5ft desktop tank - crazy?

[cellodaisy]

In my office, I sit facing the door and my desk is pretty big, so there's quite a bit of real estate in front of me that I don't use, but...

- no more than 12" tall (so people can see me over it)

- no more than 12" deep (so I can still work)

- up to 5 feet wide

- all glass (or acrylic, but I prefer glass) so that it could be viewed from both sides


My questions are...

#1 - Is a 1'x1'x5' tank completely crazy?

#2 - What could I keep in it? (It would hold about 37 gallons.)

#3 - Is it insanely expensive to get glass cut to 1'x5'?

#4 - How thick would the glass need to be? (Braces in the middle would be fine.)

Ideas welcome! Thank you!

 

[Pavo71]

1) not crazy, very cool

2) with a long narrow short tank you will have flow issues, but you could make it into a stream tank. Pipe the input from a power head under the substrate to the opposite side, so water flows from one side to the other. plus you can have the input for the powerheads as sponge filters and there is your mechanical and biological filtration.

This would be very good for hillstream loaches.

3) glass at those dimensions would be expensive, I recommend cell cast acrylic.

4) not my area of expertise so I will leave that one alone

 

[dundadundun]

i had a piece cut and smoothed about 1' X 3' for about $30... probably about the thickness you need.

#1 i hope so... otherwise you won't fit in...
#2 plenty of smaller fish, snails, shrimp, etc. that's a lot of room in one direction for them to swim around.
#3 idk, see my example above, surely it'll be cheaper if you estimate by that since you'll get 3 larger and a total of 5 pieces.
#4 i think mine as about 3/16" (whatever thickness all glass aquarium hoods are at 36") should be good or close. i'm sure someone will come along with a more definitive answer on that...

 

[Lillyan]

The desk would have a lot of weight on the back edge of the desk, no? Wouldn't you need to put up extra support more towards the middle?

 

[The Zigman]

thought about a similar tank myself. Would like to see someone make one!

 

[Ara]

Totally not crazy!

I have actually seen long but narrow tanks, and they seem to be fine. After all ... a 10 gallon tank is often only 12" deep (mine is 10" deep X 12" tall... so it would be like one of those, but.. longer!


I bet it would make an super home for some smaller fish.. like.. a guppy community, or a betta sorority or some african dwarf frogs..

Sounds AWESOME! I have a tank on my desk at work and I LOOOVE zoning out and watching the fish..


I hope you do it, sounds cool!

 

[cellodaisy]

2) with a long narrow short tank you will have flow issues, but you could make it into a stream tank. Pipe the input from a power head under the substrate to the opposite side, so water flows from one side to the other. plus you can have the input for the powerheads as sponge filters and there is your mechanical and biological filtration.

Great idea!

3) glass at those dimensions would be expensive, I recommend cell cast acrylic.

Huh... I always thought acrylic was more expensive than glass?

i had a piece cut and smoothed about 1' X 3' for about $30... probably about the thickness you need.

May I ask where you got that done? Was it a local shop or something online?

#1 i hope so... otherwise you won't fit in...

:lol:

 

[cellodaisy]

The desk would have a lot of weight on the back edge of the desk, no? Wouldn't you need to put up extra support more towards the middle?

It's a pretty sturdy desk, and it has a solid panel across the back, which is actually set in about 4 inches. Water weighs about 62.5 pounds per cubic foot. This would be a maximum water volume of 5 cubic feet, so that's 312.5 pounds. I don't think it would be a problem. Good thought, though.

thought about a similar tank myself. Would like to see someone make one!

It's not something I can do right away, but if I do it, I'll certainly post about it here!

Sounds AWESOME! I have a tank on my desk at work and I LOOOVE zoning out and watching the fish..


I hope you do it, sounds cool!

Thanks!

 

[PaulJ69]

DO IT!!!!
the wider the better!

 

[wetwillyjoe69]

I have a 5'x2'x2' tank in my living room. go for it