Alternative tank building materials & ideas - Your thoughts

[RBE17]

I guess I should clarify when I say 150g. It is not a standard size tank. It would need to be custom built as it would have a triangular footprint and three feet high. The reason I was interested in using steel was that if I used 2x4s to frame it I would lose 50g of volume and the project is not worth it for 100g. Anyway, I took the feedback here and did some weight calcs.

All wood (2x4 framing, 3/4" walls) w/ 36"x30" 1" thick piece of acrylic the weight is: 185 lbs
All steel (1" steel angle, 1/8" steel walls) w/ 36"x30" 1" thick piece of acrylic the weight is: 360 lbs
All 1" thick acrylic the weight is: 246 lbs
Combo of 1" steel angle supports & frame, plywood sides and 36"x30" 1" thk piece of acrylic the weight is: 158 lbs

I don't know if this project will go anywhere, but if it does I'll keep everyone updated.

 

[cvermeulen]

steel angle with plywood walls would be a really good combination of materials to use.

For walls that short, you would not need much bracing - only something to go in the corrners, so you're not trying to mate plywood to plywood at a 45 degree angle.

Also, maybe I'm missing something in the communication, but a 36" tall triangular tank would need the back walls to be 36"X45" or so to get 150gal, not 30"

 

[RBE17]

steel angle with plywood walls would be a really good combination of materials to use.

For walls that short, you would not need much bracing - only something to go in the corrners, so you're not trying to mate plywood to plywood at a 45 degree angle.

Also, maybe I'm missing something in the communication, but a 36" tall triangular tank would need the back walls to be 36"X45" or so to get 150gal, not 30"

Mating the corners is my biggest concern. I also have a tendancy to over do things. You're not missing anything. The viewing area will be 36"wide x 30" tall. The overall outside tank dimensions are 55.5" on one wall and 41.3125" on the other wall and 36" tall. When you account for materials, the volume it can old will be ~150g. The odd dimensions are dictated by the fact there is an existing shelf built above this w/ those dimensions. My plan was to build a stand, aquarium and enclose it all to make it look like part of the wall.

My other concern w/ the small footprint is the weight on the floor. It's on the first floor w/ a basement below it. The short wall will only span two floor joists and the floor in this room is loaded pretty good w/ a bar, pool table and shuffle board table. By the time it would be all said and done it would be close to 1,700 lbs. The more I think about this, the more I think no way. I guess I'll just wait to build a 1,000g tank in the basement.

 

[Wolf3101]

A refrigerator has more weight and a far smaller footprint than your talking about. you can also attach the stand to the framing of the side walls to reduce the load if your concerned.

 

[RBE17]

A refrigerator has more weight and a far smaller footprint than your talking about. you can also attach the stand to the framing of the side walls to reduce the load if your concerned.

I had planned on building the stand into the walls. I really never put it in terms of the refrigerator. I agree the footprint is smaller, but a 1,700 lb refrigerator seems a little heavy. I just want to be cautious. We had an accident over the summer w/ our pool and ended up w/ 8,500g of water in the basement...not fun. I don't want water where it doesn't belong.