TODD BUILDS HIS 2500 GALLON CEMENT AQUARIUM FOR STINGRAYS IN THE BASEMENT

[Anythingfish]

I have been planning my own basement monster bin, but have been unable to find any hard data on thickness versus hieight and width and psi and all that for various materials. I'd love it if anyone could provide a pointer to this kind of data or formulas or whatever.

I have several formulas for calculating the thickness of Cell Cast Acrylic aquarium
Windows. Both formulas give similar results and in my opinion are quite conservative.

I will get the formulas posted to our www.anythingfish.com web site soon, meanwhile here are some basic window sizes run through the calculator.

18” by 72” 1/2” thick Acrylic Price estimate US, $ 7.00 sq ft.

24” by 72” ¾” thick Acrylic Price estimate US, $ 11.00 sq ft.

30” by 72” 1” thick Acrylic Price estimate US, $ 15.00 sq ft.

36” by 72” 1.23” thick Acrylic Price estimate US, $ 23.00 sq ft.

42” by 72” 1.55” thick Acrylic Price estimate US, $ 35.00 sq ft.

48” by 72” 1.89” thick Acrylic Price estimate US, $ 50.00 sq ft.

Add shipping to these prices. The length of the window is a factor but a minor one. These figures will get you in the ballpark but are not guaranteed to be correct.

 

[rhinoman]

So for a 9' 8" x 36" (viewable window) one should go with 1.23" (1.25"?) thickness acrylic? I had though 1" would be enough!

 

[Anythingfish]

So for a 9' 8" x 36" (viewable window) one should go with 1.23" (1.25"?) thickness acrylic? I had though 1" would be enough!

My un-professional opinion is that 1" might be thick enough. You may find Acrylic longer than 8 feet a bit harder to locate and somewhat more expensive per square foot.

For an Acrylic aquarium window 116 inches long by 36 inches high, the formula I have calls for 1.4529 inch thick material.

I have a 600-gallon Plexiglas aquarium in the basement measuring 96 inches by 48 inches by 31 inches high with a 3/4 inch thick plastic sides and ends. The top frame is rigid. There is a slight bowing about 1/2" - 3/4" over the 8 foot length.

I would like to hear from anyone else with large plastic aquarium window experience. I am presently building a new 8,000-gallon aquarium for my orphan fish collection. The tank measures 16’ by 12’ by 6 feet high and will have a 4’ by 8’ cell cast Acrylic window. Although the formula calls for 1.89-inch thick plastic, I am going with 1-1/2 thick cell cast Acrylic. I expect there will be some bowing, which I can live with considering the significant additional cost of 2” thick acrylic.

 

[rickson]

great job man.

 

[Fly River]

Nice job on the tank.

I wish I could have freshwater stingrays in San Diego...

 

[ALPHABET]

Very impressive project! Back on reply #66, the acrylic viewing pane for the Seattle Aquarium was over $250,000. I believe it was also 12" thick.

 

[rhinoman]

One thing I want to make sure is that I don't UNDERBUILD any part of this project. I'll go with 1-1/2" thick acrylic.

 

[Pumpkinate]

One more question about your 2500G tank, if you don't mind:
How happy were you with the epoxy sealer in terms of the amount of work to apply it and it's effectiveness? If you were doing the project again would you go with the same sealer?
For my own project I'm trying to decide between epoxy and Sanitred. Sanitred is a rubber sealer... I saw it used on wizzin's thread about his 1000G block tank. It's more expensive than epoxy.
Thanks, Steve

 

[padge]

I have been bitten by the aquarium bug. I all starts with a 54 gallon corner tank....but we all want bigger!!! One day...one day

 

[anythingfish.com]

One more question about your 2500G tank, if you don't mind:
How happy were you with the epoxy sealer in terms of the amount of work to apply it and it's effectiveness? If you were doing the project again would you go with the same sealer?
For my own project I'm trying to decide between epoxy and Sanitred. Sanitred is a rubber sealer... I saw it used on wizzin's thread about his 1000G block tank. It's more expensive than epoxy.
Thanks, Steve

I love how well the epoxy went on, it is a two part process & works very well. I can't see any issues aty all for leakage, etc. Even though we used the snap ties we filles the holes & I made sure to coat them very well with the epoxy. I would recommend two things, use a dark color, mine is too light, & make sure when you apply the epoxy that you have the best respirator you can get & make sure you have many many fans pulling the toxins out. If you do not use a good respirator & do not vent well while applying you will die very quickly. Once again please vent & use a respirator made for the type of epoxy you are applying, not just a gas mask, it needs to remove the correct toxins.