My Frankestein Tank!!! Opinons Welcomed!!

[shallowreef]

I want to build a tank when i get my own place but i'm sure it will take awhile to build and won't happen over night. Does anyone know a place where i can buy sheets of glass or Acrylic or better yet a place that can build my Frankestein at a pretty reasonable price and then ship it to me? I live in the Chicago Area so i'm sure none of you know any places in that area that specialize in this.

Here let me describe it to you, and you tell me the pros and cons of my idea.

it will be 5' long on each side and 2' tall.
I want to construct it in such a way that it is visible from all sides with a 1'x1' overflow in the center.
Braces going across the tank making a sort of + shape in the center. All of my returns will come out from the bottom of the tank and out the sides of the Overflow. ( Got the idea from one of Big t pictures-Very smart idea Big t)
It will be an SPS tank with a lot of clams and tangs.
Lighting will consist of 250MH-10K AND 400MH-20K AND VHO actinics built in a square design, suspended above the tank.
I hope to dream up the filtration tonight but so far what do you think?
Anyone have an idea as to how much water this tank might hold?
Has anyone seen a tank like this before?

I have another dream tank but its more like an indoor pond/ shark lagoon. I saw it at my LFS guy's house. Very Cool Idea. 15'Lx12'Wx24"D

 

[Krish]

Sound good and like a frankenstein to me for sure!(LOL) I had the same question a while back about someone building an acrylic tank over in the US and here is the link to the responses I got. HTH...

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10501

 

[shallowreef]

Thanks Krish

 

[big t]

There are a couple builders near you, so you won't have to worry too much about shipping. There is a good one somewhere in MN, and I think there is a good one in Chicago too. The tank you describe can be done with no center braces whatsoever, just a nice thick eurobrace. My LFS has a tank like that, it is 6x6x20" Theirs it illuminated by a silly amound of light, 2x1000w and 2x400w halides. The sides are made from 1/2" and it has a 3/4" eurobrace that is 6" wide, and it has the overflow in the middle just like you describe.

 

[DonW]

Here it is.

 

[Detri]

Thats freakin COOL! But then again anything bigger than my tank I think is cool LOL. I was thinking the same thing for me. But in a bout 5 years time. and only 12" high and 4'x4'. Kinda like a frag tank that Tom made.

 

[shallowreef]

THATS IT!!!! Thats my Frankenstein. What a sweet set up! Don does that tank belong to a friend of yours? Thats my goal in the future.

 

[shallowreef]

Does anybody know how much water that thing would hold? i know there is a way to calculate it but i don't remember.

 

[big t]

Ya that is the tank I was talking about. It is at aquariumparadise in Lakewood WA. I have used that thing for a test bed for all kinds of my projects over the last few years. He is currently running one of my skimmers and one of my cal reactors.

To calculate your volume you multiply LxWxH in inches and divide by 231. So your tank you want would be 374 gallons. To figure out exact volume you would have to measure inside dimensions.

 

[shallowreef]

Thanks a lot Big t!!!

 

[reefaddict]

nevermind i was looking at the pond deminsions not the tank, duh. for what it is worth the pond would be 2244 gal.

 

[Sherman]

Gallons = Cubic inches divided by 231.

So... 60x60x24 = 86400
12x12x24 (overflow) = 3456
86400-3456 = 82944
82944/231 = 359 gallons. (minus the thickness of the glass, for technicalities)