Thank you I went to mod pool and 40 foot $39,900 . I believe I will go to eBay and buy a 40 ft dumpster container for $3,000 and do alittle work myself .Lol Wish me luck
15,000 gallon shipping container aquarium idea
- Thread starter Abyssalisk
- Start date
Great luck! Be sure to make a thread for us all to learn from and with you.
$40,000 includes everything - necessary equipment and all possible bells and whistles. Bare tank could be 1/2-2/3rds of that. Shipping is extra.
You will surely save if DIY but the overall cost will not be 1/10th or 1/5th and not even 1/4th, it will be around 1/2, given the same functionality of the modpool and your DIY creation to compare apples to apples. Just something to keep in mind that after all is said and done, expect that you will have spent ~$20,000 on all the material things. Your savings would be ~$20,000 in labor, if you will be able to do everything yourself.
Just a rough guide IME. In reality, the less you spend on the DIY watery enclosure, the less reliable and more constrained (that is less functional) and shorter-lived the final product will be. For example, compare concrete or fiberglass pool to membrane+plywood, to hard wall pool, to soft wall, etc.
Or 40' acrylic window to two 20', to four 10', to ten 4', etc. You get what you paid for. If you save on acrylic thickness, you will again get what you paid for. Ted in Seattle @everythingfish DIY built a beautiful huge outdoor pond with a glass window only for the window to crack in one year. One of the myriad of examples of people learning firsthand and painfully where one can save and where one better not even attempt to save.
That's how it is with the critical, capital investment into material and design. There is no way around it. The smaller things you have some wiggle room and can save a lot with DIY but not so with the capital things, which is why if aiming at quality and longevity, one would be wise to budget at least 1/2 of what an enclosure would cost if built professionally.
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Hi I’m glad I’ve seen this thread. We will soon be starting on our retirement house in far North Queensland Australia and intend to build it out of shipping containers. I want to build an aquarium in a 10ft container connected to the living area with a 2.4x1.2, 8’x4’ acrylic window. I was planning on constructing the tank from ply with timber bracing and sealing it with fibreglass and epoxy resin.
I think it will be 2.7x1.5m and 1.5 deep 9’x5’x5’. I currently have a 1000litre outside pond with 3 oscars in it with a planted filter. It does an amazing job of keeping the water pristine so I intend to do the same with my new project. I’ll have 1’ deep 6 poly ponds in the roof linked up and heavily planted to filter the water.
Any thoughts?
I think it will be 2.7x1.5m and 1.5 deep 9’x5’x5’. I currently have a 1000litre outside pond with 3 oscars in it with a planted filter. It does an amazing job of keeping the water pristine so I intend to do the same with my new project. I’ll have 1’ deep 6 poly ponds in the roof linked up and heavily planted to filter the water.
Any thoughts?
Yes ... go and talk to Rod ( I think that’s his name it’s been a while) at the crocodile farm just north of Cairns on the Port Douglas road... he’s built a few shipping containers into tanks including one that was a full 40’ container.
Sourcing the viewing panel will be tricky as local suppliers will charge literally thousands and thousands for it.
Alternatively there is a 10’x6’x4’ fully moulded fibreglass tank with a 8’x3’ glass viewing panel that will be for sale around the end of the year in NSW.
Sourcing the viewing panel will be tricky as local suppliers will charge literally thousands and thousands for it.
Alternatively there is a 10’x6’x4’ fully moulded fibreglass tank with a 8’x3’ glass viewing panel that will be for sale around the end of the year in NSW.
Hi thanks I’ll look out for his place next time I’m up there. Our land is in Cape Tribulation so I’ll be passing the croc farm on the drive up there. I’ve had a price of $2,600 for a 2440x 1220 51mm acrylic sheet for the window. That’s from a Brisbane company and if it comes to it I’ll have a road trip to go and collect it.
Email me the daddress tails of the fibreglass tank you’ll be selling though. daimurph@aol.com
Thanks
Email me the daddress tails of the fibreglass tank you’ll be selling though. daimurph@aol.com
Thanks
