Shark tank construction advice

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Kentrob11

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 17, 2008
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St Louis, MO
I'm in the process of designing a large tank for a cool water reef with a couple of sharks and after a few conflicting viewpoints, I figured I would post here for some input. The exterior dimensions of the tank will be 13x8x6 with the interior depending on materials used to build the tank. I've seen a few tanks built here simply stacking 2x4's on top of one another but I was thinking that with mine, I would need 2x6's or even 2x8's.

I Figured I would try a different route so I have a custom welder/fabricator out to the house last week to discuss the idea of a welded steel frame to line with plywood and he was very confident that a 2x3 rectangular tubular steel framework would be incredibly strong and handle the outward pressure without any bowing at all. Anyone here have any experience with this method? I heard that using steel on the tank would screw with the sharks electrical impulses and drive them nuts. Obviously I wouldn't want that but it would give me more interior space for the tank inhabitants than the 2x6 method....thoughts?? Thanks!
 
The plywood wouldn't be the supporting the water, but rather serving as a surface for the 1/4" PVC sheet liner. The actual support of the structure would be vertical 2x3 tubular steel beams positioned every 12" with center support pieces welded in halfway up. There will be 2 layers of 3/4" plywood inside the tank regardless of whether I got with steel OR 2x6 support structure.
 
A tank such as your describing isn't ideal for a shark pool. They work for regualr fish because most fish can't damage the liner enough to cause a leak. A shark could. The steel structure may or may not be a factor. It varies between species and even somewhat between specfic animals.

A better option would be fiberglass or getting a free standing pool (such as Intex or similar). You'll be looking at the same price once you're all said and done. Also, the 6' depth won't be needed for anything that could swim in a 13'x8' footprint. 13'x8' with a 4' depth would be fine.
 
Thanks for the input! The PVC liner is actually 4x8 sheets of rigid 1/4" thick PVC...I couldn't break through it with a razor sharp kitchen knife if my life depended on it so I think it would be good for this. It actually has similar strength properties as acrylic sheet....I've built quite a few reef tanks filtration components out of both. I've considered doing the tank 5' tall instead of 6' but I would have to drop down to a 10x4 viewing window, which I think would still look ok. I just really wanting to avoid the long slender tank look....
 
Ah, ok. I had the soft 'fabric like' PVC liner in mind.

With that being said, I'd use 4x4 posts to support your plywood framing. And keep them close together. Are you doing a window, or will this be top down viewing???
 
So you think 4x4 wood posts would be better than 2x3" tubular steel? It would definitely be easier and cheaper :-) The welder I was working with seemed convinced that doing 2x3 tubular steel on 12" centers would hold an outward pressure several times what I was planning with no bowing so I was thinking maybe it would be the best option. Last night I was throwing around the idea of moving the tank location to the other side of the basement which would give me a footprint of 15x8 so I may do that instead.

I am in fact doing a window, which will consist of a single 5x10 sheet of 1.5" thick acrylic. The desired end result is a simple 4.5' x 9.5' window on the wall of the basement family room. It's really not a standard shark tank per se but rather a very large cool water reef aquarium with a few sharks in it.
 
Well, I was most likely going to go with a couple of rocks structures in the corners and a few pillar type rock piles in the center and cover them with hardy, easy to keep softies and gorgonians. I know there has to be a temp compromise to keep these as well as sharks so I was thinking water temps of around 72 or so. I planing on doing schools of tangs and chromis, we well as some misc wrasses and damsels for color.
 
I'd do 4x4 posts over metal just to keep any sharks happy.
What sharks did you have in mind. It's exciting to see the plan, just wanna make sure there aren't conflicting husbandry issue between sharks and the fish/coral you listed. One thing I've found with gorgs is they need a lot of food - and to do that tends to make a mess of the water quality. Some sharks also like to push around gorgs.... which leaves them sideways on the bottom 50 % of the time.
 
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