Major Upgrade in discussion... 55 to 450 gal!!!

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

CrystaliZed

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 22, 2010
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VA Beach
Currently I'm at a 55 gallon that I've been at for 5 yrs now... well theirs always been talks of upgrading my tank to something of a 150 or 180, but now were in discussion of an apx. 450 gallon tank... Apx. 96"x30"x36" (l,w,h) - my bf plans on putting his many years of class A contractor's knowledge into use and using acrylic for the tank and assembling a stand for it himself.... So before he gets in too deep... a couple ?'s...

- Recommended acrylic size?

- Recommended set up for filtration?

- Any other helpful tips in building or setup?

- Also were discussing possibly making the tank 6' instead of 8'... just due to the sheer size of moving it through rooms or doors... 8' would make it too long to be able to maneuver it as easily as a 6', but any of you out there w/ 8' long tanks... do you have issues w/ this size for length?

Thanks! :D
 
I always just stand the tank on its end. Never really had any problems moving long tanks around.

1. For a 72" x 30" x 36" tank, I wouldn't use anything less that 3/4"

2. Go with a sump. They are cheap and efficient.

3. Browse around for the few DIY acrylic tank threads. Building an acrylic tank isn't impossible, but it sure isn't easy. Have a read before you tackle that one on your own.
 
BadOleRoss;4435967; said:
I agree with Pharoah, read through the DIY sticky on builds. Acrylic is not impossible but there is no room for error. A plywood build with a viewing window is a much easier way to go. As far as filtration, I'd go with a sump as well but with an Fx5 for mechanical assistance.
Click to expand...


x2 :D
 
with 36" height, I believe you're actually looking at 1" thickness on the verticals. You could do 3/4" but i think you would notice a little deflection.

That's quite a tank to build yourself. Pretty daunting task actually, but it sounds like he knows what he's doing with construction. I'd still recommend practicing on smaller things before bonding sheets of cell cast that are expensive and heavy.
 
i remember a thread a while back where a guy and his friend built a couple of acrylic stingray tanks. would be a real good one for you all to check out.
 
Thanks for all the input everyone... Will keep these suggestions in mind...

I've been reading up on many of the posts here and that's kind of why the ? of 6' or 8' foot in length came to mind... the sheer size of it and being able to maneuver it on a move or something, we don't want to be impossible... LOL!

Of course, then we've considered just what kind of fish to house in it, as we don't want to get to the point of fish getting so large that we have no way of transporting them outside of the tank (i.e... cooler size...)
 
I would reduce the height of the tank too, especially for your first build. There are charts somewhere, but if you could reduce the height to 30" or 24", you'd save a lot of money on materials, since you could use thinner acrylic.
 
That's true Paul... I know a lot of them come in 4x8 sheets, so thats how we figured the 96"x30"x36" - we were gonna do 30" for the height, but then we were wasting partial of the 3rd sheet...

Were taking on the largest tank we can possibly do w/ still being able to move it, since were renting... On the other hand, I don't wanna go too small like a 250 or something and end up out-growing it in a few years again...
 
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