4000 gal
- Thread starter necrocanis
- Start date
called for a qoute on the glass, no one in montana carries over 1/2" they have to order it in, and they can't even give me qoutes. They have to call out and then call me back lol.
Usually only people with money to burn build tanks this size.
I've been wanting to build a monster tank, but the cost of heating one in my garage would cost a fortune over the winter months. It just gets too cold where I live to afford the extra energy costs. Natural Gas use to be a cheap alternative to electricity, not so much anymore.
It would be much cheaper and easier just to build a smaller tank and just install a continous drip water change system to keep the water quality good.
I've been wanting to build a monster tank, but the cost of heating one in my garage would cost a fortune over the winter months. It just gets too cold where I live to afford the extra energy costs. Natural Gas use to be a cheap alternative to electricity, not so much anymore.
It would be much cheaper and easier just to build a smaller tank and just install a continous drip water change system to keep the water quality good.
nolapete;1254022; said:
I agree. I spent my first few years in college as an engineering major. Then after dropping out, I spent 15 years in the auto industry (automation, robotics, and welding) working with engineers. I'm out of work now, but I'm back in college as an IT student.
IMO, if he goes 48" high for a viewing window, 1" thick plate glass isn't thick enough either if you want to meet the standard safety specifications set by ANSI, ASTM, OSHA, ect....
The material thickness program I wrote calculates the safety factor at 2.14. A safety factor of 2 is usually only used in non-critical components. That would be a compenent that doesn't have any human contact. Any engineer will tell you that the factor of safety should be atleast 4 for large water vessels since they can put human life at risk. For public aquaria the safety factor will be as high as 10.
For mor on factor of safety-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factor_of_safety
I stand by my original post in this thread-
coolkeith;1196402; said:
coolkeith;1254160; said:
Electricity is cheap here in montana. I am already heating 1500 gals of water in my garage that is uncovered and my power bill rarely surges over $150 also heating 5 medium sized tanks in my house. I am building this tank super insulated. I had a 350 gal pond outside insulated similar to how I plan on insulating this tank and my powerbill didn't even budge. Even with -40 f temps heating the water to 80 f only required 1000w of heat and it barely ran once the water was to temp. Plus this tank will be in an insulated garage.
coolkeith;1254340; said:
Not planning on consulting an engineer, or putting in footers. I personally think that the weight will be distributed over a large enough area that the existing slab will do fine. Also the only real human contact with my tank will be me.
