Largest Possible Glass Aquarium?

[Zephrant]

I think Humidity is the single biggest factor to overcome. Everything else you can fix on the fly (assuming the tank itself is sturdy and built well). Humidity can destroy the wood, sheetrock and whole house if left too high for a long time.

Build like you are putting a heated pool in, and you will be fine. Separate A/C system, dehumidifier, ventilation, and definitely a separate air space than the main house.

James- Did you factor in the cost of the forklift to move that size of panels around?

Zeph

[Acrylics]

nope, but any shop that could build this thing already has one I figured it based on completed tank alone, no crate, no shipping, etc. but keep in mind I only spent about 3 minutes working it out so may not have figured everything in. There will of course be other logistical considerations such as installation, mayhaps a small crane for this. Shipping it is not a problem as it's not *that* big

James

[orion76]

Originally posted by chideloh
He said fish only.

Sorry I missed that.

If it's not a reef tank then it's pretty straight forward. One important thing to plan well for is that you have a good working area for all your oversized equipment and some very large dedicated water reservoirs for your water changes. You'll probably want at least one but preferably two reservoirs that are 20% of your tank's volume each. You could get by with a single reservoir of 10% as a bare minimum but it will not be convenient.

Another thing that is going to require a lot of thought is water flow. If you'll use rock then I think your rocks will need to be suspended off the substrate. I would install a lot of closed loops with nozzles at all depths of the tank including under the rocks. Powerheads will not be practical here.

I'd also go bare bottom, although I am a DSB believer, a sand bed this size will be a ***** to maintain, personally I'd look into some PU foam solution and make a nice rocky bottom.

And lastly, I'd get multiple quarantine tanks. You'll probably be buying lot's of fish and fish should be quarantined for 4 weeks after the last fish was added to the quarantine tank, a single quarantine tank wouldn't give you the capacity to fill up your main display safely. Keep in mind that with a tank this size, if a fish goes in it's not coming out again so you better be sure they are healthy.

[orion76]

I'd also consider hiring a consultant with experience in public aquariums, making a mistake will be a lot more expensive than his fees

[ktmhk53]

Greetings orion76,
Thanks for the suggestions!

ktmhk53

[frankiej]

Originally posted by Shoestring Reefer
If money is no expense...transparent aluminum can be used to build a whale tank on a space ship. It was "discovered" by a Scottsman in San Francisco. Late 80's/early 90's, I forget which.

What a riot, roflmao.

Sci Fi Junkie.

[pnosko]

Actually, Scotty was Scottish, which makes him a Scotsman.

Originally posted by orion76
I'd also go bare bottom, although I am a DSB believer, a sand bed this size will be a ***** to maintain

Maintain? That's what the detritivores do, not the keeper. It might be a tad expensive to periodically reseed and it would certaininly limit livestock choices though.

[orion76]

I think his fish will eat the detritavores so reseeding will be lots of maintenance work

[luvtolean]

FO I'd definately go barebottom.

I'd be most worried about catastrophic tank failure. Since the cost means you plan to be there a long time I'd be most worried about natural disasters and how they'd effect your tank. Out here, I'm most worried about an earthquake with any tank. Power back up for a power outage is probably a big concern for you being in Maine, but that's not too hard to fix. (just get an automatic generator installed)

Humidity, water movement, filtration, I think these things are all pretty straightforward given the huge body of knowledge aquariums will have. If you notice a problem, they're all fixable. Myself, I'd want to rig up some kind of wavemaker like the Monterey Bay Aquarium has.

Thanks for sharing the prices, that's actually lower than I'd envisioned. It's probably 2x that much out here.

[ktmhk53]

Greetings again,
Going bare bottom is starting to make sense with this tank as 1.) I want to keep any substrate away from the viewing window so as not to incur scratches, and 2.) the lack thereof will assist in giving a bottomless appearance to the tank.
Certainly the bottom will be easier to clean this way, but will the lack of substrate (my original plan was to have 3-4" of aragonite) cause the water chemistry to become more unstable. My prior experience is only with aragonite-bottomed tanks, and I would like to know if I should expect any thing different if I don't use it.

Finally, do the fish care? Really.


ktmhk53

[orion76]

The disolving aragonite substrate provides some buffering and ph stability, but there are other ways to achieve this. A calcium reactor disolves aragonite too for example. You could also maintain a very deep sandbed in a second attached fishless tank or in an oversized sump.

You might be able to get some suggestions on what route to go with that in the "Fish Only & Agressive" forum here on RC.

BTW check out the bottom and walls of this tank, that's all Poly Utherane Foam:

[spyro]

Although my system is an order of magnitude smaller than yours, I learned a lesson regarding humidity. Before I installed an exhaust system in my canopy, I had ice form in my attic...yes ice...and when the ice melted ....mold.

What solved the problem was a commercial exhaust fan commonly used in greenhouses. I added this fan to my canopy, vented the exhaust outside AND sealed off the inside of the canopy so that humidity would not get into the second floor's subfloor or into the once exposed wall spaces.

Your system will need to be quite larger and you may want to consider a heat exchanger or similar system to save on heating, if that is a concern. Bottom line is do not neglect the humidity mitigation system...humidity can ruin your home very quickly if you do not plan for it.

Good luck with your new tank and new home!

[spyro]

Some fish do not care about BB or DSB. However, the DSB provides a more natural exportation of nutrients via colonization of flora and fauna in the bed, in addition to providing alkalinity, which can be kept high via other means....kalkwasser reactor, calcium reactor,....etc

If you go BB, you may need to do a little more vacumning of detritus that falls and is not exported out of the system naturally.

If you are going fish only go BB....if you are going reef with softies, or anemones, or if your fish will include gobies, wrasses or other "digging" fish, then you will need a sand bed.

Regards,
Chuck

Originally posted by ktmhk53
Greetings again,
Going bare bottom is starting to make sense with this tank as 1.) I want to keep any substrate away from the viewing window so as not to incur scratches, and 2.) the lack thereof will assist in giving a bottomless appearance to the tank.
Certainly the bottom will be easier to clean this way, but will the lack of substrate (my original plan was to have 3-4" of aragonite) cause the water chemistry to become more unstable. My prior experience is only with aragonite-bottomed tanks, and I would like to know if I should expect any thing different if I don't use it.

Finally, do the fish care? Really.


ktmhk53

[luvtolean]

I am not convinced a sand bed tank is necessarily more stable in the timeframe we're talking here. There is the "everlasting" thread of the beautiful large reeftank that has been up for a long time with one, but more people seem to find long term problems with sandbeds.

Hardly scientific, but most aquariums I remember visiting only have a sandbed in tanks that "need" them either due to fish species (like you mention) or corals.

I'll be watching for that in the future...

[Julio]

There is an Aquarium in Japan that has a shark tank that is well over 200K gallons and iit houses 3 whale sharks along with a glass thickness of more than 4".

[orion76]

A whale shark tank?? WOW!

[draxijn]

okinawa aquarium:

"Perhaps the most outstanding feature of this aquarium is the Kuroshio (Japan Current) Sea tank, which enables visitors to see whale sharks and manta rays through the world's largest acrylic panoramic window (60cm or 23.62in. thick/8.2m or 26.9ft. high/22.5m or 73.81ft. long)."

[orion76]

WOW WOW WOW

[AcroSteve]

23" Thick. Wow.

[sfsuphysics]

I'm guessing you couldn't use a magnetic scraper with something that thick

[overanalyzer]

I think you are planning very well but I will reiterate the need to over plan for humidity. I'd also make sure you automate as much as possible - auto water top off, easy water change capabilities, etc.

Good luck!

[orion76]

Originally posted by sfsuphysics
I'm guessing you couldn't use a magnetic scraper with something that thick

I think they have a scuba diver who scrapes the window with a credit card each day

[kewliz]

hopefully a very large credit card!!

wow- that tank is just ....wow!
except mine wouldn't have sharks-- it would be a huge reef with tons of schooling fish

[Lordhelmet]

So is that tank bigger then the 1,000,000 Gal tank in the Monterey Bay Aquarium?

[sfsuphysics]

Well the only stats I could find is that it holds 7,500 tons of water. So 7,500 tons * 2000 pounds/ton / 8.33 pounds/gallon = 1.8million gallons.