Im starting this thread to show my progress from virtual idea to finished setup, and to get valuable help from you experienced builders
Well, short story; i have had lots of aquariums from early days of my life until now - started with a 60 litre tank at the age of 8 or something, and have had lots of different tank in different periods of life.
About 10-12 years ago i had some 375 litres, a 660 and several smaller tanks in the 100-200 litre area - but the need for something bigger was always there, so i decided to build a 4 metre long tank, it was only about 1000 litres, but the length was great for my amazon river setup. Unfortunatly that didnt last long because we decided to move.... only 6 months of fun
New house, new tanks... but this time i had no room for a 4 metre tank, so i ended up with a tiny room filled with tanks stacked all over. Had around 3000 litres of water in total in that little room. Well...that ended also. We moved again..... Thats about two years ago now. The great thing is we now live where we want and we love the place, will probably never move again
So, the need for a new tank is here again. We have a big house, but not any good space for a big tank... But i have two separate garages. One for cars, and one that is not possible to park any car in because of its placement (i think it was build once just for housing garden stuff etc).
This garage is around 35-40 m2 and is perfect for housing our "pets", so a plan is taking form to build a "monster" tank - although not only a fish tank, but it will be built as a huge Vivarium.
The idea is to build the entire Vivarium about 4 metres wide, and 2 metres deep, and all the way from the floor and up (water level around 80cm).
I have made all kinds of sketches but havent landed on one particular yet. This is where i need some input from you guys
One option is to build a concrete tank about 2.5x2x1 metres placed to the rigth side, then 1,5 metres of land area on the left side of the room. This will give me the option to place technical equipement under the land area and still have easy access.
Another option is to make a land area in the back, full length (4 metres), but with various depth so it doesnt give that rectangular feeling, and of course a full length 4 metres of water area in front.
I have also been thinking of placing the tank in the midle with landarea on both left and right side... well, ehem... i have some decissions to make soon
Anyway, when it comes to building.. will i be good with using concrete blocks against the back wall without sealing the original wall of any kind?
The tank will be concrete as mentioned, and covered with resin and fibreglass, and then a topcoat to finish it. Glass in front to get the view inside.
It will of course have a bottom drain, and all connections for filtres etc built in.
I`ll post some sketches later.
Well, short story; i have had lots of aquariums from early days of my life until now - started with a 60 litre tank at the age of 8 or something, and have had lots of different tank in different periods of life.
About 10-12 years ago i had some 375 litres, a 660 and several smaller tanks in the 100-200 litre area - but the need for something bigger was always there, so i decided to build a 4 metre long tank, it was only about 1000 litres, but the length was great for my amazon river setup. Unfortunatly that didnt last long because we decided to move.... only 6 months of fun
New house, new tanks... but this time i had no room for a 4 metre tank, so i ended up with a tiny room filled with tanks stacked all over. Had around 3000 litres of water in total in that little room. Well...that ended also. We moved again..... Thats about two years ago now. The great thing is we now live where we want and we love the place, will probably never move again
So, the need for a new tank is here again. We have a big house, but not any good space for a big tank... But i have two separate garages. One for cars, and one that is not possible to park any car in because of its placement (i think it was build once just for housing garden stuff etc).
This garage is around 35-40 m2 and is perfect for housing our "pets", so a plan is taking form to build a "monster" tank - although not only a fish tank, but it will be built as a huge Vivarium.
The idea is to build the entire Vivarium about 4 metres wide, and 2 metres deep, and all the way from the floor and up (water level around 80cm).
I have made all kinds of sketches but havent landed on one particular yet. This is where i need some input from you guys
One option is to build a concrete tank about 2.5x2x1 metres placed to the rigth side, then 1,5 metres of land area on the left side of the room. This will give me the option to place technical equipement under the land area and still have easy access.
Another option is to make a land area in the back, full length (4 metres), but with various depth so it doesnt give that rectangular feeling, and of course a full length 4 metres of water area in front.
I have also been thinking of placing the tank in the midle with landarea on both left and right side... well, ehem... i have some decissions to make soon
Anyway, when it comes to building.. will i be good with using concrete blocks against the back wall without sealing the original wall of any kind?
The tank will be concrete as mentioned, and covered with resin and fibreglass, and then a topcoat to finish it. Glass in front to get the view inside.
It will of course have a bottom drain, and all connections for filtres etc built in.
I`ll post some sketches later.