmhouse reno ~4yrs ago.
I expect it'd be a liability in a selling, not for leaks but for narrowing the buyer-pool as people just can't see past what's shown. A more savvy buyer might then see maintenance headaches, or that it'd make a nice space for hanging orchids, or pull the glass for a bookshelf.

To Sinister-Kisses & jjohnwm 's wise points, I'd put the house on the market with tank full & running, stocked with something simple & colourful - comets, maybe. Having said that, I (over)built it & still don't trust myself, even as he aesthetic erred hard to Steampunk with all of the steel reinforcements.

Americancichlidsaredabest , check me in ~15 years. I should be buried in the garden by then, & will leave the good stuff in there for you. Spoiled clown loaches will be bigger than your arm...

ken31cay - how's the weather? We're just across to the south (Montego Bay) & not seen the sun this week...
Our walls are all 1959 rebar-infested concrete built by a manic-perfectionist Scotsman cattleman who still haunts the place. We cut the wall for a bathroom anyways, & installed the through-pipes, steel reinforcing & glass rather than rebuild the wall. For you, though, same as us - if you don't want interior, just do something nice in the garden. ...where it won't impact your AC bill. Also, Frontosa in natural light are astounding.

 

[jjohnwm]

... I'd put the house on the market with tank full & running, stocked with something simple & colourful - comets, maybe...

Good point. If I were looking at a home to purchase, and it had a big or giant aquarium built-in, that tank had better be running full tilt with crystal clear water and healthy, vibrant fish. I'd want to see it from every angle, carefully checking the house structure around and under it, including down into the basement. Even then...probably no.

But if I were touring the place and came upon a big tank built-in...or even not built in!...that was bone dry, water-marked, full of petrified substrate and encrusted with salt or minerals deposits...hell no!!!

 

[ken31cay]

ken31cay - how's the weather? We're just across to the south (Montego Bay) & not seen the sun this week...
Our walls are all 1959 rebar-infested concrete built by a manic-perfectionist Scotsman cattleman who still haunts the place. We cut the wall for a bathroom anyways, & installed the through-pipes, steel reinforcing & glass rather than rebuild the wall. For you, though, same as us - if you don't want interior, just do something nice in the garden. ...where it won't impact your AC bill. Also, Frontosa in natural light are astounding.

I got married in Montego Bay. Loved it.
We had rain and very light storm winds (~35mph) all day today. Everything was closed though as the Cayman Islands government shut down most services and everyone else besides hospitals and emergency services did the same. There was really no need for it though but what the hell, my house was full of kids and grand kids kind of like a holiday.

 

[fishdance]

Done right, an inhouse tank can add value but it does narrow the marketplace when sale time occurs.

Scary new trend pushing up home values - realestate.com.au

‘We’re gonna need a bigger house’ might become the catch of this new real estate craze.

www.realestate.com.au

I bought my residential property specifically with building a large tank in mind. Favourable aspect, slight slope, shallow bedrock and a creek along the back boundary. It took years of searching so it wasn't easy. The real estate agent remarked after sale that he'd never had a client walk through the house just once before buying.

The upside of self building a tank is you get exactly what you want. The downside is it's been $100K of necessary house renovation which took me 2 years before even starting tank build.

Currently 4 years since the tank started, I'm over $150K into the tank and it's still only 80% finished. This will definitely reduce my property value which is a hidden cost.

It's a great project though and the fish seem happy.