DIY Shark Tank

[reeferdude]

I am thinking about building a shark tank for a blacktip for a little while or a nurse for life. I am thinking 10' long x 3' tall x 3' wide? I am thinking that the width is to small but I wouldn’t know. I drew out a little diagram in paint and saved it as a JPG. I also need to know what the formula is to figure out how many gallons this is gonna be. My biggest problem is placement, where is the most common place to put a tank this large? The basement right... well I live in Texas so we don’t have basements. It cant go in my room because it is upstairs and if my parents told their home owners insurance that there was going to be around 1500 Gallons of saltwater upstairs they would be dropped like a hot rock. My parents love to look at my tanks but are not really "into" fish. The funny thing is that when I was in the process of acquiring all the stuff for my 120 they kept telling me how ugly it was going to be. Well now that its done and I have my shark my mom has told me that sometimes during the day she will walk up to my room and just stare at my fish. My whole neighborhood drops in to see my shark and they love to see me feed him. I also was wondering if anyone knows how much a 3/4 inch sheet of 10' by 3' acrylic would run me? $500ish???? Thanks a lot

 

[novice150]

Well, I have a few suggestion/coments, but you are probably not going to like them.
#1 The tank which you describe calculates to 673 gallons. I assume this is smaller than you had figured it would be?
#2 Neither 673, or 1500 gallons will support a nurse or black tip for life. I built a 1600 gallon tank, and I plan to keep a black tip, but not forever Upgrading from there is essential.
#3 Your insurance is not the only thing that would drop like a rock through the floor. The tank would as well. The water alone will weigh around 5,700 lbs in the 673, and around 12,500 in a 1500. This thing will have to either be built on a solid slab of cement (1500) or "maybe" on a seriously re enforced wood floor (673)
#4 3/4" acrylic will not cut it for the span/pressure your talking about. You'll need a minimum of 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" and even then you may need a center brace. 10' is a really long span and then tendency to bow is great. Plan to spend around $900-$1400 on the acrylic alone.
#5 I would strongly recommend either waiting until you own your own house, or designing the tank to be removable before you do this. I am speaking from experience on this. When I go, my tank stays
At any rate, give your design, costs, home modifications, and filtration some serious thought ahead of time. The $$ can really pile up on unexpected things on a big tank. Tis the reason mine has taken 5 months

 

[reeferdude]

Well thanks a lot for your input, I was really hoping to get someone that really has a very large tank. I figured that a tank that large would be at least 1000 gallons but then again with the height and width I guess it would be a little bit smaller than I figured. Is your tank more of a boxie shape or is it longer? My other concern with the weight is that here in Texas the ground moves a lot and a good deal of people have foundation problems. Right now I am 17 and a jr in high school so I will probably wait about 4 years when I can get my own house with some friends of mine. Do you have a website where I could read about your tank???

 

[einsteinstwin]

This is only my opinion, but I think a 120 is WAY TOO SMALL for even a Bamboo Shark. My LFS had a full grown one in what I believe was a 500 gallon a few years ago, that tank itself looked just adequate. I would also watch that Trigger, they can definately get nippy when they mature, make sure he doesn't start "sampling" (taking chuncks out of) your shark. I hope you have a bigger tank DEFINATELY in the future if you wish to house him, or someone to take him when he gets too big. Imagine a 2' fish just turning around in your tank.
Like the post above, the sharks you mention need something in the range of 1500 gallons minimum for a small one. You're going to "probably wait about 4 years when I can get my own house with some friends of mine."? Is that going to be a really permanent residence? Your looking at at least a $7000 project, what seems nice now might not down the road, are you sure about this? Acrylic will run at least around a thousand, then figure in what yours going to actually glue the tank together with, supports, hood, lighting system, a skimmer, filtration, sand, rocks, etc., and let alone the electric and water bill of such a massive system.
I'm not trying to discourage you or anything, but sharks are definately something that shouldn't be taken lightly. A Nurse or Tip need something above 1500 gallons of clean, filtred water with adequate food, and a public aquarium, harbor or bay, or another 3000 gallon plus tank to go in when they get too big for you. There are people that have kept sharks in 500 gallon tanks, Bamboos and others in something like a 120, like you. Would you keep your mother in a 10 foot cube for the rest of her life?
I'd recommend upgrading to at least a 400-500 for your Bamboo, and being happy. That tank would need a STABLE foundation, or very Sturdy floor above ground. For upstairs, I would even consult a contractor or the like to get an estimate of what the floor can hold. As far as cost, expect at least $2,000. And, when you do move, make sure you can have someone take care of the tank (taking it with you would be a pain). I'd highly recommend talking to Bob Fenner, or one of the other experts at wetwebmedia.com, or someone who has ample marine experience before you go into such a venture. With time, space, research, most importantly MONEY, and patience, you should be well on your way to a spectaular setup.

 

[novice150]

To figure your tank size, take LXWXH in inches, and then divide by 231. This will give you your gallonage.
If you wanna learn more about my tank, check out the post here in the aggressive forum or the one in DIY. It details the dimensions, construction, and has pics.
Those foundation problems you speak of are not a good thing. As the foundation moves around, the bottom of the tank changes its position. When this happens, you get uneven stress on your walls. This can lead to a broken seam. Basically its the same thing as setting up the tank on an unlevel surface. If its a real problem in your area, then I would not consider anything but a solid slab of cement on which to construct your tank.
As EinsteinsTwin said, the best advice I can give you is to think long and hard as to whether or not your current residence is the best place to build this tank. It cost ALOT of money to build one of the bad boys, and even more to filter/stock/maintaine/operate one.
Just some food for though.

 

[novice150]

Oops, I forgot. You can check out my tank here.
click here

 

[reeferdude]

Well if I do start a project like this I am not going to just go out and buy all the stuff in one day. I will do it over about a year as I get the cash.

 

[holacanthus]

Take it from me big tanks can cost bigs bucks, but when setup correctly, it's well worth the cost. Me & my company have spent over $30,000 on a 440g reef tank and we are just now getting to the stocking stage! After alls said and done it might end up running us about $50k!

 

[hnf2k]

you got ripped off then. what the hell could you buy for so much? what a waste. you would be driving around in a lot nicer car.

 

[starfishjackedme]

I can't imagine spending more than 10k on a 500gal reef! If you spent 30k on building a concrete slab foundation and seperate pump room on top of the cost of the tank then maybe.

 

[benthic]

Bob Fenner has really turned me off with his arrogent attitude, "send me your shark questions and I'll make wise a$$ comments and tell you your tank is way to small...."
I think Scott Michaels work is the best shark/ray resource I have found. Good info, reasonable estimates on care requirements, and no attitude.