Future Plans

[ninjastar]

Well I have been looking around the forum and seem alot of good things and had a couple of questions.

1-How much did it cost you to build a 500 and 5,000gal tank
2-What method would you use or recommend? Plywood for the 500gal and concrete bricks for the 5,000gal.
3-How did you guys do the filtration?
4-If I wanted to put a 500gal tank in a room and put a window on a wall to show in another room(lets say the living room) would I need a permit?

This will all start to happen when my MF get to the right size in my 100gal tank.

 

[BadOleRoss]

You could build a 500G tank for about $500, but there are some many different ways to build a tank that can have a big affect on the cost. You really need to take a few hours and read throught the DIY build sticky and think about what you want to build and what method or methods would best suit you and your abilities. For a 500G, I would go with plywood, external bracing, and pond coat or pond armor to seal the tank. You proboly need 3/4" glass as well. As far as filtration or larger tank, I think most of them are pretty custom. Some people use sumps made out of storage containers, trash cans, etc. Some people build their own sumps out of acrylics or plywood, while others will hook up several large canister filters or even swimming pool filters to their tank. Just about every build and every DIY filtration system is a little different. As far as permits go, I'd say if you were altering a load bearing wall the anawer would be yes, but that's just a guess. Call you local building inspector and they will help you answer that question. Good Luck!