Price Breakdown of a simple 700g Fowlr so far.

[Mastino Mike]

Home Depot
3/4 plywood, 4x4s, 2x4s =120$
timberlockscrews,drywallscrews=60$
Playsand=15$
Liquid Nails=40$

Just liners Plus
rubber 45ml pond liner 20x20=225$

Peidmont Plastics
3/4 inch 4x8 sheet of acrylic=460$
weldon=15$

Local farm supply store
rubbermaid stock tank 100g=60$

Aquarium center
silicone=50$

Hellolights
mh 400w retros=509

Pool supply
canister filter=150$
refab hayward 1hp pool pumps=125$
had 2 pumps when I moved and just got new motors

Lowes
Pvc pipe and unions and ball valves=180$
Hooks and chains for canopy=12$

Roozens
salt=125
live rock=500$

Misc
ac unit =50$
6 ft Downdraft skimmer=free
1000lbs of dead rock=free
heaters=50$




If I did my math correctly that is about 2,316 bucks. Not bad so far, Ill be adding a uv as soon as I get the wifes permission.

[eljefe3]

HOw many sheets of acrylic are you using? Is it marine grade acrylic as there is a big difference between acrylic and marine grade acrylic.

Somehting like this sure goes to show how you can save quite a bit if you are a DIY type of person :)

[Mastino Mike]

Just 1 sheet of acrylic. The acrylic is made by acrylite. I never heard of marine grade acrylic? Tell me more eljefe3?

[eljefe3]

Marine grade acrylic is "cleaner, more transparent" than regular acrylic and will not give off any distortion of the actual sizes of what you have in the tank, whereas with regular acrylic things will appear larger than they actually are ( just as when you are diving). This is what the company that made my tank told me and I have no reason to doubt them as they are in the oceanarium business and have made many very large public oceanariums always using marine gade acrylic.

[Mastino Mike]

My acrylic does give off some distortions but is crystal clear. I havent seen any acrylic that doesnt distort objects or fish in the tank. Thanx for the info.

[Justjoe]

Just curious, are you using the liner to make your tank water tight? If so, how do you plan on installing it in conjunction with the window to make a water tight seal? If so, I would put thin sheets of acrylic or other sheet plastic under all your live rock that contacts your liner, on both the bottom and sides of your tank.
Joe

[Mastino Mike]

Just my opinion, pond liners work better and easier to work with than epoxy paint. I used a flexible rubber liner 45ml thickness. The liner is extremely tough and I have additional padding on the bottom of the tank for all the rock, its not a problem.

[Mastino Mike]

About the liner attachment, it is extremely easy. It was discussed in detail under a thread in the DIY section (large plywood tanks). But the liner is glued to the acrylic with weldon and then the attachment is siliconed over. If you have any questions Ill be glad to reply. The tank is still a work in progress.

[hebdizzle]

a free 6 foot skimmer and 1000 pounds of rock.

Not bad :P

Aaron

[Mastino Mike]

I spent another 120 bucks at home depot. Wood and molding. Its coming along slowly.

[tyler]

man, that's really big. just curious as to what you're going to put in there.

[Mastino Mike]

Here is my fish list so far.
30 green chromis
8 small yellow tangs
4 hippos
1 medium to large purple tang
1 blonde top naso
1 juv emperor
1 adult passer angel

Im kind of pushing it with all the tangs. Tyler?

[Justjoe]

Originally posted by Mastino Mike
Here is my fish list so far.
30 green chromis
8 small yellow tangs
4 hippos
1 medium to large purple tang
1 blonde top naso
1 juv emperor
1 adult passer angel

Im kind of pushing it with all the tangs. Tyler?

I would seriously reconsider the hippos... they have turned into real terrors in my tank and have taken a liking to zooanthids. They have eaten all the pretty/expensive ones first and are no making their way down the line to the least attractive ones. I have about 20 of them in there, and if I were to do it again, I would never put them in. I'm sure there are folks who have never had any issues with them, but it may be large tank related... not sure but Dory isn't so cute anymore.
Joe

[tyler]

this is going to be a fowlr right? at least according to your title line. where did you get all that dry rock? i need to find a nice hook up like that. not quite 1000 pounds, more like 50.

quite an inspiration thread for me at least. i want to do this some day after i'm off in the real world and not living an apartment anymore. would make a very nice home for my porc when he's all grown up.

keep us all informed, i'm excited to see some stocked pictures.

[Mastino Mike]

Thanx Tyler! No way could I afford an all glass or acrylic tank of this size. I had the dry rock for about 5 years in storage. I lucked up and found the rock being put out for trash with the large skimmer, the house it came from had 2 500g tanks and at least 6 reef tanks 125 or more. The realtor said I could take anything that was on the curb. I finally put the rock and skimmer to use. I decided against a reef because of cost.

[asnatlas]

Any updates ??