View RSS Feed

T.I.B.E.T (The Incredibly Big Expensive Tank)

How it all started

Rate this Entry
6 Comments
by
michika
, 08-04-2010 at 01:41 PM (985 Views)
Back in October of 2008 I bought a house, and then in January 2009 after months of taping outlines on walls I started destroying the basement of a 1950s home to put in my dream tank. Due to the economic situation that hit in 2008 I've had some big ups and downs and absolutely missed my original water in date of October/November 2009. Things have been relatively slow moving and I've had to take large breaks due to my job, school, and life, but its happening. I just want to make sure its done right the first time, and I have committed to myself not to take on any debt while this comes together.

This tank is intended to be a reef tank with an emphasis on clams, SPS, and tangs. I've budgeted about $10-$15K for the build, which will be 90% DIY. I've also budgetted additional cash for the expected increase in our utility bills. One of the biggest delays I continually face is that the rest of my house requires massive renovations and often large projects must preceed tank projects. My house hasn't been updated since the late 90s, and even then it was only little updates here and there. Essentially Tibet as I call my tank, is one small project amongst many. In the mean time I am currently running a 180g grow-out tank where I'm sorting SPS, clams, fish, and some rock while I work on this beast.

The final dimensions for Tibet's display tank are; 10.5ft long x 3ft deep x 24" tall. There will be two panes visible, both done in low-iron glass. We had a custom built stand made which arrived in August 2009. We've been gathering equipment on and off again for the last year while we complete other projects around our house. We've framed out our fishroom, and are in the process of wiring, and re-plumbing the space, which was formally a bathroom.

Submit "How it all started" to Digg Submit "How it all started" to del.icio.us Submit "How it all started" to StumbleUpon Submit "How it all started" to Google

Categories
‎ Tank Entry , ‎ DIY projects

Comments

  1. T5FL's Avatar
    Any pics? Sounds awesome.
  2. Midnight's Avatar
    Cool, yeah we would like to see where the progress has gotten you to. How many gallons is that?
  3. michika's Avatar
    I couldn't figure out how to post photos in my original post, but I see it can be done in the comments. I'll try posting a few selective shots when I next get to a computer.
  4. melev's Avatar
    Hi Catherine. To add pictures, you want to re-enter the editor of your entry. To do that, roll your mouse over the subject title and click on the crayon that appears. Now the editor is open, you'll click the cursor where you want the image to appear in your blog entry. Click on the small icon that looks like a tree, and you can attach an image or you can select and paste in the URL from a different hosting site.

    Once done, click submit. You can edit your entry as often as you like, and put in as many pictures as you wish. When you have a new entry, it is a new blog. Your older blogs will continue to be available in the right column as well as from your profile, so naming each one helps the reader track down the information they seek. Be sure to select a category too, as they can sort that way as well.
  5. michika's Avatar
    Thank you!

    I'll start finding photos to post a condensed history of my build up until this point.
  6. michika's Avatar
    Midnight,

    The display tank volume will be ~470g but the total system volume will be around 700-1,000g depending on our final set up.