Hi.
I thought i would come back to using these forums again to get some experienced advice. Lets just say the standard response from family is always 'you shouldn't have that much water in the house'. Pfft, they don't live here and that's no concern to me. I need informed opinion if i am to avoid a mistake. It's the logistics of living with a big tank that concern me. Please forgive the lengthy post, it's not really a direct question so much as a series of speculations/queries and uncertainties.
Anyway, onto what i am planning to do. I love paludariums, big paludariums with proper, natural looking scaping methods. That means a tall, wide tank; especially since i keep a [probably female] slider. The design i am after can't be bought, it has to be made (which is the excuse i need). Design is not the issue per say, i have several schematics for what i want, it's the width, practicality and overall visual impact that is the concern.
I basically have three options due to the possible ways to get the tank in/out of the house and the size of the rooms. It is rather important to get this right since i am on a schedule for upsizing my home at least every 10 years, moving is going to happen and this small room won't always be home.
All these options relate to the width of the tank, it is the limiting factor, not length or height. For the sake of satisfying curiosity i will be going 6' long by around 40-42" high (total). Water depth would be around the 20-21". Front will be half glass pane/half door. Only stock will be minnows, shrimp and a slider. Main focus will be on getting a natural looking scape and keeping the turtle 'happy'. Schematics will be coming up on the forum in the future for critique, but not until final sizes are set in stone, so i don't want to get too caught up in the overall design in this thread unless it becomes directly relevant.
Option 1: Build the tank to the width of typical UK rebated door casings and to fit in the widest possible range of rooms. Smallest size to reasonably expect would be 29 wide. Minus two inches clearance 28" max
Option 2: Build the tank to fit through window frames and to fit in a decent range of larger rooms (even if it will look a little too big in the current house). Smallest size window to reasonably expect here would be 35" wide. Minus two inches clearance = 32" max. Lets call it 30" [2.5'] since it is trickier to get something out of a window frame than a door.
Option 3: Build the tank as wide as i like and take it to bits to get it out of the house. Don't care about the fact that it will practically fill my current living room and any other living room i have in the future. I would go for 36" wide [3'] for this option.
Obviously material cost will be minimal difference since the same gauge will be used in all three as the length and height are constant. I feel torn between desire and common sense, we all want big tanks, but i guess i could be one of those cases of dreaming too big to be realistic for my circumstances. I might also be grossly over estimating the width of tank i would actually need to both scape and keep the slider in it. I am not after keeping it alive with barely enough room to turn though, i want it to be happy. When i see them in 2' wide tanks [120/180gal], it makes me cringe a little.
To get the size into context for intended rooms, current room is around 14-15' [square]. I would have to ditch a sofa to get it in (not exactly a problem in itself, i rarely have guests). Biggest front room i would expect to get when i upsize is either 15'x30' (open plan terrace) or a little under 20'x20' (3 bed semi).
What are your thoughts on this, what would you build in this circumstance and why? I can only afford the one build, there will be no future upsizing after this tank (this is my secondary hobby, and the cheapest). Any input is appreciated. Even if you can only address certain aspects or just want to throw out criticism it is likely helpful.
Cheers, Stuart.
I thought i would come back to using these forums again to get some experienced advice. Lets just say the standard response from family is always 'you shouldn't have that much water in the house'. Pfft, they don't live here and that's no concern to me. I need informed opinion if i am to avoid a mistake. It's the logistics of living with a big tank that concern me. Please forgive the lengthy post, it's not really a direct question so much as a series of speculations/queries and uncertainties.
Anyway, onto what i am planning to do. I love paludariums, big paludariums with proper, natural looking scaping methods. That means a tall, wide tank; especially since i keep a [probably female] slider. The design i am after can't be bought, it has to be made (which is the excuse i need). Design is not the issue per say, i have several schematics for what i want, it's the width, practicality and overall visual impact that is the concern.
I basically have three options due to the possible ways to get the tank in/out of the house and the size of the rooms. It is rather important to get this right since i am on a schedule for upsizing my home at least every 10 years, moving is going to happen and this small room won't always be home.
All these options relate to the width of the tank, it is the limiting factor, not length or height. For the sake of satisfying curiosity i will be going 6' long by around 40-42" high (total). Water depth would be around the 20-21". Front will be half glass pane/half door. Only stock will be minnows, shrimp and a slider. Main focus will be on getting a natural looking scape and keeping the turtle 'happy'. Schematics will be coming up on the forum in the future for critique, but not until final sizes are set in stone, so i don't want to get too caught up in the overall design in this thread unless it becomes directly relevant.
Option 1: Build the tank to the width of typical UK rebated door casings and to fit in the widest possible range of rooms. Smallest size to reasonably expect would be 29 wide. Minus two inches clearance 28" max
Option 2: Build the tank to fit through window frames and to fit in a decent range of larger rooms (even if it will look a little too big in the current house). Smallest size window to reasonably expect here would be 35" wide. Minus two inches clearance = 32" max. Lets call it 30" [2.5'] since it is trickier to get something out of a window frame than a door.
Option 3: Build the tank as wide as i like and take it to bits to get it out of the house. Don't care about the fact that it will practically fill my current living room and any other living room i have in the future. I would go for 36" wide [3'] for this option.
Obviously material cost will be minimal difference since the same gauge will be used in all three as the length and height are constant. I feel torn between desire and common sense, we all want big tanks, but i guess i could be one of those cases of dreaming too big to be realistic for my circumstances. I might also be grossly over estimating the width of tank i would actually need to both scape and keep the slider in it. I am not after keeping it alive with barely enough room to turn though, i want it to be happy. When i see them in 2' wide tanks [120/180gal], it makes me cringe a little.
To get the size into context for intended rooms, current room is around 14-15' [square]. I would have to ditch a sofa to get it in (not exactly a problem in itself, i rarely have guests). Biggest front room i would expect to get when i upsize is either 15'x30' (open plan terrace) or a little under 20'x20' (3 bed semi).
What are your thoughts on this, what would you build in this circumstance and why? I can only afford the one build, there will be no future upsizing after this tank (this is my secondary hobby, and the cheapest). Any input is appreciated. Even if you can only address certain aspects or just want to throw out criticism it is likely helpful.
Cheers, Stuart.
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