The only reason I don't see this tank build as saving money is because of how long it took / is taking. I personally wouldn't be able to have a project take this long without completion. It would bother me way to much. If I built a 1000 gallon tank and managed to do it for 50 cents per gallon, but it took me 2 years, I would see it as a failure. If I start something it has to be done relatively quickly. I guess I'm just a bit obsessive.
4300 Gallon Plywood Build (3600+ Take 2)
- Thread starter nolapete
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Had Max ACR been available at the time, I'd have gone with it if for no other reason than cvermeulen pestering me about fiberglassing the tank.
Life gets in the way sometimes, but I don't see how a project sitting idle while you take care of what you have to in life adds any cost to the project or makes it a failure. Sounds pretty unreasonable to put that kind of pressure or demands on yourself to get something done that is supposed to be fun. Actually, it sounds too much like a job to me.
I'd rather have a 4300 gallon aquarium that takes me a while to complete than be sitting there looking at someone else's build thread for years not able to build my own.
IMo the cost debate is pretty much moot for several reasons.
1) When you DIY, saving money is sometimes the reason, but for most of us it's to learn lessons and experience the satisfaction of creating something with your own two hands. Cost doesn't become irrelevant but value takes on a whole new meaning.
2) You can't exactly go to a big box store and pick up a custom 4000 gallon tank, so the $1/gal benchmark is sort of meaningless.
3) The whole community is learning from the successes and setbacks here.
4) The time you spend DIY is (often) time you choose to spend. DIY is a luxury activity in most cases, and you can't very well bill out doing work instead of watching TV at $50/hr.
Anyway, for some people who only DIY to save the cash, sure, but MOST DIY projects cost at least as much or more as a commercial solution, but they wind up nicer, or more customized, or better suiting the taste of their creator.
Just my $.02
1) When you DIY, saving money is sometimes the reason, but for most of us it's to learn lessons and experience the satisfaction of creating something with your own two hands. Cost doesn't become irrelevant but value takes on a whole new meaning.
2) You can't exactly go to a big box store and pick up a custom 4000 gallon tank, so the $1/gal benchmark is sort of meaningless.
3) The whole community is learning from the successes and setbacks here.
4) The time you spend DIY is (often) time you choose to spend. DIY is a luxury activity in most cases, and you can't very well bill out doing work instead of watching TV at $50/hr.
Anyway, for some people who only DIY to save the cash, sure, but MOST DIY projects cost at least as much or more as a commercial solution, but they wind up nicer, or more customized, or better suiting the taste of their creator.
Just my $.02
That all sounds very reasonable, at least that is how I approach my DIY projects. Sometimes I am disappointed and "take an axe to the thing," but most of the time I wind up with something that makes me smile every time I see it.
However, I don't (and wouldn't be able to) put a price tag on it -- that was my point when I responded to an attempt to do so. I was trying to show that the Calculus was complicated, at best. Investing all that money into something to have it sit there without fulfilling it's intended use for 3 years sounds like a waste of money to me. Hence why it adds to cost IMO. If I'm spending that much money on something, I want resultas from that investment. An empty tank is not a result.
It will only have been a waste of money if he never completes it or tears it down without completing it. As long as he finishes it, it will not have been a waste.
And I would venture that even if he never gets it filled with water, he won't have considered it a waste, because it will have educated the hundreds or thousands of us that have watched this epic build progress.
THIS tank may not ever be finished (which I highly doubt), but the fact that he built it may result in many many others successfully being built. That is not a waste.
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