Building a 2693 gallon saltwater fish Tank

R

renfrjm

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May 19, 2011
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Hello everyone. I am new to this forum and was lucky to find this great place with so many aquarium enthusiasts. I’m building what is called a huge Aquarium. The aquarium it self is going to be:

Length 10 feet (120 inch)
Height 6 feet (72 inch)
Width 6 feet (72 inch)

Gallon Weight: 2693

This would be basically a floor to my height commercial like aquarium in my own home. The viewing surface will be an 6 feet tall from a half a foot base up. I have done a lot of research and most would love to see if I could pull this off. My questions are basic I think. But I would be happy with any input would be helpful:

1. Where is a good place to buy custom Acrylic (Plexiglas) or glass? Any specific companies or locations? How thick should the Acrylic Sheets be with this size of tank because of water pressure?

2. How big of a filtration system will I need? Are there any specific details I need to look at, any advice? Oh and it’s a saltwater system.

3. Because the system is so large I am think of making the sides, back and bottom another material and just have the front be Acrylic. Any advice on this? Doing this may also prove to be cheaper.

4. Any advice on where to find good exotic marine life to display in the Aquarium? Where is a good reliable retailer of marine life?

5. Any advice or point of views about filtration system on how to build etc.climate, or anything dealing with the aquarium and the design.

6. I had planed to put it in my garage on the concrete floor. I was going to use wood or cement blocks as the 2 side walls and the back wall and use the cement floor as the bottom. then use a sheet of glass of acrylic in the front.

7. I have seen several people build aquariums out of wood but not cement blocks why is this anyone know? It seems like cement blocks and concrete would be stronger.

Thanks everyone!
 
eplastics.com / rplastics.com has pretty good prices on sheets. You're going to need the thick stuff. How thick I don't know off the top of my head without running some calculations. Plan on a lot of bracing too. Are you basing this off someone else's design? If not look around -- there have been a few "monster tanks" like this built in the past. Some went well. Others... still leak.

Yes, something this size has to go on concrete slab, it would destroy normal floor joists. It's going to requite a lot of framing and bracing. Again, what design are you basing this off of? Are you in the construction field? Is the garage insulated and climate controlled? If not, you'll need to do this before finishing the build.

Yes, you will almost certainly have to make a single viewing window. I think you'll find prices for glass and acrylic of sufficient size and thickness are going to be... surprising. Plan on at least $1000 for the viewing window alone. Maybe less if you can get a deal locally, depending on material, but not much less. Quite possibly a lot more.

Filtration (trickle and skimming) is going to be a big job for such a large tank. Plan on giving up at least half your garage or a dedicated 10x10 foot space somewhere. Roughly. You'll want holding / mixing tanks for salt water and top-off too, since I doubt you want to be doing manual changes on a 2500 gallon tank.

For a tank this size, considering the amount of automation required to make it "livable" and the size of all components, if you don't have a $20,000 budget and a lot of time, start smaller and more manageable.

Honestly the fact that you're coming here to ask about filtration and where to get stock (marine life) leads me to believe you have no idea what you're getting in to. Best of luck regardless, but please -- research, research, research! This is a huge project you're proposing. Much bigger than you realize.
 
I just wanted to point out that you mention a "gallon weight". While that is the correct number of gallons, the weight is going to be far more. A 200 gallon tank weighs around 2500 lbs. Just the water in a 2693 gallon tank will weigh 22,474 lbs. In other words, 11 tons. Unless you're an experienced commercial aquarium builder, this is not a project to take on yourself. According to a quick calculation on this aquarium building calculator http://www.theaquatools.com/building-your-aquarium , you would need glass 52 inches thick. Granted plexiglass would differ somewhat, but that's just an idea of what you're getting yourself into.

As far as cement blocks are concerned, I would assume they aren't used in aquarium applications because of the spaces in between each block. With 2693 gallons pushing on the walls, whatever is filling in those spaces is going to be a big weak point in the structure. There's a lot more pressure from all that water, than there is air pressure in structures built with cement blocks. For a project of this size, I would imagine building a frame, and having concrete poured directly into a mold where it will remain for good would be the way to go. Huge, solid slabs. Then again, I've never built aquariums on this kind of scale, and I'm guessing of anyone on these forums there's maybe one or two people who have.

If you're serious about doing this, you need to talk to professionals that are experienced in these kinds of builds.

I'm with Silentcircuit. I mean no offense, but it sounds like you may be getting in way over your head.
 
thank you for all your advice both of you. I have been a saltwater fish hobbyist for over 20 years. the largest tank that I have kept was a 500 gallon tank. I understand it it hard but not imposable. It has been done before and I have the know how but not a lot of experience. so that is why I came here to get advise. so I submitted all my ideas and wanted alot of advise. I have been all over the web, and watch a lot of videos. but they all use wood. and the glass only needs to be 47mm or 1.85 inches thick. also i relize the weight of water is 8.5 pounds to 1 gallon.
 
I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, by any means. I'd love to see the finished project, in fact I'll be keeping an eye out for pics and updates in the future. I just highly recommend going to experienced professionals for reliable advice on a project of this scale. Even if they charge you for a consult, it will be worth it in the long run.

Also, you might try the mosterfishkeepers forum, it's a sister site to this one, but is likely to have more people with super sized tanks to hold their monster fish. You can get there easily by using the drop down menu in the upper right of the screen.
 
I dont know any experienced professionals to go to right now but I will keep looking that is why I posted on here to get advise form you all. I hope to have the finished project done soon and i will list pics and updates in the future. I have been to mosterfishkeepers but i did not leave any thing on the forms because it looked like they all kept freshwater fish. I will try mosterfishkeepers now thanks again to everyone that reads this and leaves a commit.
 
I will be foloowing this also.. That size of tank would be awesome although im sure it will be alot of work also.. Are you scuba trained for when cleaning time arises??LOL.. Good Luck...

Shane.
 
What bridge were you going to build this under?
 
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