LadAShark

This sounds great, count me in. My zoas have been doing pretty good lately, but like all of us I still have melting events.

 

Here is half of the zoa tank:

 

[language filter] your zoas are looking fine.

 

You're an inspiration for every zoa grower.

I used to use a Pond pump on my 125, It worked great for me I don't remember how many GPH it was but it was something like $40~$50 from Home Depot.

That's some input that gives me hope! And that seems nice and cheap. Any idea how many watts it was?

I can respect that goal, best of luck!

Thanks!

 

 

Funny thing is I'm getting into roundabout ways of getting the things I need, like importing low iron glass from china because it's much cheaper than buying glass here. But I still have a lot of research to do before I start.

Might look at sand filters designed for large swimming pools have the back flow features already built in and you can get some massive pumps for not. A lot of money however would need to plumb it outside as the noise would be loud.

 

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Well, as I said earlier, I am extending my house, so I guess the price to plump it outside the house wouldn't be much, because the tank will be on a room bordering the outdoors. I'll have to look into that though, that sounds like a great idea!

Especially since I was thinking of eventually moving on to turning this into an aquarium room, with multiple interconnected tanks, but that's besides the point, for now I'm just gonna focus on this first tank.

240 gallon display. 100 gallon sump. 55 gallon fuge/remote deep sand bed. Not to rain on your parade, but I stopped adding things up after I hit $15000.00. That was 8 years, a tank crash, complete rebuild and changeover of all equipment ago. The more you try to do it cheaply, the more you will spend getting the right equipment later. My skimmer alone was $1000.00. Wait that was my second skimmer. The first one was $600.00 (Beckett) and a $300.00 iwaki pump to drive it. I'm a big diyer but I learned in time that you get what you pay for in this hobby. I will be watching your build to see how you are going to make this happen. I wish you success.

Ah. Hmm. Well, I know that's fair. I'm looking into pumps, and I've found multiple possible solutions, but it's going to take a lot of research and trial and error to settle it properly.

 

Who knows? I might fail. But I'm sincerely hoping I succeed.

 

And my goal won't be cheap. If I wanted cheap I'd be pursuing plywood. My goal is functional yet not overpriced.

I have a 235g reef tank. There are many ways to save money. I feel a lot of commercial available items are way over priced but they do look dare good! As for the tank itself, maybe worth to pay a bit more than potentially cause thousands more repair from bust.

 

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Yeah, the main aquarium will be the main cost.

 

After looking over what I can get, I wouldn't be surprised if I could build this aquarium for 5,000 dollars if I was smart about it. The only thing that I will actually outright buy from a dealer is the protein skimmer, as I don't have any way to show that mine would work.

 

I'll be updating you guys over time as to how it goes. For now, however, don't hold your breath, as I still need to get the room where it will be held constructed ;P

Courtesy of CNC

 

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Yeah, sort of this ;P

 

Though I'm not broke, but still, I like to save as much as possible without comrpomising. I am willing to use roundabout methods to reach my goals.

You don't want tempered glass as you cannot drill it. Perhaps just have the back un tempered? I'm not sure...

 

I only got a 180, so nothing too crazy, but it keeps me busy.

Yeah I bet. I know I'm a bit crazy for going for the 1000 ;P

 

But just the back untempered is a possibility since that is the case.

Like Tom said. They are loud, and if you don't change the seals out before you even put them through salt they will leak. I tried fresh water pumps to save money and failed.

I see. Guess I'll have to stick to regular, less known aquarium pumps.

If you look here http://www.pnwmas.org/topic/37143-april-meeting-oregon-coast-aquariumhatfield-behind-the-scenes-tours/at post #22 you can see the large round tanks Sid uses at the Marine Science building. I don't know anything about cost or size but Sid might be able to answer those questions. They had windows like portholes in the sides for viewing and one contained sharks which seemed to be happy in them. Just a thought.

Huh, that's actually pretty cool. I'll take that into consideration.

 

Note to all of you: this is NOT a short term project. I am NOT trying to have it up and started jn a week or two. This is a 1-2 year project in my opinion. I will start building the tank in 3-4 months after my house gets some rooms added.

^

This for sure

 

Why 1000 gallons? Just because it sounds huge or do you need it for the animals?

 

The skimmers pictured above are well over $1000 in raw materials, not including pump. Hope you have a machine shop or friend to finish the materials so they can be assembled as well LOL

 

I'd say $10k is a more realistic estimate if not more. Everything is basically commercial grade with a tank that big and comes with the price tag.

I'm not surprised, and 10k is a number I was expecting. Let's just say I'm plotting something atm, and I'll have to do some investigation to see if it will work. If it does I might even be able to get away with the tank for even cheaper than that, without comromising the quality of the tank whatsoever.

 

for a legit shark tank of 1000g I would say 15k people buying 1000g shark tanks have moneeeeeyyy and 6 figure jobs

I assure you money is not a problem. I'm just a cheapskate, I'd rather build it cheaper regardless. Saving money is part of the fun for me.

It's all about being gut and nut. Just pull the trigger do what you want do instead of asking for being nitpick? It's a waste of time for sugarcoating

I guess. My point was I just wanted to see how many people there were out there that had a big tank ;P

 

As for me? I've already found something of a solution... I think I can actually build it pretty cheap if I get some bulk low iron tempered glass... I don't know at the moment, but this isn't a building thread, it's a headcount.

Bigger than any I've seen actually (In person I will add)

LOL

 

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Sounds good. I'll have to see it sometime ;P

 

Bigger than any I've seen actually (In person I will add)

LO

Thats what she said!

 

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Your name explains everything.

I wouldn't dare using glass for 1k gallon. 5k? Won't work, plain and simple.

5k for the core tank, filtration, skimmer, and just basic equipment, no stand, live rock, or critters included. I can settle the flow at 20,000 gph for $600 so far, so I am pretty certain it's not impossible if I can somehow get the glass panes without a huge cost. As I said though, my dream is 5k, actually though I hope to get it setup for 10k.

 

This thread isn't about my tank though! This is about everyone else's tanks! No need to nitpick at my wishful thinking!

I wouldn't dare using glass for 1k gallon. 5k? Won't work, plain and simple.

I know it won't happen. That's my target. rather than saying "oh I want to build this aquarium, let me empty my pocket!," I instead aim at something that would be very hard to accomplish and attempt it. The biggest issue would be actually getting a tank of that size (just the glass/acryllic). I'm sure if I wait long enough, though, I might be able to find something cheap enough.

nothing could posssibly happen

Murphy's law...

That's the best idea yet. Spend 50k and just let someone else worry about it.

 

Problem solved!

Lol. I do like having money, guys. I can barely justify spending 10k on an aquarium... Please don't tempt me...

I think I decided on a pump. Or rather, 4-8 of them, haha.

https://www.amazon.com/Cobalt-Aquatics-Flow-Wave-Aquarium/dp/B00E4GB8I4

2500 or so gph from a single pump, for $67.44, it is 80 watts, which is very little compared to most of what is out there, and the reviews say it creates basically no noise.

 

I think I will put somewhere between 4-8 of them (as I said before) into my tank along the back. The people who tested it say that it's good for up to 4 feet of aquarium, and, coindentally, my tank is going to be 8' long, 4' wide, 4' tall, so I can place them in a number of ways to maximize my flow.

Snip

I understand your concerns, and I am by no means frustrated nor bothered by that. If it becomes unmanageable I am perhaps willing to downsize, though I would hate to do so.

 

I am aware of what it takes to cleanup after sharks, for that I intend to (1) get a cleanup crew that can't be easily consumed by them, like queen conches. (2) run a sand filtration system that cleans the water by pumping it through sand. Once enough waste collects in the system, I turn off the flow through the system, and flush it with some fresh water straight into my sewers. (3) Protein skimmers, most likely DIY if I can find a really effective system for it.

 

I mean "cheap" and "frugal" in relative terms. There's a lot of things that one pays for just because of shipping, human effort, and branding. I think the only real unavoidable cost of building the tank is the glass.

 

As for your setup, I might be interested in the future, currently, I'm going to pursue this idea of mine for a while longer and see if it's feasible.

 

My goal is to get it done for $5,000 dollars, not including fish stock. But I'm willing to tolerate up to and maybe a little above $10,000 dollars. So when I say "cheap," I mean it relative to the $100,000 one thousand gallon tank ;P

For those of us who have, or are attemptig larger tanks, why don't/can't we use pond pumps? Sure, some of them are freshwater only, but there are many that would work both in salt and fresh water! It seems like a much cheaper alternative to going and dropping a huge amount of money otherwise.

 

I's not like I'm against spending money where it's needed, but why spend it when doing so isn't necessary?

4 mp60qd would work for that 1k tank.

http://m.marinedepot.com/products/em1237/ecotech-marine-vortech-mp60wqd-propeller-pump-w-wireless-quietdrive-driver

 

FOUR of these things? That comes to 2700 dollars! I mean, that's doable, but seems a bit exaggerated for water flow. There are 5000 GPH pumps for ponds you can easily find for like 30-40 bucks, and if those don't do, I could just get a 370 dollar 20,000 gph pump. I'm sure there are alternatives to the mp60wqd. If a single one took care of my job I'd be ok with it, but 4 seems a bit... off.

 

Woops somehow double posted... Sorry.

4 mp60qd would work for that 1k tank.

http://m.marinedepot.com/products/em1237/ecotech-marine-vortech-mp60wqd-propeller-pump-w-wireless-quietdrive-driver

 

FOUR of these things? That comes to 2700 dollars! I mean, that's doable, but seems a bit exaggerated for water flow. There are 5000 GPH pumps for ponds you can easily find for like 30-40 bucks, and if those don't do, I could just get an ice eater, which is used in saltwater by oyster farmers, and in freshwater for koi ponds.

I wouldn't jump to being offended so quickly. A lot of us in here have been doing this a long time, so we understand better than some what it takes to build a tank. When you start talking about 1000 gallons, 5k is no where near enough money. I have a 60 gallon tank and im probably 3k into it before corals, fish, inverts. I still dont even have a controller which is another 6 to 900 dollars, so after that, include fish and coral, id be about 4500 to 5k into a 60 gallon tank. I suggest doing an enormous amount of research of how youre going to build the tank, or who youre going to have build it, how are you going to heat it, cool it, which skimmer, what return pumps, youre probably going to have 500 dollars or more in plumbing parts. One thing ive learned over the years, is to plan, and plan again, lay it all out, and then ad atleast another 1000 dollars lol. Then youre somewhat safe. Thats on smallish tank builds.

 

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I see. No, I wasn't really offended about the tank size to pricething so much as the fact that he implied that I'm rich and that's why I'm building such a huge tank. Can't I just like big tanks?

 

I completely understand that 5k is a VERY small estimate for a tank. Do note, however, that it's not going to be heavy on invertibrates or corals, seeing as that it is going to have 3 sharks, a couple eels, a harlequin, and a dragon wrasse.

 

The reason my estimates are low is because I donmt see myself buying many or any corals for the tank, as such I won't need as stringent controls on most water paraemeters. The fish would cost me around 1000-1500 dollars though. 2000 is a fair estimate for my water critters not including liverock and live sand.

 

I enjoy it BECAUSE it's difficult, not because it costs a lot haha. My lower estimate for the tank setup is actually 8000 dollars. My hopeful DIY setup is $5000. If I can get it low I'll be happy. But I worked software so I do have the income to support it, without being rich in particular lol.

 

DIY Couple of these skimmers or one bigger one

 

Those look great! Wonder how I could set one of those up without making it too conspicuous...

 

My aquariroom is going to be around 16'x16'x8'. Do you happen to have any guides or links handy to making one?