necrocanis;2462218;2462218 said:
Hey, the only way it will ever get done is just to do it. I agree with some of the others in that you probably are going to want to excavate at the side of the house that you want it on, and make sure that you have a proper concrete pad poured for this structure, and then the skies the limit. You could definitely make it out of wood, but unless you know where to get large sized lumber really cheap it's probably going to be cheaper on a tank of this size to go with concrete. Just take a look at johnptc's tank. For a tank that size and depth I would definitely go concrete. Also you can do your plumbing into the concrete instead of having to cut into it later on. Another thing you may want to consider is lighting for reef, or whatever you plan to put into it. You might find that you are spending as much on lights for this tank as you are the tank itself. You are going to want some major humidity controls in place as well, and also plan for your water changes accordingly. Theres a lot to plan into this, and as with any large aquarium I'd say get your spacing and size limits down first. Get google sketchup, and actually design it to your specifications to see if it will work in the space you are looking at. Do research on materials so that you will know what is sound to use. I would imagine that if you are using alluminum braces you will need to have them custom manufactured, and will want to look around for qoutes on that as well as the acryllic which will be hella thick at 15'. I'd say it would be better to bring that down to at least 10' depth, but you could do a design where the tank goes into the groung in concrete. so you would have 2' on top for your filter, 8' for your viewing area, and 5' below that with concrete walls that will still be easily viewable from above. I'd toy around with skylighting to help with that lighting bill also. Anyway good luck, and hopefully there's something useful in my rambling.
Thank you
neorocanis for offering great advice, I want to explain so the others understand it’s not impossible to build this:
First: Planning and Budgeting
The tank will be 420 X 54 X 180 (L x W x H) which will equal about 18,000 GA rounded off. The tank will be independent meaning it will be a free standing object and not in a wall. The space I have is very large a large living area with 40 ft ceiling space so room is not a problem. I am choosing aluminum because of the weight properties, the price, and the availability. Aluminum is $0.80 per pound so I am looking at 2,000 lbs which is a ruff est. so about $6,000.00. The aluminum will be special ordered and some pieces extruded to specification. All the other equipment PVC, Filtering etc will be about $4500 again ruff est. The Acrylic again like the aluminum is priced by the market of electricity and if you notice lately electricity is affected oil prices on the market and last time I checked the price of oil was almost near $40.00 a barrel so I see the price falling more. Once the price hits a low premium I can then lock a agreeable price for the project because of its size. The acrylic is not going to cost nowhere near $15 million as someone on here said that’s kind of a ridicules stamen that means it would be more costly the carbon fiber. The acrylic piece in one chunk would be shippable at 15ft x 35ft so that is great and helps a lot. The market price I would say between $50,000 and $175,000. Just from a online plastics company a 48 x 96 x 1” = $798.71 x 14 Sheets = $11,181.94 x 15 Sheets or equal to 15” (thickness) = $167,729.1 round to $168,000
Now keep in mind that I had to break down to use their pricing but this gave me a great calculation idea so adding 5% for one solid production piece = $176,400 and 8% labor (this is high but I am just accounting for overhead) = $191,000 rounded but bought at a wholesale price – 5% the total would be = $181,450.00 and this a ruff est. So well within a cost effective range I mean if you’re taking up this project have to have the money to do it. So a total ruff cost would be $200,000 to build the tank in a ruff estimate. Now if I payee a company to do this they would charge me anywhere between $450,000 - $650,000. That’s why I am doing it DIY
Second: Feasibility and Logic
I wanted a tank that could be assembled in the home and disassemble and moved if need be again why I chose aluminum over wood. The tank would be assembled in the home. Some say what about the bottom and the sides well we are going to use the same principals they use on large bridges with suspension cables. We are going to at the base and top of each side wall have 6 cables that will pull each side inward. We will also the same for the top to bottom and back to front. They will be aligned close to the surface wall. Once that is done we will seal with fiber glass to ensure leak proof. Once filled the cables will act against the water pressure as it tries to push out the force will push back stabilizing the force of the water pressure giving more stability to the tank. Also on the outside we will add reinforcing braces to ensure a security strength. Now the viewable tank will stand 15ft the filtration and life system will be an extended 3 ft however because of aluminum we can build into the tank system using UGF , and lighting will run up and down each site with little lights shining in the tank to enhance lighting and not having to rely on lights from the top to penetrate 15ft. Aluminum also comes in handy when we talk about heating and cooling and temp control. Which will save money on cost because the tank will have a insulation layer on the outside of the aluminum. And finally a wood shell or exterior finish will be added for visual. Now I know I am skipping some parts but you get a good idea of the focus.
So it is well thought about we are working on the plans and as I go I will post them and throughout the entire process. Again all advice an even criticism is welcomed.
