Attn owners of 500+ gallon tanks

monkey_toes

monkey_toes

"Maybe it's a hybrid"
Feb 7, 2006
512
0
0
48
Southwest Florida
Who has (or has had) a tank of 500 gallons or more? My wife and I are moving, and I'm planning a jumbo in-wall aquarium of perhaps 400-600 gallons for the new house. I plan to populate it with med/large peaceful South American fish and live plants.

My questions for large tank owners: Did you build it yourself or did you have someone do it? Who? How long have you had it? What kind of filtration system do you use (pics preferred)? What kind of things did you not expect or adequately plan for? What has been the worst part of the whole experience?

List of prospective residents:

Plants: Italian vallisneria, cabomba, sm/med/lg swords, water sprite, java moss
Bottom fish: Panaque nigrolineatus, vampire pleco, L273, flagtail catfish school, pictus catfish, jaguar catfish, hoplo magdalenae
Midwater fish: silver dollars, Sorubim lima, festivum, blue acara, green severum pair, dwarf pike cichlids, anostomus, banded leporinus
 
stingray4540 said:
Oh, I have dreams of doing the excact same thing some day. If I do I think I would fill it with trout. good luck with it.
Click to expand...
I've got no experience with this, but I can say I was thinking on the same line of thought...chilled water, cold water fish native to the Americas (like trout) w/ fast water current. Just a dream of mine.

If it were 3 feet tall and about 3 feet wide, it would be almost 7-1/2 feet long...wow, nearly 3 tons in a footprint just over the size of a twin bed. If your house is on a pier-and-beam foundation, or windowpane w/ cripple wall, at least the part supporting the tank might need to be a slab!

I saw a nice in-wall 100-gallon marine setup in Tampa (neighbor next to my wife's aunt). Since it was an existing smaller home on a slab, he had the back of the tank stick into the garage. To prevent harmful large daily temperature swings, he used a heavy closed-cell foam on the portion exposed to garage temperatures. He did the usual reinforcement w/ 2x4's. So far, so good...healthy fish.

v/r, N-A
 
Last edited:
I realize that this place is not anywhere near where you live, but I thought maybe their website could give you an idea or two. We buy all our fish from here and they specialize in custom installation. They build and maintain these tanks for their customers. Go to www.houseoffins.com

Click on Navigation on the left and that will take you into the site.
 
I am a member of a fish club that has many members with 200 plus gallon tanks. One member does have a 360 gallon tank in his basement. Its a huge reef tank and its incredible. Problem with a tank like this in the wall as he has stated is the Moisture problem. He has had issues with the Wood swelling do to high humidity in his house and also some mold issues. If you do something like this, make sure you have ventalation fans in the back room where you have your Tank and make sure instead of Dry wall you have Green Wall. This should help elevate any moisture issues.
All these tanks that these members have are home made tanks. most are done in Acrylic. Also if you build a tank like this, how will you get it into the house or out. Plus, remember if you ever want to sell your house, this tank may not be able to go to you and a tank like this in a home tends to hinder resale. So if you plan to stay here for life, then go for it!! If not, i would seriously think about it. My dream would be to build a tile pond in the basement for my turtles and native fish, gambusia, pan fish and gold shiners.
 
My husband made our big tanks...we had a 500 gallon before we went up to the 3240....both were made out of wood/fibreglass with glass panes for viewing. We've never had any issues with humidity - the big tank has been running for 3 years, and the 500 for 17 before that. On the big tank we currently run 3 swimming pool sand filters for filtration with a 3 hp pump that does 9000 gph.
I'd say one of the biggest issues would be access to the tank...make sure you plan it so you can get to every corner...especially if you plan on having live plants. Another plus with the big tank is having the water lines plumbed directly into the system....you don't want to be lugging water for water changes. And...don't be alarmed when your costs are sky-rocketing...lol...remember....big tank...BIG expenses....from the materials, to the substrate, to the equipment, to the meds.....EVERYTHING costs more....and doing it yourself will save on the building costs, but not the maintenance costs...

Good luck!!
 
ADA CEO Amano Takashi's giant tank

4m wide, i dont know how deep and tall it is but i know it has an overflow filteration, and no lighting equipment, using only sunlight

pv2.jpg


thats his house by the way
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom