Thinking About Constructing a Monster Aquarium Yourself?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
the idea that i want to build is a dual level aquarium similar to a previous posters idea. It would be in the basement with a viewing glass and go up to the ground level floor with a railing around the top. the filter would return out of a tile wall and cascade down rocks forming a waterfall. I originally wanted to keep south american monsters in this but am considering african cichlids instead, i think ill save the south americans for an outdoor aquarium like yours! :) my one question is would concrete last longer than treated wood like you used and if it were sand blasted smooth and sealed? nice pics by the way, ill be checking in to see how your report is coming along
 
I chose plywood for my aquarium construction as I have had a lot of experience over the years constructing wood tanks. Concrete is an excellent choice for an aquarium. Seal the concrete aquarium with a non-toxic epoxy concrete paint or other coating. When viewing aquarium fish from the top as well as through, a window I suggest you think about what bottom substrate will show the fish to best advantage. Larger fish are easier to see and most big catfish will feed from your hand. Your indoor aquarium project sounds wonderful, good luck.
 
I am also thinking of building a large tank, somewhere in the range of 3000 gallions. I've built many tanks in wood coated with epoxy resin as well as concrete, but due to the size of the tank I was thinking of locating it outdoors. ( My wife is not a fish psycho like myself and a tank of that size would land me in divorce court if I built it i the house) My concerns are heating and insulation, since a tank thath size, outdoors evean in mild California would still be an energy hog. Any ideas outthere would be appreciated.
Rurry 44
 
how do you heat the tank? Do you have any detailed plans you could make available, or would it be possoble to ask some genererl construction info on type of would , size , etc. thanks, rurry44
 
rurry44;1832651;1832651 said:
how do you heat the tank? Do you have any detailed plans you could make available, or would it be possoble to ask some genererl construction info on type of would , size , etc. thanks, rurry44
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Insulation for an outdoor aquarium is the key to keeping energy / heating costs low.

The big issue for me is water replacement to keep Nitrates, (NO3) under 100 PPM. In the summer, the city water in the Seattle area is about 65-68 degrees out of the tap and I do not heat it. The sun shining through the glass roof brings the water temperature up about 1-2 degrees per day in the 8,000-gallon aquarium from May through September. During the winter, the tap water is about 37-42 degrees and I need about 25,000 watts of heat to bring the incoming water flowing at 300 gallons per hour up to tank temperature.

I use common 5500-watt 220-volt water tank heaters purchased from Home Depot and mounted in the side of the sump. The heaters have a standard one-inch National Pipe Thread, (NPT) for mounting and will easily thread into a 1-1/2 inch bulkhead fitting with a 1-1/2” to 1 inch reducer bushing. I have each heater connected to an Intermec hot water heater time clock, which automatically turns them off after a set time. Without the clocks, I would have forgotten to turn the heaters off many times and cooked my fish. For maintaining normal aquarium temperature, I have a 220-volt temperature controller purchased from John at www.jehmco.com connected to a water tank heater, which works perfectly.

My external water pumps connected to filters have been a big power draw and it has taken almost a year to develop a proper filter system with a minimum of pumps. Lately I have been testing my new Artesian Dial-A-Flow 2 HP pump. This pump can be easily adjusted to spin the impeller at the desired RPM to achieve a specific flow rate at a given pressure head. I am getting some amazing results; much less power required when compared with my previous pump to move the same or more water through my system. I anticipate the pump will save between $500 and $800 per year at my present rate of $.10 per Kilowatt Hour (KWH). I will have more to say about this pump as soon as I have completed all my tests.

I plan to publish an article detailing how I built my 8000-gallon plywood aquarium when I complete the pump and filter testing.
 
Any updates please? This thread is so inspirational :)
 
Throwing a post in here so I can come back later to read this!
 
me too
 
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