New Concrete Tank Build - planning and research stage

[Egon]

Great plans, looks awesome. Not saying you're wrong, just wondering why you have the "L"? Without a window on the small part of the "L", not sure about it. Is this for filtration or just to do the drain and divide thing you mentioned earlier? I just envision this awe inspiring tank, and the fish in that 6' x 6' x 6' section you can't see. Looking forward to watching!

The 6X6 section will have windows. I'm going to have as many windows as possible.

 

[Egon]

Dude this going to be pretty sweet! so what's your plan for filteration? If your going all natrual look are u going to have monster drift wood for the brown tint and some pond plants?

Not going with brown tinted water, I was thinking concrete trees kinda like a zoo or public aquarium would have. Of course lots of live plants above the water and the roots would drop into the water.

It's going to be a very nice setup if it is done properly. Do your research and have a well experienced contractor that knows what's going on. Make sure they have a valid contractor's license, worker's compensation, bond, and insurance before spending time talking to them. I've seen bad jobs that makes you think twice before hiring anyone. Years of experience doesn't mean anything. It's the training and type of projects that they've been doing that counts. I do not have a lot of experience in the field but ask them about a "neoprene wet seal" and see if they know what it is(it's a rubber piece that joints the base to the wall to create a water tight pond or tank because the base and wall have to be done on a separate pour). Good Luck.

Not sure about the whole pour thing? Todds 2500 build was one pour. That seems like the best way for the best water tight bond. Of course that would be handled by the experts. What ever they suggest is what I'm going with. Fortunately this wont be the first concrete tank built so I will go with what works.

I knew you weren't going to eat that goonch! lol

But seriuosly, my concern would be the cost to run such a huge setup. Say you want just 2 turnovers per hour, you would need an 18,000GPH pump (or multiple smaller pumps). That's going to run anywhere between 1,500 to 2,000 Watts! Not sure what you pay per KWHr (I pay $.30/KWHr) so running 1,500 Watts 24/7 would cost me $325/month and if it's 2,000 Watts that would cost me $432/month. It wouldn't be so bad if your rates are closer to the national average of $.11/KWHr, but that's still easily over $100/month...just for water circulation.

If I were building something this large, I would look into an air driven filter. I can't remember where I read about it, but I think it was a stingray breeding facility in the UK where the guy was using large air pumps to move water through his filtration system and he was able to achieve good turnover very efficiently...and most importantly, his water was nice and clear.

I know you are in AZ, but I would think that from November through at least March you would need to heat (depending on what you keep). Are you thinking heat exchanger off of a hot water heater? If you go through with it, make sure you insulate the crap out of the entire setup. I think if you just pour straight concrete with no insulation, you will lose a ton of heat through the bottom.

I would love to see you build this thing, but I would reach out to some of the guys that have systems this large (JohnPTC, Arapaimag, etc) to get some monthly operating cost figures and definitely look into making it as efficient as possible so that it doesn't drive you into the poor house.

Cost is a huge concern! Right now I hardly use a heater. I have 6 large tanks running at the moment and the heaters are set to come on at 74 on al but the grow out tanks. I have those at 80. My biggest concern is over heating. Hopefully I can keep the tank cooled with fans blowing over the surface.
Filtering I think I'm going to stick with a large Ultima bead type filter and a trickle system. I'm not sure about turn over yet. I will power the pump with 230v and most of the lighting will be from sky lights. I would love to get solar panels but If I cant afford the electric then I wont do this project. Solar is very expensive and the break even point is around 13 years. Not really an option.

Good point about the energy consumption. Maybe try and add solar panels to offset the power drain. How about a solar powered algae scrubber to minimize water changes. I can't imagine water in Arizona would be cheap.

Water is not cheap. I will zero scape and use this water to water my trees and bushes. Most likely add a couple fruit trees to the yard also. 100% of the water will be used in my yard.

 

[jsc]

The 6X6 section will have windows. I'm going to have as many windows as possible.

Cool!
Another idea I thought about to throw at you. I tile a lot of floors. Some people are using radiant heat, underneath their floors. It is just a thin wire, sank in a thin layer of concrete under the tile. Could this be put in a thin coat on floor of aquarium, or walls too for that matter? It would definitely be the most cost efficient way to heat the aquarium. Problem I see is if it would affect the sealer somehow. I read all the DIY threads, you are always throwing good ideas at people, so here's one for you. (not sure if it's a good one, yet)

 

[mike_sema]

Sub,,,,
Man when you need help I am but a text away,
1st thing is 1st are you building the addition your self,
How thick are your walls going to be,i ask,as the addition my grandfather build on his place gets full eastern sun so that wall is 12in thick, he has no issue with the heat in the summer,having alot of windows will let in alot of heat have you looked in to tinting yet?
How about mechanical heating and cooling of the addition, solar may be the way to go all around for this room.
I am excited for you on this project and like I said I ama text away for any help

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[Egon]

Cool!
Another idea I thought about to throw at you. I tile a lot of floors. Some people are using radiant heat, underneath their floors. It is just a thin wire, sank in a thin layer of concrete under the tile. Could this be put in a thin coat on floor of aquarium, or walls too for that matter? It would definitely be the most cost efficient way to heat the aquarium. Problem I see is if it would affect the sealer somehow. I read all the DIY threads, you are always throwing good ideas at people, so here's one for you. (not sure if it's a good one, yet)

Interesting! Yes, I think that is a good idea! This is the reason I started this thread. Brainstorming and so on. I can easily hook up a controller to the heaters. Probably wouldn't be enough heat but it would help for sure. Most likely I will heat/cool the room to maintain water temps. The room will be insulated more so than a typical garage. I will have a large roof exhaust fan over the center of the tank and windows on either side of the tank to let cool fresh air in and the exhaust fan to blow the hot moist air out the ceiling. I'm more worried about over heating than anything.

 

[Egon]

Sub,,,,
Man when you need help I am but a text away,
1st thing is 1st are you building the addition your self,
How thick are your walls going to be,i ask,as the addition my grandfather build on his place gets full eastern sun so that wall is 12in thick, he has no issue with the heat in the summer,having alot of windows will let in alot of heat have you looked in to tinting yet?
How about mechanical heating and cooling of the addition, solar may be the way to go all around for this room.
I am excited for you on this project and like I said I ama text away for any help

Sent from my SCH-I500 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

Good stuff Mike! Wall thickness: I was going to contract all this out. I wanted the garage to match the rest of the house. The rest of the house is cinder block construction. It will be the South facing wall of the house so worst case scenario. That wall would not have a window. I was going to have a window in the back (East) side and possibly windows in the garage door but maybe not, my current garage door doesn't have windows. I was going to use sky lights or light tubes above the tank, something that just lets light in with out the heat. Maybe a few shop lights for viewing at night. Thicker walls are an option I will look into.
This project is over a year away. First thing is getting a plan to the city to see if I can build the garage. I have a corner lot and the build might be to close to the sidewalk on the north side. Some people have their block wall fence within 2 feet of the sidewalk. Crossing fingers I can do this too. I will also extend my block wall from the back of the new garage to the back of my property giving me 25% more back yard

 

[mike_sema]

I see
My project is 2 years in the making so I get what you are saying lol.
I would think that as long as you are 3feet away you should be good to go,as this was the requirement for a 10x12x10 shed I build this past winter. Are you in a home owners association? That may also play a part on this build.
Sky lights would be a cool way to go esp with the ones that has highly reflective lining.
If you do not go solar you will probably have to have an extra breaker added to run this room.


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[Joao M]

Interesting! Yes, I think that is a good idea! This is the reason I started this thread. Brainstorming and so on. I can easily hook up a controller to the heaters. Probably wouldn't be enough heat but it would help for sure. Most likely I will heat/cool the room to maintain water temps. The room will be insulated more so than a typical garage. I will have a large roof exhaust fan over the center of the tank and windows on either side of the tank to let cool fresh air in and the exhaust fan to blow the hot moist air out the ceiling. I'm more worried about over heating than anything.

Great project Egon!

maybe you want to take a look at this concrete tank with underneath heating (in Switzerland, so way cooler that AZ...)

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...amotrygon-Tank-I-need-your-help-in-conception

 

[Djjon2165]

Would love to see the process of you making this thing takes lots of pics or videos please

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[nolapete]

Egon, check out http://www.freshwaterstingray.nl/Frames Engels/English.html for ideas on filtration and to see an amazing zoo type tank decor. It's the best I've ever seen.

Google geyser pump and air lift pump and look at what a lot of people on the koi sites are doing. They have amazing filtration powered by air. The stingray tank above moves 80,000 gallons per hour with air alone.

A friend of mine has had a 135,000 gallon in his nightclub and 107,000 gallon in his restaurant. The biggest thing he told me was a problem with concrete is that any water that gets through will start eating away the rebar. On this new 100K tank we're planning, we're going to be looking into the type of concrete the Georgia Aquarium used. It has special polymers in the concrete mix to strengthen it. They aren't succeptible to corrosion.

Search Jack Dunn's Aquarium on Youtube.