Help with Monster Tanks and cost of upkeep

[pacu mom]

One house plan that we like a lot has the office sharing a wall with the garage. One nice way to layout the large tank would be to have the tank resting on the garage floor, but viewable from inside the office. I think that would solve a lot of issues with weight, access, and humidity.

But my wife is rightfully concerned about such a large tank. If we ever moved, decided to renoovate, etc then the tank would be a HUGE obstacle.

But 12 feet is so sweet!!! That type of length would actually let me having a breeding pair of small-medium sized cichlids and see some somewhat natural behavior.

Many very large tanks are in garages. With your 48" width, getting the tank through a standard door opening can still happen by turning the tank on its side. But if you are going that big, why not go with a taller tank? If you did that, though, you would need a garage door, french doors or a sliding door to get the tank inside.....probably the main reason these big tanks are so often in garages. You mentioned moving...another reason to keep the tank in the garage, especially if you decide to go taller. An in-wall tank would be stellar. Here is a build with a 4,000 gallon tank in the garage, but viewed in-wall in the house:

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...llon-tank-install-h20-custom-aquatics.187624/

BTW, that tank is now owned by bigrich545.

I have a large tank which is still not set up. We will never move, or if we do, the tank will not be coming with us. We have no door openings that the tank can fit through. The outside wall and windows were completed after the tank was moved inside..... At least two walls would have to be destroyed to remove the tank intact......a good argument for the tank in the garage....

 

[ahud]

Many very large tanks are in garages. With your 48" width, getting the tank through a standard door opening can still happen by turning the tank on its side. But if you are going that big, why not go with a taller tank? If you did that, though, you would need a garage door, french doors or a sliding door to get the tank inside.....probably the main reason these big tanks are so often in garages. You mentioned moving...another reason to keep the tank in the garage, especially if you decide to go taller. An in-wall tank would be stellar. Here is a build with a 4,000 gallon tank in the garage, but viewed in-wall in the house:

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...llon-tank-install-h20-custom-aquatics.187624/

BTW, that tank is now owned by bigrich545.

I have a large tank which is still not set up. We will never move, or if we do, the tank will not be coming with us. We have no door openings that the tank can fit through. The outside wall and windows were completed after the tank was moved inside..... At least two walls would have to be destroyed to remove the tank intact......a good argument for the tank in the garage....

Thank you Pacu Mom,

So it sounds like a garage build is almost the only way to go without making provisions to the house plans specifically for the tank. Perfect build thread as well.

I like the 24" height because it keeps the cost down and height is not really a factor for the fish I enjoy keeping. Unless you feel strongly that the extra height is worth it?

 

[Sir Speedy]

I have been looking at tanks on customaquariums.com.

A 125g is the biggest tank I have ever owned. At what size do you guys think upkeep cost become significant?
A 144"x48"x24" is roughly $4500. That is the size that appeals to me, but I am worried about ongoing cost.

Can anybody share their costs on tanks larger than 300 gallons? Feel free to suggest any items that I should be sure to factor in.

Some of the factors that I am personally worried about:
-Humidity
-Electricity
-Water changes
-Damage to home with so much weight

I'm going to keep poking around these forums to find more data on costs. But thought I would start a thread as well.

I had a 300 gallon reef tank in my home. I had it inside and not in a garage. Humidity was never a problem for me. I had low voltage fans pulling out humidity. I also had an a/c vent close by the aquarium with a return. For me living in sunny florida we run the a/c all the time which maintain removes a lot of humidity.

As for the electricity that would be you highest expense however this would depend on the amount of equipment that will be running. If you have dc powered equipment the expense is lessened. You can get return pumps that run on variable speeds which are dc powered. The same with lights. The only thing with this type of equipment is that it can be expensive but it's a one time expense up front. We can talk about all types of equipment if you want later on or just pm me.

I ran a fully automated reef and my control tracked power consumption. Everything was connected on one 20 amp breaker which never tripped on overload. My consumption was just under 10- 14.2 amps at the highest and that depended on if the chiller or heater went turned on.

Water changes are going to be your least expense for you. On a saltwater system not so much. I plumbed a drainline from my tank to a drain pipe in the wall behind it. This made water changes easier.

Water damage to your home can be avoid. In the reefing community we believe in redundancy upon redundancy. My stand has seen if's fair share of overflows. If you run a sump your water hazard is in the stand. What I did was I purchased from homedepot shower pan material and lined the inside bottom of the stand. This creates a water tight dam. The inside of the stand has a 4 inch lip (84"x30"x4") and it will hold about 40 gallons of water.

Oh one other thing to consider if you are going to have an auto top off system make sure that you reservoir can handle over 40 gallons of water. My 300 consumes 5.7 gallons per day.

If your dream is a large tank go for it. I had a smaller tank before this one and I wanted one bigger so I just went for it.

 

[pacu mom]

Thank you Pacu Mom,

So it sounds like a garage build is almost the only way to go without making provisions to the house plans specifically for the tank. Perfect build thread as well.

I like the 24" height because it keeps the cost down and height is not really a factor for the fish I enjoy keeping. Unless you feel strongly that the extra height is worth it?

No. Going higher will just compound issues....like having to relegate the tank to the garage unless you have special doors. Taller tanks look great, but can make tank maintenance a little harder, i.e., a 4' high tank doesn't allow for just reaching in and dealing with stuff on the floor....

 

[skjl47]

So do you think I could avoid this issue totally if the tank sits in the garage near a floor drain?

That was the case for me at one place. Had a 125 on the basement slab with a floor drain. Made draining tank water easy. The 125 also failed at one point and the water simply ran across the cement floor into a drain. No damage other than the loss off a tank.

Most slab floors will be strong. This is not a given without checking. A four inch thick slab poured with a good cement mix is fairly common in a garage floor meant to have cars and pickups parked on it. Even so I have seen slab damage such as a corner settling in a garage because the ground under it was not done right.
Are you looking to buy a place or build a place?

Unless you feel strongly that the extra height is worth it?

i.e., a 4' high tank doesn't allow for just reaching in and dealing with stuff on the floor....

Hello; My personal preference is to have the top rim of a tank no higher than my arm pit. I also want to be able to touch the bottom of a tank with my fingers.

 

[BMac91]

I like the 24" height because it keeps the cost down and height is not really a factor for the fish I enjoy keeping. Unless you feel strongly that the extra height is worth it?

So, here is my take on tank height for what it's worth (not much lol).
I have had 30" tall tanks and while they look fantastic, they are a pain in the butt to do ANYTHING in. I am a taller guy (6'2) with pretty long arms and I hated having to soak almost my entire arm to move stuff around or vac substrate.
I moved to a 24" tall tank and again, while it may not look quite as good, it is nice knowing I can get it through any door in my house.
Also, the drastic price difference between a 24" tall and a 30"+. When you have to move to that next thickness of acrylic, it gets more expensive quickly.

I think the choice at hand really depends on what you want to get out of it. If you have tons of different types of fish you'd like to keep, breed, etc. then a fish room is the way to go. But if you have a compatible stock list in mind maybe the large tank is the way to go. Expense wise, unless you found some good deals on used tanks near you, a fish room would probably end up being more expensive, especially depending on the fish you'd like to keep which dictates your tank sizes needed, filtration capacity, etc.

Also, it sounds like you're building a house, which is the perfect time to do a large tank (or fish room) because you can literally build it to suit, have your floor drains, drip lines, extra power and placement of power, etc.

 

[johnny potatoes]

Just a suggestion on height, 24" let's you reach the bottom of the tank. But only for the first 18"-24" from the edge, with 4' x 12' there is so much you can't reach anyway. So I don't think it's much of a difference. I had a 4' tall tank recently and yes it was a PITA to keep the acrylic clean, but a flag tail or two would solve that problem. The other issue is gravel vac and in 2 years I never had to vac once. Rays or geos stir up the bottom and with lots of flow nothing remains in the substrate, a closed loop system with the intakes a foot of the bottom helped a lot with this. I also had the return pointing straight down, you probably couldn't get away with this in a short tank though. Just my experience but I wouldn't set up a big tank any other way. Also a tall tank is way better looking in my opinion. Here's a couple pics, good luck.

 

[duanes]

I had my tanks in a separate building in Milwaukee, with a separate energy bill, from the regular house.
I admit it was not as insulated, as much as it should have been.
With about 1000 gallons in tanks that needed heating, all were covered with styrofoam insulation on 3 sides and the bottoms.
My energy bill ran around $150 on the fish building per month in summer, water about $50 per month.
In winter average $300 per month, but a spike to $400 on Jan and Feb was not uncommon.
I did every other day 30%-40% water changes in winter, with heated water (tap water was sometimes only in the high 30sF)
In summer more water changes (sometimes every day) but old fish water always went straight to the garden.
As far as lighting, only about 50% of tanks were lit, and on timers getting maybe 9 hours per day.
No air conditioning in the fish house.
Just before I sold the fish house, I had to remediate for mold, replace dry wall, and some flooring due to humidity and spillage.

 

[pacu mom]

If you are going to build, the possibilities are endless, the sky is the limit. French doors or a sliding door to the fish room will make a large tank inside the house more feasible. Plan out your plumbing and power needs. Having drains and water supply near the tank is good and becomes more valuable the larger the tank is. Planning out your filtration will help you decide your basic "must haves". Is the garage plumbed? Or are you going to have to open the garage door or a window and bring a hose in every time you do a water change?

In our equipment room, we have two floor drains. We have hot/cold water lines directly over the tank, so we will be able to dump water directly into the main tank; hot/cold water lines to the sump. There is one more very important thing to keep in mind: fish tanks and fish rooms do NOT add to the value of your house. In fact, if any thing, they lessen the value and become an albatross when selling your house...probably another argument for the tank in the garage--the hole between the office and garage can easily be repaired, if you decide to move.

 

[ragin_cajun]

I have a 540 gallon. I don't know, or care, what the electricity bill is. But, I can say that we didn't notice any big increase after I put the tank in.

Mine is 30 inches tall, because of the door width. Glad I didn't get it any taller because I have to wipe algae off the inside of tank every few weeks. I have some humidity in the winter, but it's not real bad. Put lids on the top of the tank, cover the sump, no more humidity.

Biggest cost is food if you ask me. I go through BIG jars of pellets and freeze dried krill feeding these fish. And I'm feeding every other day, too.

You'll need a hospital tank--55 gallon would be great, maybe a 75 gallon. Meds for 540 gallons of water is expensive.

And .... you should price out a 12 foot tank, a 10 foot tank, and an 8 foot tank. The 8 footer will be WAY cheaper.