Building a Mega-Home Marine Tank (18,000 GA) Need Advice All Welcome
- Thread starter xtrememarinetanker
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Kudos to the OP for even planning a project this big. Not only would some design pics be nice, but how about your basement where you intend to put this thing in? Oh and lastly, what do you do for a living?
Niisan9178;2479069; said:
He doesnt have a basement. But yeah some pics of the room and any drawings up to now would be nice.
Says he's going to remodel his "game-room"...Niisan9178;2479069; said:
I wonder what kinda crew you'd need to DIY 18K gals into a game room.
Better yet, I wanna know how a game-room/house foundation can hold 75+ tons. I read of no mention to reinforce the slab...just comments on the same...
Another flaw in the dream is, space for an overhead filtration system of 2'.
Seems to me, 24" to hold a sump or BIo is not enough, as well as every large reef tank I've seen (250-500g) has had a protein skimmer as tall as I am, and I'm a shade over 24" tall...
Arapaimaman in Florida, with his 15K gallon tank, had his slab poured over 18" thick, the tank set, and the house built around the tank...
Hi everyone this week we have been working on the basics of the aquarium but before I get into everything I just wanted to answer questions from some of the posters:
Q: What is the size of the room that the aquarium will be located in?
A: The room will be the south living area of the home. The living area has 30’ ceiling space, open area up to the second floor so it offers the height required. The room 60’x 75’ so it’s a very sizable room and will become the focal point of the home.
Q: How about using wind as a means of power support?
A: North Texas is located in the Texas wind corridor and North Texas like today can be quite windy. So it is a strong possibility it would need to be studied more but all in all I think it’s a great recommendation.
Q: Can the home foundation support the weight of the aquarium?
A: If your home is built on a traditional concrete slab foundation built into the ground weight should not be a problem if the land under your home is compact soil as what is located in North Texas. Now the exception would be if your home is built on wood support, clay, gravel, mountain, or rock. I have a civil engineer guiding me on this project and he is licenses so if he says anything I will let you guys know.
Q: Will there be enough room for the filtration system?
A: You have to take in account the amount of surface area we have to work with for the filtration system because of that the height is compensated with the width of the tank. Being the fact that everything will be custom made those adjustments will work out well.
Ok updates….
For sure we will use carbon fiber and because the market and what seems to be a economic slowdown the material prices are declining day by day which helps in the purchase and budget of the materials. Using carbon fiber we can use a material that has incredible strength but be light enough to move and assemble than steel also it helps with things like pressure and the fact that the structure will not sit on a concrete foundation. Also acrylic is falling day but day so where able to save money there as well. I have a few questions and thoughts I would like to get some opinions on?
1. When determining the filtration (life-support system) how would you I accurately calculated the needs of the tank. Everything in the tank will be live so no artificial corals / reefs or anything will be used. Live sand, real drift wood and sea planet life will be used so any advice would be great?
Next week I will post some images of the plans etc.
Q: What is the size of the room that the aquarium will be located in?
A: The room will be the south living area of the home. The living area has 30’ ceiling space, open area up to the second floor so it offers the height required. The room 60’x 75’ so it’s a very sizable room and will become the focal point of the home.
Q: How about using wind as a means of power support?
A: North Texas is located in the Texas wind corridor and North Texas like today can be quite windy. So it is a strong possibility it would need to be studied more but all in all I think it’s a great recommendation.
Q: Can the home foundation support the weight of the aquarium?
A: If your home is built on a traditional concrete slab foundation built into the ground weight should not be a problem if the land under your home is compact soil as what is located in North Texas. Now the exception would be if your home is built on wood support, clay, gravel, mountain, or rock. I have a civil engineer guiding me on this project and he is licenses so if he says anything I will let you guys know.
Q: Will there be enough room for the filtration system?
A: You have to take in account the amount of surface area we have to work with for the filtration system because of that the height is compensated with the width of the tank. Being the fact that everything will be custom made those adjustments will work out well.
Ok updates….
For sure we will use carbon fiber and because the market and what seems to be a economic slowdown the material prices are declining day by day which helps in the purchase and budget of the materials. Using carbon fiber we can use a material that has incredible strength but be light enough to move and assemble than steel also it helps with things like pressure and the fact that the structure will not sit on a concrete foundation. Also acrylic is falling day but day so where able to save money there as well. I have a few questions and thoughts I would like to get some opinions on?
1. When determining the filtration (life-support system) how would you I accurately calculated the needs of the tank. Everything in the tank will be live so no artificial corals / reefs or anything will be used. Live sand, real drift wood and sea planet life will be used so any advice would be great?
Next week I will post some images of the plans etc.
xtrememarinetanker;2479578; said:
for life support just add so much filtration to the point where you know it has to be a huge overkill. then double it. and then you'll have enough filtration.
Sure in tropical parts of the world anywhere there are trees due to storms or what have you have wood that has turned and found in deep parts besides provide again another organic fixture in the tank might even put a sunken ship down in there you never know.
Why don't you try throwing a little something together with Google Sketchup. I think you might have a few more people grow in support if you showed what you are planning. Especially with the filtration system.
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