price of glass or acrylic

[babblefish1960]

I'm sure you and your father have more figured out than the cad shows, blocks are designed to withstand a much greater vertical load than a lateral load. There is a lot of forces pushing outward that will need to be compensated for. Though the drawing looks logical, no details are provided, but I'm sure those would be supplied for your own use. Pilasters, whether internal or external should be found either physically or as a member buttressing the sides. The detail of connection to the floor is an important one, as is the steel required for the block. Details of the transparent viewing film are also important.

What have you decided to use for the interior membrane between the water and the structure. There are so many ways to go here, but you will want to parge with something that keeps the water from permeating the block wall.

I'm sure you will discover what you need as you go along, additionally, the most expensive parts are the lighting, heating, filtering, and the glass. As I mentioned earlier, have a good look around Monsterkeepers, as there have been a number of people who have done this sort of tank, myself included, and there are many things to account for that don't seem obvious right now. But if you take your time, prepare in advance, and know what to expect, there should only be small surprises.

Have fun with that, bigger is always better to a point, once you leave the region of equipment readily available through retail, bigger just means bigger problems requiring bigger solutions with a much bigger wallet to dip into. Keep us abreast of your progress.

[hamstercaster]

Instead of using paint for the interior may I suggest using a pool lining?  Personnally I think it would do a great job and it surely could be arrange so you only needed to seal the areas around the glass ie:  you put the lining in and cut a hole around where the glass will be leaving enough lining to overlap over the blocks all around he glas and seal that area?  If the lining is big enough and touches every area of your tank on the inside, there shouldn't be any pressure pulling on the lining thus sealing it should be a problem and it would insure a leak free tank as lining is very durable specially if no one gets to walk or apply any pressure on it...

just a thought like that.. may be I'm completly off on my suggestion but it may be something to think about.

[Sue]

This link is from a couple in Ottawa where they describe how they built an indoor pond using cement blocks. No glass window though.

http://www.tjtdesign.com/Pond/index.htm

[dpatte]

Three issues about the depth of the tank...

1) The taller the tank, the harder it is to maintain. 29" is about the tallest that can be maintained without tools

2) The taller the tank, the more expensive your lighting will be. The depth of the water dramatically reduces the amount of light that reaches the bottom

3) The taller the tank, the more water pressure you will have to deal with as pressures on the structure.

oh, and one more...

Most people in the long run tend to prefer tanks that are as depp (front to back) as tall - or even deeper. When you add water to a tank, it only looks 2/3s as deep from front to back as it really is (due to refraction or the speed of light or something)

Things to keep in mind in your design.

[homestar726]

I don't think that this build is going to be that bad. Take into consideration that most of the building supplies are free. There is no labour to be by paid out, and the only "major" expense is going to be the glass or acrylic.

From an engineering perspective, if the block are stagered, and the empty block chambers are filled with concrete and reinforced with steel re-bar the structure will be stronger than you'd need. You'd have 6inch thick concrete reinforced walls, and it would all come down to the weakest point... Being the viewing film. 1 inch thick glass or plexi should hold true, without bowing outwards.

Ventilation could follow similar line as a dryer. Piping to the outside, with a slow blow fan build into the canopy.

A filtration would be as easy as find a small pool filter, and loading it with media and maybe aquaballs.

The biggest problem I could see in this build, would be selling the house later and have prospective buyer flipping there tops over a huge aquarium in the basement.... Although if it was an OVAS member, that would probably be a selling point

Big Al's has a 1000 gallon shark tank that is in the realm of huge, and they make it work. So i think this is very achievable, and will be a great build. I cant wait to get my hands dirty on this project

[rocketboy]

i think i should have said this in the post with the pic of the design, i found that pic from a guy off of monsterfishkeeper who has built that 1000g tank and doesn't have any problems with the structure. what homestar mentioned is the way this guy build it. my biggest concern would be finding the best way to make sure the acrylic sheet is water tight, as there are many different ways to do so.

we have a pond in our back yard, and for a about 5 years now every winter we have been putting the goldfish in the pool for the winter with great success. but for this winter we decided to make a pond in the basement cause of the koi we now have and all the work trying to get those little buggers out of the pool lol(its a whole weekend thing).
we built it out of blocks and a black liner (no cement or anything its only 2 feet high) and have had no problems what so ever and it looks great too. the liner looks a little crummy with the wrinkles in it but considering its something we put together in 2 hours... covering the tank in liner isn't a bad idea but with that comes its own problems like punctures,vapor in between the blocks and liner and what not,stuff that seems to be much easier to fix then a leak in a cement structure.

Three issues about the depth of the tank...

those are definitely things i will have to consider.i think most of us can agree on that we all sometimes get a little lazy sometimes with the up keep lol and with a tank that size there is MUCH more work involved

thanks again guy/girls for all the input,you really have me thinking now lol

oh and Shawn dont worry Shawn i already have a few jobs lined up for you on this project(if it falls threw)and you'll probably never want to look a tank again lol... just kidding.but if it doesn't fall threw ill be buying a jetski with the money i would have spent on the tank, and be up at the cottage with you guys jetsking all summer

[sniggir]

have you thought about doing a split.. there is a guy on Cichlid form that has a tank like yours and he did it with 2 sheets of of glass to even out the stresess on the glass. If you go to TO you can get glass much cheaper than in Ottawa. try sending a Pm to Redbelly he may be able to help ya out I think he said that he could get the 1/2 inch glass for 10$ a square foot. so I hope this help's

Good luck with the Tank... I hope you plan on building your own filter as buying one would be biggg buck's I will post the form of that guy for you he did step by step realy cool I read it over like 3 days.. goes for like 150 pages

Pat

[sniggir]

here is the link to the tank I was talking about....crazy I mt your cousin to day he came by and grabed some rock from me I see aquaria runs in the Fam http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=103294

enjoy the read and I hope you have a while

[rocketboy]

hey sniggir, after reading your post i did a little calculating and figured out if i did  2 panes of acrylic i would only have 38inch long view on each side.by having that i think it would take away from the whole feel of the seen no?

thanks for the link, looks like ill be reading for a few days now lol

seems I'm rubbing off on everyone around me lol Ive recruited 5 so far into aquaria
and trying to get more lol.

sorry to go off topic a little, but the fronts you talk about to my cuz would 1 or 2 (with a few other fish) be fine in a 65g? i might do an order with Spenser

Adam

[sniggir]

they are just fry right now so yea not a problem, and they are slow growers so if it take a year for you to get your 1000 gal up and running! so be it by the end of the year they would be atthe most 3-4 inches

so go for it he has some nice ones in right now

Pat