Help With Material For 3000 Gallon Tank

[alm350]

i would like to build a large tank around 3000 gallons or so, im not for sure what to build it out of. from what i have seen so far most people that have built tanks this size used plywood and fiberglass.but from what i understand fiberglass brakes down and has to be redone every 5 or so years,which i do not want to deal with and i dont think i could build it out of just glass-to weak i would think,so i was thinking of steel but then i have to deal with rust and trying to paint it all the time,
so i started thinking sence it would be freshwater maybe aluminum would work,but im not for sure if aluminum would be toxic to the fish,
so does anyone know if aluminum is toxic or know of a way to build it so i dont have to rebuild it every few years?
i figure with glass ports and aluminum i would not have to do much at all other than reseal the site ports every 10 years or so ,
any thoughts would be great thank you

 

[eric1514]

How about concrete? Large public aquariums are built that way.

I'll bet it would weigh one heck of a lot, but so does 3000 gallons of water.

What are the dimensions of a 3000 gallon tank?

Eric

 

[Jen]

Where on earth would you have room for a 3000gallon tank. That would be like 20 feet long! Did you mean 300 gallons?

 

[Ginge]

How about concrete? Large public aquariums are built that way.

I'll bet it would weigh one heck of a lot, but so does 3000 gallons of water.

What are the dimensions of a 3000 gallon tank?

Eric

I thought the same thing you would need 10cm thick glass it would be a whole room out of you house maybee even 2.

 

[alm350]

yes you read it rite 3,000 gallons or about that,
the tank will be set on a 12" slab of 5000 psi concrete im not for sure of the measurements but i know it will be 6' tall by 12' wide. depth works out to what will work within the living room im building, i think around 8' to 10'. i want to put in sight port just in the front,glass sized to 4'x8' sheet of 1"Lexine glass, as for filtering all pumps will be outside in a heated/cooled pump house just behind the tank wall,im not for sure the total gallon amount as i have to figured out all the lengths but im guessing around 3000 gallons, the reason for building is im out of space in store bought tanks, i have 11 pacu's among other fish, im just out of space. i would like to know as much as i can about problems and what works best with large tanks before i even start my parts list,
i also thought about concrete like the public ones but the walls are under ground and use the earth to support the walls i will only have about 1-1/2 feet between the inside tank wall and the wall of my living room to work with so now im thinking about steel and then sealing it somehow so i would not have to repair it every few years or it rusting and or toxifying the water
i just want to make sure it can be done without having to repair it every few years or killing my fish,at this point its alot of asking questions planning and then i will build a model to help me with the real thing
any pointers or advice is welcomed for sure thanks

 

[Matty]

i'd go down to the local aquarium and ask them alot of questions, like materials used, contractors, plans and diagrams and such to get ideas from their large tanks. Remember to post pictures every day once you start building

 

[anvil63]

Wow, that's an incredible project. I sincerely wish you the best of luck. No idea on materials, but for a project this big and costly it might be worth the time, effort and money to contact a structural engineer for advice and to double check your plans.

Also you must be single, or have the greatest most understanding wife/girlfriend that has ever walked this planet

Cheers

Carl

 

[cashton]

And a huge bank account.

 

[Matty]

there's a really intersting article out there of a guy who built a 1700 gallon shark tank. Try googling it. he talks about materials, precautions and structural considerations in it too!

 

[andywg]

Fibre glass would not need redoing after 5 years or else they wouldn't sell fibre glass ponds with a lifetime guarentee.

FG is the expensive but best route. You can get rubber paint that is often used for large koi ponds though its long term effectiveness is not well documented.

Best bet is to talk to some Koi experts as they regularly build 6 to 20 thousand gallon ponds.

 

[Cichlidkeeper]

Try this it should atleast give you some insight. I know he help out a few other people with large tanks. I'm sure he would respond to your Questions. His E-mail is at the end of the article. This tank has been up for a few years so he could also give you an idea of how the materials are holding up. Good luck and let us know if you decied to build it.

1700 Gal Shark Tank

 

[alm350]

yeah i seen the shark tank last night he has a web cam setup that you can login to and view it he used center-block on his,when i finish with my list i'll email him about whats working out good and what he would have done different.
as for picks i'm thinking of setting up a web site with pic's and live remote cam.
as for the wife she cant say alot i built a 16'x30' building for her reptiles last year " she runs a part-time reptile rescue here in ky" so i figure she owes me this lmao,nah but she is more excited about it than me "she wants the pool back too lol"
huge bank acct. not even close lmao but i look at it this way i might as well have something i want out of life you only live once.
structural engineer most deffenantly i plan to have it looked over by at least 2 different companies maybe more if the data comes back bad or worse than im thinking
if it was just a pond i would not be to worried about it but its alot of water above ground lol
which brings me to my other ideal which is to build a pond but build a 3' high tank on top of it, i would much rather have it all above ground but i may have to go with half of it in ground i dont know we'll see.
anyways thanks for all the help so far im learning alot about this and the more i learn the more i want just get it setup lol
thanks everyone

 

[fishing4exotics]

Great project if you can pull it off. There have been people that have built indoor aquaria of the size that you are contemplating. I have heard that they use cement coated with either marine grade epoxy or fiberglass. Cement will leak in time. The epoxy coating or the fiberglass is needed to keep the cement from eventually leaking.

By the way, aluminum will oxidize. I wouldn't use it to hold water.

 

[Matty]

by the way, whats the link for the webcam of the shark tank?

 

[rixy]

try the website monster fish keepers.they have some massive tanks on there.