View Full Version : 957-gallon DIY acrylic tank?
My brother is building a shop and house on some property up north and wants a huge fish tank. He's a DIYer all the way and can make almost anything himself so I suggested acrylic.
As I understand it the sheets come in 4' by 8' so if the tank was 4 feet tall, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long, how thick would the acrylic have to be?
buyobuyo
02-11-2007, 10:27 PM
Here is an article for calculating the thicknesses for a custom glass aquarium. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/articles/technical/glassthickness/
The calculations for an acrylic tank would be the same. You would just need to plug-in the right numbers. My guess from what I've read online would be that you would need an 1" or thicker.
Jaysn
02-11-2007, 10:42 PM
Check out www.garf.org too, they have a lot of info on building tanks too. That's going to be an awesome tank!
Omega
02-11-2007, 10:45 PM
Garf says not to build a tank higher than 30 inches I already tried them.
I remember an article about doing this very thing a while ago. I can't find it now and don't remember what website it was from.
necigrad
02-11-2007, 11:09 PM
Stupid question. How is he going to do any tank floor maintance? Even hip waders won't be good enough!
mg6682
02-12-2007, 12:40 AM
If I was to do a tank that big I'd go this route, vs an all acrylic set-up http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_1700g_tank_1.php
Omega
02-12-2007, 12:44 AM
My bro's a metal worker. Maybe instead of plywood it could be steal or aluminum?
Mgamer20o0
02-12-2007, 1:58 AM
4 feet.... thats one tall tank.
Rbishop
02-12-2007, 4:04 AM
Keep it short for ease of maintaining, and leave plenty of room for euipment with easy access.
We're bringing the height down to 30 inches, which will allow us to only have to use 1" cell cast acrylic.
Mgamer20o0
02-12-2007, 9:37 PM
very smart idea so you dont have to get your wetsuit out to mess around at the bottom.
Omega
02-12-2007, 11:21 PM
very smart idea so you dont have to get your wetsuit out to mess around at the bottom.That would be kind of cool though! Hehe...
Mgamer20o0
02-13-2007, 12:08 AM
That would be kind of cool though! Hehe...
if it sounds fun try using that glass as a window and build a very very big tank. then you can hop in and swim with your fish when ever.
BloodyTomFlint
02-23-2007, 9:06 AM
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30
These threads have all sorts of info on huge tanks. Concrete block looks like it would work well for you.
By the way, hi everyone!
BloodyTomFlint
02-23-2007, 10:20 AM
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=67
I forgot about the articles section.
Also, is there a way to edit posts? Am I just blind?