150 Gallon Too Ambitious??

S

stone_shot

Old School Waterman
Sep 28, 2006
7
0
0
52
Dublin, Ireland
Hi All--
I'm new to setting up my own tank, but I work in a public aquarium as a member of the displays team. I have a fair amount of experience with maintaining water chemistry, feeding, water changes etc.---basically I'm not bad at keeping the fish happy and healthy.
I'm thinking of building my own acrylic 150 gallon tank which will be housed in a custom-built cabinet with room in the base for a generous sized sump and all the necessary bits-- plumbing,protein skimmers, pumps, lighting controls--the list goes on! Here come the questions:
Would a wooden stand be strong enough to support the beast( including fish & LR) or would I need to look into a welded steel or aluminum one? The floor it will be sitting on is hardwood over concrete slab so weight shouldn't be an issue.
In my experience, the bigger tanks in the aquarium are much more stable and a heck of a lot easier to maintain, but do you think this a bit too much for a first attempt?
I've still got some homework to do on this project :read: , but I'd like to know what the experienced fishkeepers here have to say about the plan.
Thanks everybody!
chris
 
I am not a marine guy, but both of my 125 gal FW, with extensive rock work for cichlids are on wooden stands and sitting on concrete slabs.

The larger the tank, the more forgiving of errors, though more costly on meds.
 
No, starting with such a large tank should be fine -- especially for someone with your occupation. Just go through the same steps you would with a smaller system. Just cycle the tank first, then introduce a few hardy fish, etc...
 
Or cycle the tank with ammonia and add all your fish at once.
 
Hello stone shot and welcome to A.C.!
I'd strongly recommend getting the largest tank that your space and wallet can afford they are much easier to maintain and more forgiving of new hobbiest errors. I think that I'd go for a live rock based system and use the rock it's self for the ammonia source. If it's a situation of not being able to afford all the rock you can always add a percentage of base rock and let it turn to live rock over time.

The wood should be able to support it if you build it sturdy enough I'd err on the side of caution. I hope that this helps you and if you further questions please feel free to post.
Warm regards
Max
 
You can use a wooden aquarium stand for the 150 gal tank. if you build it yourself i would not space the 2X4's more than 18" apart though. I recently built my own stand out of scrap 2X4's i picked up from my building sites for my 180 gallon tank, All is fine no problems with it and i have no worries. Here is a site with some building plans if you would like to look. http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/blank/bldiy2x4cabinetframe.htm
 
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