3,000 Gallon Indoor/Outdoor Aquarium DIY Build

[TheWildWillauers]

WOW! This looks epic! Where are you in southern Michigan? Lots of reefers over in the Ann Arbor and Metro area. I'm so surprised you're able to heat this with a 1kW heater. Must get a lot of help from the radiant solar energy. Very cool. I'm definitely following along on this!

Having the outdoor viewing area is such a good idea. I do a lot less on my reef in the summer because I want to be outside so much more. This makes both possible!

Thank you! We are in metro-Detroit, northern Macomb county. I wasn't too sure how the heater would be able to handle this system neither, but so far so good! Even though in the summer it probably only gets maybe 5-6 hours of direct sunlight it is still enough to keep the room in the 60s during the day. I also believe the sheer volume of water helps to keep the system very stable. I've seen that people that have greenhouses often will have drums of water stacked to help prevent temperature swings in the winter.

I must admit, the outdoor viewing panel can really only be enjoyed at certain times of the day depending where the sun is (mornings, high-noon, dusk, and night), anywhere in between the reflection off the acrylic makes it difficult to view. But I still really enjoy being able to take a breather to watch the fish as I'm doing yard work or to be outside in the fresh air relaxing and watching the fish. Like you said, us Michiganders don't really like to squander the nice weather! lol

Absolutely amazing! Welcome to the forum! I’ll be watching this thread!!

Thank you!

 

[TheWildWillauers]

-drilled the overflow/return holes. In hindsight, I wish I would have drilled more overflow holes to be able to increase the GPH that flows through the sump

-Getting ready to prep the acrylic

-Threading the acrylic frame that will help create the gasket

-L channel steel frames the openings

-The inside viewing panel in place along with its acrylic gasket frame

-The outside viewing panel

-Getting ready to unroll the liner. We lines the bottom with 2" insulation panels

-Here you can see we've removed the acrylic frame to allow for placing the liner. You can see the acrylic panel has been pre-drilled along with the L channel steel frame

-Unrolling the liner was a huge pain. Very cumbersome.

 

[TheWildWillauers]

-Finally once the liner was in place we carefully punctured the liner to allow for the bolts to enter through and into the acrylic frame

-Applying silicone to the inside of the acrylic frame to help create a better seal once the bolts are tightened

-Inside panel completed

-Liner removed

-Moment of truth

 

[TheWildWillauers]

Yesterday my wife/lifeguard and I cleaned the tank so we can get some better videos and pictures. Our friends and family have been telling us that we should start a youtube channel for all of our projects and big upcoming ones so we threw this together! Worst case we'll have some embarrassing home videos to watch down the road haha

 

[McPuff]

Such a great assemblage of fish in there!

 

[Cell]

Amazing concept. Now I'm dreaming of a new patio area...

 

[New&no clue]

Great build, can't wait to see you feed the shark.

 

[boacvh]

No words. Just epic! (Also, I don't think your tank is big enough for tangs )

 

[Mjrdude1]

Simply awesome!

 

[McPuff]

You can get some clear screen (1/4") from BRS and then window frames from Home Depot. Those make excellent tops and they won't droop into the water.

Your French angel is incredible. It's one of my favorite fish but I won't consider one again unless I have a much bigger tank (& without coral). Do you have, or have you considering adding, an Arothron puffer? Would be a great addition. :0)

 

[zipperbaum]

Great video...

May I suggest 3 things for cleaning:

Spare air-Look up scuba spare air
Get a scuba weight belt
Find a larger scraper...

I bet you could cut the time down by 70%!

 

[TheWildWillauers]

Amazing concept. Now I'm dreaming of a new patio area...

You wont regret it!

Great build, can't wait to see you feed the shark.

Thank you! Hopefully I can get some good video of him eating, he never likes to cooperate

No words. Just epic! (Also, I don't think your tank is big enough for tangs )

Haha, thank you! That's what I am trying to convince my wife lol

Simply awesome!

Thank you!

You can get some clear screen (1/4") from BRS and then window frames from Home Depot. Those make excellent tops and they won't droop into the water.

Your French angel is incredible. It's one of my favorite fish but I won't consider one again unless I have a much bigger tank (& without coral). Do you have, or have you considering adding, an Arothron puffer? Would be a great addition. :0)

I like that idea, I have used their clear screen for some of my other builds and really liked how clean it looked.

I really love that French, they move around so gracefully. He is just about lost any hint of the last juvenile markings even though he is pushing 12" in length. One day I would love to be able to pair him up with another.

I have had a black dogface puffer, I loved that guy, they really do have the personalities of dogs! Unfortunately I lost him years ago in a tank crash. He did do a number on the acrylic in the previous tank from swimming with his teeth against it so I am cautious to try again, but I really think they are such a cool species.

Great video...

May I suggest 3 things for cleaning:

Spare air-Look up scuba spare air
Get a scuba weight belt
Find a larger scraper...

I bet you could cut the time down by 70%!

I just looked up the spare air, that is awesome, I definitely need to invest in one along with a weight belt. I cannot believe how difficult it is to work against the buoyancy of just a few feet!

I haven't had much luck finding larger scrapers. I wonder if I could make a nice wide and sturdy one with an acrylic blade. The one I use is a plastic, but I wonder how acrylic scraping on acrylic would work. I suppose I can test it out on scrap pieces to make sure it doesn't scratch.

 

[TheWildWillauers]

We let the tank sit full of water for a few days to monitor for any leaks or failures. Once we made sure everything was good, we drained it to make way for more work. Luckily we have well water.

-drywalling

-finally to the fun stuff; aquascaping, like I mentioned previously the skeleton of the structures are PVC and eggcrate

 

[TheWildWillauers]

On to the plumbing

-building the sump

(In hindsight I wish I would have had the sump on the refugium side of the tank to allow for a larger sump and more room to work with)

-circulation plumbing. This had to be changed a few times because of faulty bulkhead sealing because of course right where we had pre-drilled the plywood was where there was a joint in the liner. This was probably the most frustrating step of the build having to fill and drain about a foot of water each time to test for leaks

-once the bulkheads were sealed we could finally finish filling the tank

-the sand/rocks really yellowed the water

-couple of days running carbon cleared the water up

I wish the sand would have stayed this white!!!

 

[TheWildWillauers]

Finally time to add salt

-seeding the tank with live rock from the other tank

-quarantining some Naso sp. that were labeled "Unicorn Tangs". Im not sure exactly what they are, I am between Naso hexacanthus and Naso caeruleacauda. I will post some more updated/detailed pictures for you guys to weigh in on

-first inhabitants!

-few weeks later we added the unidentified unicorn tangs (looking back now I cant believe how small these guys were, they've grown like weeds!)

-painting the gallery

-a few more fish added

-refugium installed

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Hats off to the heros of DIY!! There is something sooo satisfying about just learning and doing it yourself, the exact way you want it done.

 

[TheWildWillauers]

Hats off to the heros of DIY!! There is something sooo satisfying about just learning and doing it yourself, the exact way you want it done.

Could not have said it better myself, although during the process Im sure we all are kicking ourselves at times, it all eventually pays off. I think the process of imagining and implementing is sometimes just as fun as the final product, probably why DIYers never truly have a completed project haha

 

[TheWildWillauers]

-Panorama of the absolute mess the yard became

-Finishing up the plumbing the maintenance room

-The water became pretty unsightly after a month or so of cycling

-Finally moved the fish into their new home! This was a huge pain in the butt to catch them all and transfer them. I dont know who was more stressed during the process; me or the fish!

 

[Devaji]

WOW this is crazy epic.

 

[MaddyP]

Following!