New Concrete Tank Build - planning and research stage

This would be a perfect time to build a large cement fish tank in that if you are going to have to have a cement truck come in and add cement for footings and slabs that the Garage is going to sit on. It would be cheaper and safer to add the giant cement fish tank when you are going to have everything for this new room built and planned out at the same time.

I plan to built a several gallon cement fish tank to my house in the form of the fish tank going in the same room as the new train room on the side of my house. But as if now I have to find the place first.

That sounds really cool, and i'm either having trouble realizing the scale or i'm not understanding how the idea of a concrete tank works?

Do you have a drawing or picture of what the tank actually looks like ?

Great plans, looks awesome. Not saying you're wrong, just wondering why you have the "L"? Without a window on the small part of the "L", not sure about it. Is this for filtration or just to do the drain and divide thing you mentioned earlier? I just envision this awe inspiring tank, and the fish in that 6' x 6' x 6' section you can't see. Looking forward to watching!

Dude this going to be pretty sweet! so what's your plan for filteration? If your going all natrual look are u going to have monster drift wood for the brown tint and some pond plants??

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It's going to be a very nice setup if it is done properly. Do your research and have a well experienced contractor that knows what's going on. Make sure they have a valid contractor's license, worker's compensation, bond, and insurance before spending time talking to them. I've seen bad jobs that makes you think twice before hiring anyone. Years of experience doesn't mean anything. It's the training and type of projects that they've been doing that counts. I do not have a lot of experience in the field but ask them about a "neoprene wet seal" and see if they know what it is(it's a rubber piece that joints the base to the wall to create a water tight pond or tank because the base and wall have to be done on a separate pour). Good Luck.

I knew you weren't going to eat that goonch! lol

But seriuosly, my concern would be the cost to run such a huge setup. Say you want just 2 turnovers per hour, you would need an 18,000GPH pump (or multiple smaller pumps). That's going to run anywhere between 1,500 to 2,000 Watts! Not sure what you pay per KWHr (I pay $.30/KWHr) so running 1,500 Watts 24/7 would cost me $325/month and if it's 2,000 Watts that would cost me $432/month. It wouldn't be so bad if your rates are closer to the national average of $.11/KWHr, but that's still easily over $100/month...just for water circulation.

If I were building something this large, I would look into an air driven filter. I can't remember where I read about it, but I think it was a stingray breeding facility in the UK where the guy was using large air pumps to move water through his filtration system and he was able to achieve good turnover very efficiently...and most importantly, his water was nice and clear.

I know you are in AZ, but I would think that from November through at least March you would need to heat (depending on what you keep). Are you thinking heat exchanger off of a hot water heater? If you go through with it, make sure you insulate the crap out of the entire setup. I think if you just pour straight concrete with no insulation, you will lose a ton of heat through the bottom.

I would love to see you build this thing, but I would reach out to some of the guys that have systems this large (JohnPTC, Arapaimag, etc) to get some monthly operating cost figures and definitely look into making it as efficient as possible so that it doesn't drive you into the poor house.

Good point about the energy consumption. Maybe try and add solar panels to offset the power drain. How about a solar powered algae scrubber to minimize water changes. I can't imagine water in Arizona would be cheap.