cheapest possible large tank

[Lemon]

how to cheap to do you think you could set up a reasonable(safe, normal amount of fish for the size,) 400+ gallon tank?

ponds don't count.

has to have at least one view panel and a stand. 

 

please provide details 

and have it be replicable(no abnormally good deals) 

Edited October 20, 2020 by quirkylemon103

[Spewing_nonsense_]

Get a few plants you like, like val for example, and maybe a stem plant or some anubias, and get like one or two plants of each one you want, then let them fill out the tank, and same thing with the live stock, get like 10 cherry shrimp and 3 or 6 guppies and let them fill out the whole thing, that's the cheapest, or probably not even then bc theres probably cheaper ones like you could probably do white clouds for cheaper

[Lemon]

i meant full set up.

also I'm not doing this i was just curios how cheap a 400+ gallon tank could cost

[Daniel]

The first time I setup my 500 gallon in 2006, I spent about $15,000 (not including plumbing and concrete pad). The second time I set it up after the house fire in 2013 I spent about $25,000.

I can provide more details if you are interested.

[Lemon]

again i wasn't planning to get a large tank.

i just wanted to see the the minimum for a large tank. 

 

but if you want to talk about your tank go ahead 🙂

Quote

The first time I setup my 500 gallon in 2006, I spent about $15,000 (not including plumbing and concrete pad). The second time I set it up after the house fire in 2013 I spent about $25,000.

I can provide more details if you are interested.

 

[StephenP2003]

On 10/20/2020 at 5:13 PM, Daniel said:

The first time I setup my 500 gallon in 2006, I spent about $15,000 (not including plumbing and concrete pad). The second time I set it up after the house fire in 2013 I spent about $25,000.

I can provide more details if you are interested.

I'd be interested in the details. That seems like a lot more money than I would've expected. I get filtration, lighting, stock, etc. gets pricy, but is there a size threshold where the cost of the actual tank skyrockets? Was playing around with custom aquarium configurator a while back, and I think I remember a exponential increase after a certain height (which affects thickness of the glass). 

On 10/20/2020 at 4:19 PM, quirkylemon103 said:

how to cheap to do you think you could set up a reasonable(safe, normal amount of fish for the size,) 400+ gallon tank?

ponds don't count.

has to have at least one view panel and a stand. 

 

please provide details 

and have it be replicable(no abnormally good deals) 

I think the universally accepted cheap method is plywood with 1 view panel. Still going to spend a good bit on that view panel, wood, and epoxy sealant.

Edited October 22, 2020 by StephenP2003

[Marc]

You'd probably have to reinforce the floor, that's over a couple of tons of water.

[McNubbin]

Definitely, unless your house is on a slab and not a crawl space or basement. And even then, you might want to pull up the floor boards and reinforce the floor joists. Your going to be somewhere around 3500 lbs at 400 gallons once the tank is build, decorated and filled. With a crawl space, you will want to either have a cement pad poured, or at the least some footers poured. With that, or a basement, I would support the floor with floor jacks and 4x4s, at least 4 jacks and 2 4x4. I would get some boards the same dimensions as the floor joists, be it 2x6 or 2x8, and fit them between the joists for more support there as well. The more the merrier.

The cheapest route will definitely be plywood coated with fiberglass with a glass or acrylic front panel. If your lucky amd own a bunch of acreage, chances are you can find some big pieces of granite and/quartzsite. Thats how I've been getting stone for my tank. Stones big enough for 400 gallons though, again, are going to weigh a lot. 

In this case it would probably be more economical, and far lighter to use foam board, cement and and acrylic sealant to make stone structures instead. I believe you can probably get away with building the tank for around 5 grand using this method, with most of the cost going to the view panel and the epoxy for the fiberglass. Filtration varies but I imagine that can be done pretty cheap, relatively speaking. Just build a giant canister filter using a trash can, hose, lava rock and a big enough pump. 

The real cost comes in with stocking with plants and fish. 

[James V.]

I have no experience with this big of a tank but the absolute cheapest way I could think of is to get like 30-40 concrete blocks and a piece of plywood  as a stand. (About $150-200)

and get the tank used from Craigslist or something. (About $1000-1500) I’m not sure of this price it’s just a guess.

and the equipment like lights,filter,heater would b (about $400)

and you could stock it like @Spewing_nonsense_ said for. (about $50-60)

for a total of at the high end $2160 dollars. But I wouldn’t be surprised to spend around $2500 in the end.

Does this sound reasonable/realistic to you guys?

Edited October 22, 2020 by James V.

[Lemon]

59 minutes ago, James V. said:

I have no experience with this big of a tank but the absolute cheapest way I could think of is to get like 30-40 concrete blocks and a piece of plywood  as a stand. (About $150-200)

and get the tank used from Craigslist or something. (About $1000-1500) I’m not sure of this price it’s just a guess.

and the equipment like lights,filter,heater would b (about $400)

and you could stock it like @Spewing_nonsense_ said for. (about $50-60)

for a total of at the high end $2160 dollars. But I wouldn’t be surprised to spend around $2500 in the end.

Does this sound reasonable/realistic to you guys?

what filter could you run that could support a 400+ 

[StephenP2003]

Just now, quirkylemon103

59 minutes ago, James V. said:

I have no experience with this big of a tank but the absolute cheapest way I could think of is to get like 30-40 concrete blocks and a piece of plywood  as a stand. (About $150-200)

and get the tank used from Craigslist or something. (About $1000-1500) I’m not sure of this price it’s just a guess.

and the equipment like lights,filter,heater would b (about $400)

and you could stock it like @Spewing_nonsense_ said for. (about $50-60)

for a total of at the high end $2160 dollars. But I wouldn’t be surprised to spend around $2500 in the end.

Does this sound reasonable/realistic to you guys?

what filter could you run that could support a 400+ 

I'd probably do a couple of fluval fx canisters. One with nothing but bio media and another with mechanical filter media.

[James V.]

1 hour ago, quirkylemon103 said:

what filter could you run that could support a 400+ 

I think the cheapest way would be like 10-15 sponge filters 😆 is that being to cheap? I think so

You could do a few sponge filters and one canister filter.

Edited October 22, 2020 by James V.

[Daniel]

I can go cheaper. On my 500, I don't have any filter. I just a have pump to to circulate the water. The substrate and driftwood in the aquarium provide all the surface area needed and more for biological filtration. So in a weird sort of way, the aquarium itself is its own filter, sort of like a pond.

[Wel-Don Tanks]

The last time I priced out building a 300 gallon plywood tank I was about 500 dollars in material just for the tank and that was kind of cutting corners.  Granted I was brand new in the hobby and was just wanting to experiment.  If you are ok with doing a used tank I find that reef communities are the ones with larger tanks.  From there if you want to go freshwater I think it can reasonably be done for under 2k but that also comes down to exact wants and needs and if you want to do new equipment or used.

[Lemon]

2 hours ago, Daniel said:

I can go cheaper. On my 500, I don't have any filter. I just a have pump to to circulate the water. The substrate and driftwood in the aquarium provide all the surface area needed and more for biological filtration. So in a weird sort of way, the aquarium itself is its own filter, sort of like a pond.

do you have a build thread?

[Daniel]

15 minutes ago, quirkylemon103 said:

do you have a build thread?

I don't, at least not all in one place.

[Lemon]

can you try to make one?

45 minutes ago, Daniel said:

I don't, at least not all in one place.

 

[Daniel]

2 minutes ago, quirkylemon103 said:

can you try to make one?

 

I'd be happy to.

[Lemon]

Just now, Daniel said:

I'd be happy to.

thanks 

[GardenStateGoldfish]

Pentair will be the cheapest but it isn't a tank, it does have a viewing window along the side though its beautiful, no stand either though but I prefer that because it gives you great side and top views. the 405 gallon is 1,272 dollars. Dimensions are 72" x 36" x 36" The largest is the 720 gallon at 2,400 

Edited October 23, 2020 by GardenStateGoldfish

[Jeff]

9 hours ago, GardenStateGoldfish said:

Pentair will be the cheapest but it isn't a tank, it does have a viewing window along the side though its beautiful, no stand either though but I prefer that because it gives you great side and top views. the 405 gallon is 1,272 dollars. Dimensions are 72" x 36" x 36" The largest is the 720 gallon at 2,400 

Holy cow. This would be an amazing POND! Never seen a tub with a viewing panel before. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by Jeff

[Lemon]

12 hours ago, GardenStateGoldfish said:

Pentair will be the cheapest but it isn't a tank, it does have a viewing window along the side though its beautiful, no stand either though but I prefer that because it gives you great side and top views. the 405 gallon is 1,272 dollars. Dimensions are 72" x 36" x 36" The largest is the 720 gallon at 2,400 

do you have a link?

[GardenStateGoldfish]

33 minutes ago, quirkylemon103 said:

do you have a link?

https://pentairaes.com/fiberglass-tanks-with-window.html

sorry I wasn't sure if external links were allowed or not.

[Daniel]

12 hours ago, GardenStateGoldfish said:

Pentair will be the cheapest but it isn't a tank, it does have a viewing window along the side though its beautiful, no stand either though but I prefer that because it gives you great side and top views. the 405 gallon is 1,272 dollars. Dimensions are 72" x 36" x 36" The largest is the 720 gallon at 2,400

Holy Smokes!

Turns out Pentair is headquartered in Cary, NC which is 20 miles down the road. I could go get one and just put in the back of the pick up truck and save shipping!

How do I unlearn this now 🙂

[Taylor Blake]

Fish Holding Tanks | Husky Portable Containment

WWW.HUSKYPORTABLE.COM

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This is a soft sided pond like tank but they do custom builds and will put a large clear viewing panel I got a quote for a tank that was a little over 1,000 for a 500 gallon tank.  Filtration is easy enough just get a pond filter somewhere between 200-500 for a canister filter. That is a new tank but if you find a used one you can find some great deals if you are willing to dive to pick them up. I found my 300 and I traded it for 115 dollars worth of aquariums. so if you are willing to take a risk on a used tank you can find big ones for cheap. One thing to look for is offices or doctors offices that are closing often they have a tank that no one wants.