Thinking about getting large tank - Need advice from experienced owners

[brian313313]

Hi,

I have just moved and would love to get a large aquarium for my finished basement. I have a 12' wall that it would go on and would look great there. The room is about 35' x 16' so it should not dominate the room. I'd like to go at least 8 feet and maybe span the whole 12. I'm sort of thinking 10' may be optimal though as that will let me put some shelves on the side. I will probably set this up as a saltwater fish only or african cichlid tank. If I stay freshwater, I can do my water changes right through the window. That much salt though would probably kill all the vegetation over time and the basement is below grade and served by a pump that was not made for salt-water. My local LFS warned me that too much salt could burn that pump out.

My questions:
- Will the slab take this much weight?
- I will probably have to buy this used to stay in my budget. I would need to hire someone to move this. Is there anyone out there that will do that? Standard movers will not handle the glass.
- Any additional things regarding a large tank I should know?
- Acrylic would be lighter but I've never owned acrylic before. Any recommendations on this?

This project will probably begin late fall-early winter, unless I just decide to get a 180 which should be pretty easy to do since it's a standard tank size.

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Acrylic is way to go for large tank but it will cost 5x more than glass. The only concern is how to get that large tank in your house lol. I knew some members here actually need to break apart of their house to get the tank similar size into their house. Freshwater is easier to maintain but SW look nicer and of course cost a ton of money to fill, to make it look good for that large tank, unless money is not an issue to you for long term!

 

[jwh]

I've just had a 3.6m x 80cm high x 70cm deep, 2000l glass tank installed. I think the glass alone weighed in excess of 500kg, the only way I could do it was to have it built in situ. It's on a 80cm high, 4.3m long, and 70cm deep stand, constructed of 50mm square tubing, 2mm wall thickness. The glass is 20mm thick, 25mm bottom, braced top and bottom, with a safety factor of 4. The total filled weight is in excess of 2800kg, so yes check your slab. The weight is spread over 3 square meters, so it's just under 1 ton per square meter.
Due to cost acrylic was out of the question, I would have loved an acrylic tank though, lighter, clearer, stronger.

 

[celebrist]

If you go salt use glass (scratching) if you go fresh acrylic is the more popular choice. My acrylic 450 is movable with four dudes. Glass would require significantly more man power. The slab should be fine with the weight I have had no problems with mine.

 

[brian313313]

Acrylic is way to go for large tank but it will cost 5x more than glass. The only concern is how to get that large tank in your house lol. I knew some members here actually need to break apart of their house to get the tank similar size into their house. Freshwater is easier to maintain but SW look nicer and of course cost a ton of money to fill, to make it look good for that large tank, unless money is not an issue to you for long term!

Fortunately, I can bring it in right from the driveway through french doors. With both of them open it's 6 feet clearance and the ground outside is level coming in. I won't have to take anything apart.

 

[tanyaelec11]

about the movers not moving glass is not true. If you hire reputable movers such as atlas van lines they should do it for you . They did it for me and I have an 8 ft 30 inches 2 ft high tank with 1/2 thick glass. I would make it as big as you can fit it through the door and hopefully your stairs are straight down. I do recommend glass if its anything under 240 if your decision is above a 240 I would go acrylic just for the fact it is much lighter and you wont be hated as much hahaha

 

[olex]

You could try the DIY option, might save some money and will give you a fun project. Im planning on building a 370gallon plywood tank soon.

 

[raubiy]

You could try the DIY option, might save some money and will give you a fun project. Im planning on building a 370gallon plywood tank soon.

The King Of DIY can teach us many things. I'm falowing his show more than 2 years.

 

[brian313313]

I think maybe it's the fish the movers won't do. We just hired movers to move to the new house. The people on the phone said no aquariums. The guys who showed up to move saw my aquariums at the new place and asked why we moved them and they seemed a little confused when I said they didn't move that. No further discussion was said so I can't be sure. I had spares so I set up some small ones and moved the fish, then moved the bigger aquarium. The movers have a minimum $420 fee @$210/hr. I'm not sure if it would be worth it. If I buy new, it's about a $100 delivery charge. Some of the fee is probably built in to the cost of the aquarium though.

I have though about DIY. I have 0 experience building aquariums though and from what I've been reading they say to start out on small aquariums. I don't really need any of those. I plan on a DIY stand though. I build those regularly. I built a DIY sump once but in the end it cost more than buying one new.