Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if people still made huge aquariums out of concrete? I have not been able to find diy info on the www. See, I graduate college this semester, and in two years my husband and I plan to buy a modular home (he wants a home no one else has lived in- he's weird but I love him) and have it put on a finished basement with a concrete floor. I was thinking that if it was possible, we could have a concrete aquarium that was 6' tall by 6' wide by 18' long. I'm thinking that I might even be able to get the people who do the basement to make the other two walls for the tank (with holes for large glass "windows" for not much more. The other two walls would be the foundation. All would have steel rebar to reinforce it. Would this be a good tank, or would there be alot of problems with the integrity of the tank? Also, could someone please tell me what kind of filtration I would use for something this large? Both my husband and I are fascinated by sharks and would like to make a large naturalistic environment for some small catsharks or dogfish and to hopefully be able to breed them. Oh, we also figure this would cost about $25,000, is this pretty accurate, or are we WAY off base?

i have made several large tanks but this one would be larger than any i have ever seen especially with the glass. ok, the first idea i would like to address is the viewing glass if you were to make this above ground like a pool, this glass would have to be about 2 inches thick and depending on size would run you about $100 per square foot. the rebar idea is a good idea but i would use a concrete with fiberglass in it also and it would most likely have to be around a foot thick and maybe thicker at the base. the filter, i would take a couple of 5 gallon buckets, put about 4 inches of bio balls and a pump in the bottom. then coverwith polyester pillow stuffing and place an airtight lid on the bucket to create a negative pressure waterfilter, e-mail me at navarone19@yahoo.com for more info no the filter. and yes this will probably run you quite a few thousand dollars to start and a couple hundred a year to run but would be awsome to see and be a great conversational peice.

Thank you SO MUCH for replying!!!! I was beginning to think no one would. I would really appreciate more info on the filter, but I am wondering if it would be enough filtration or would this be in addition to other filtration? My biggest indoor tank (to date) is (approx.) a hundred gallon indoor pond that I had two RES in (they were not full grown yet). This project is not going to happen for a couple of years, but I am definitely planning on doing it. May I print out your response and add it to the file I have started for this project?

Thanks again,
Jasmine