cost effective tank selection?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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billm90

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Mar 19, 2008
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I have been looking at some large tanks and I am really baffled.

I found a 1000 gallon which is like 8 feet long, and geared towards a shark tank. it was around $4500 for the tank.

then I found a tank that was maybe 6 feet long, but like 4feet tall, and maybe a 2.5 feet wide. this was $9000
they said this one empty weighed about 1200 pounds.

Basically I want a huge tank that i can watch like a giant big screen TV, you know sit on the couch a good 10 feet back. I would like it to be long, yet tall.

can someone ball park me a figure where it becomes cost effective to cut off at a certain height or length on a tank?
 
Ric Foster;1667861; said:
Have you considered a do it yourself plywood tank. There are many threads here if you search. That is going to be the most cost effective monster tank.
Click to expand...

I have been looking over every single thread about plywood tanks.
I tried contacting a few places for the plexi and none have replied.

I originally thought I would just fiberglass the inside to seal it, but after what I have read it needs to be gel coated 5 times to make the fiberglass water proof. On top of that I cant just use the fiberglass and resin from home depot, I have to use some marine type. I have built thing out of fiberglass before so I would already have a shoe in with this method. I guess I am worried about the acrylic sealing up to the front of it. The pond liner method seems like it would work, but getting the silicone to seal to it is another issue.

If I built a plywood tank I would like to rest easy while at work, knowing it is not leaking all over my living room. Some of the ways I seen done seem sketchy to me. Like they are going to give out any day.

But yes, after seeing 9K for just the tank I really wanted... Building it would make more sense. I could probably have the whole thing set up for under 9K that way.
 
Most successful tank builds seem to have a few things in common. Very sturdy, solid construction so there is NO flex which can crack the fiberglass. and sweetwater epoxy seems to be the resin of choice to use when fiberglassing. On another note* Glass sticks better with silicone than acrylic. Just do it. even a plywood box will hold water for a while. The more you put into it the longer it will probably last. good luck
 
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