500 gallon acrylic tank (approx. 1250-1300 gallon total system volume)

[trigger happy]

Hello everyone! It has been a while since I have made it on ARC due to so- many reasons.....I've mainly just been extremely busy in general!

Anyways here is the post for my DIY 500 gallon acrylic fish only tank. It started off with some corals (very few) and eventually I had to take them out to medicate the tank at one point and I decided not to put any back in.

I built this tank in about three weeks during my spare time. It was fun to build for the most part but as you can imagine for a first time acrylic tank build it was also quite frustrating and tiring at times.

I didn't have any help throughout the whole process other than putting the legs on the stand itself and somehow was it was built?? I put the tank on the stand by myself which still amazes me as it was not easy...whew!!:yuk: I only pulled a few muscles moving it up there. I wouldn't recommend doing this even if acrylic is lighter than glass if you get enough of it it'll still kill you! LOL!

I wanted this thread/build to be streamlined so instead of posting pictures here and there I just took pictures along the way instead of leading people on for weeks and months and so on with little progress. Instead I opted for the typical American approach of....BAM! Instant gratification! I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Oh yeah.... the tank is a "shared waterway/unified system" with the 500 gallon shark tank. This tank has it's own skimmer and 100 gallon sump but it is also combined with the shark tank's two sumps and some of the features for this new tank are controlled by the Digital Aquatics controller on the shark tank. I just wanted to keep it simple and water changes benefit both systems now and if I want I just change water out of one of them and so forth.

Anyways...on to the photos! Thanks for looking!:thumbs:
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[trigger happy]

More pictures......:thumbs:

Oh! I forgot to mention I really- really- didn't want to have to build an internal or external overflow box as it would have required more acrylic and work/trouble and for an internal overflow it would have likely taken more tank space than what I actually ended up with. You can see I used PVC plumbing and pipe to create a couple of large 2" overflow elbows with Sch 40 2" bulkheads (I call them the "twin sisters"...I know...I know! LOL!) and I capped them off with two large plastic grate style strainers which are normally used for storm drain pipes and so forth (Home Depot, of course).

It actually works great! I was worried about it being able to handle the 4000+ gph water volume (minus head feet) but it could easily drain a lot more than what is being circulated through the system right now. You'll see that my aquascape pretty much hides these entirely too. I had planned from the start to have a large rock wall with a hidden nook behind it and that is what I ended up with. The fish really like the nook too as it is sort of like a cavern for them behind the rock wall where they sleep and/or rest.

The tank is the same layout as the shark tank. It is 8 feet long X 4 feet wide and is 25" tall. I have the top covered with the plastic lighting grids and two hinged glass canopies at the front for feeding access. There is plenty of surface to air contact for gas exchanges and the two Ecotech Marine wave drivers help to keep the tank moving around a bit!

Edit: Still a few more pictures.....:thumbs:

Edit: Here, this is better than the picture and this video on Youtube.com was made within the past couple of days so it shows the relatively new additions to the tank.

The newest member, although it has been in the tank a few months, is the large Sumatran Barienne Tang.

http://youtu.be/Bie58i2vfEA">http://youtu.be/Bie58i2vfEA</a>
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[trigger happy]

One last thing, if you missed my much older post on the shark tank here

 

[rdnelson]

I have just one thing to say. I WANT ONE!!!!!! I envy you. I am a bit of a DIY person and I would love to do a project like that. It is great to have something so cool when it is all done but it sure adds to it when you can say "I built that". Great job.

 

[trigger happy]

renelson99,

Thank you very much for the kinds words! I am glad now I built it too as I would not have been able to pay someone for an acrylic tank that size pre-built they are just too much money just for the tank and stand.

There were many moments of fear and doubt mixed into the entire process and at times I found myself thinking..."Uh oh! Is this really going to work out?", but then I thought I got it this far so you have to try.

If anyone is interested in building their own I can give you two good local suppliers (North Georgia/Northeast Atlanta area) for cell cast acrylic and the place I got mine from machine cut the pieces for me for no additional cost! Plus, they still had "old stock" in the warehouse which was priced 25% below current market prices for cell cast acrylic. I bought the adhesive from one and the acrylic from the other due to inventory differences.

If you could "weild" seams you could build any size tank almost as these places sell up to 5 inch thick sheets but they cost somewhere around $2500 a sheet (8' L x 4' W x 5" thickness) for that thickness....double ouch!

I got my acrylic for right around the same price you would pay for a new glass 200 or 220 tank without anything but the tank and the covers or at least from what I have priced at most stores. Just make sure you research and go ahead and spend more money on the Weld-on 40 two part acrylic adhesive as it cures into actual acrylic pretty much rather than the other liquid type of adhesive which just simply "melts" the two sheets together...I don't trust that adhesive as much as I was able to break the two test pieces apart by hand with the liquid based products so I only used those for the initial joining of the pieces and then followed back up with the two part. Oh yeah, as most chemical products that work well....these products have been known to cause cancer in the state of California and they will make your entire house smell like Vicks vapor rub from the basement up.:yuk::doh: It turns out my wife wasn't a big fan of this...who knew?

 

[rdnelson]

Trigger Happy;705422 wrote: Oh yeah, as most chemical products that work well....these products have been known to cause cancer in the state of California

I always wondered how the chemical knew it was in the state of California. LOL

I noticed in the pics that the weldon looked more like a gel. When I built my HOB Overflow that was one thing I didn't like. The weldon was like water. Seemed to work good but I was concerned that I wouldn't get everything coated well. Seems that with the gel it would be much easier to work with.

If you get a chance, pm the info on the acrylic suppliers you used. While I would love to build a tank I don't think the funds are going to be readily available for some time but....I do need to build a sump. I wouldn't mind seeing if they have some scrapes they would want to get rid of cheap.

 

[trigger happy]

rdnelson99,

Yeah your right the Weld-on 40 is very much a gel like substance once it is mixed. It was kinda expensive compared to the liquid based adhesive I also used at certain points. I ordered it from the web but the ground shipping was a little higher than normal if I remember correctly but that may be b/c of it being a harmful chemical?

The more liquid based adhesive I used was like water but it was a different brand of product. I think I still have a big thing of it left over. I think it would work fairly well for the smaller type stuff that has less pressure against it. I did really have to work pretty hard to get those pieces apart by hand and that was after stumping on it with my foot a few times. I love the "testing" phase of a project!:lol2:

I'll send you the info about the suppliers!


Andre!

Thanks for the compliment. I could have used your help as I ended up getting half of it on the stand and getting stuck having to hold the other half four feet in the air for a while. That was the worse part about it all.

I built the stand at 48" inches tall so that it is at eye level. I don't like those little 30 inch tall stands they build you always have to bend down to see the fish but the flip side is now I have to use a step to feed them and clean the tank!

 

[rdnelson]

Don't feel bad. I need a 6' ladder to get into my tank. It sits on top of the entertainment system and since my DIY light hangs from the ceiling I have to get all the way to the ceiling in order to raise the light fixture. LOL Just one more reason I want to do a DIY tank, stand, etc. Just need to convince momma that the TV would look great over the fireplace.

Next time you need a hand with anything let me know. It would give me a chance to see your tanks. You know, like you need the garbage taken out, grass cut...... LOL

 

[gixxer600]

Looks really good

 

[miami dolfan]

Awesome! Now I know who I can call when I want to go BIGGER!!

 

[trigger happy]

I think next time I might just build a fiberglass/plywood tank and do an acrylic viewing window that would be a lot cheaper! and you would only have to clean algae off of that front panel. :up:

Actually I think an even better idea than the fiberglass tank would be to use the Pond Shield epoxy and attach it directly to a sanded wood surface and save all the trouble of messing with the fiberglass in the first place! It is specified to adhere to a sanded/clean wood surface as well as other surfaces.

Hey, I think I'm on to something here...LOL!:thumbs: