When I was a little kid I remember Saturday mornings going to breakfast and then to the LFS with my dad we always had a great time we connected and bonded over his and then my tanks. He watched me play high school, college and then pro football but we never bonded like we did over our fish talks. I always missed those and wanted to give my kids something like that.So at the start of the Covid lockdown I decided I was going to build my dream tank……at least I thought I had. I built a 96x48x26 acrylic aquarium. It was a great experience we had a ton of fun and did we learn a lot. I spent thousands of dollars on equipment some good, some gimmick, and so must have. I’ll try and touch on all and try and help someone take a better rout than we did to get to our almost final destination.
Like I said this was going to be my dream tank. We had spent months planning it out researching, and day dreaming. Then came Covid and we now had time. I figured out that a 96x48x24 would be the most efficient monster tank I could build. Then we went up to 30” and finally settled on 26” tall. We used 3/4” acrylic and being deep into woodworking I didn’t have much trouble building my tank. I am also in the auto industry so welders are also on my side so we had a 2” square steel stand made ( here’s my first I wouldn’t do that again) it’s tremendously strong and was also affordable, but even powder coating didn’t keep it from the inevitable water that gets spilled in the year we’ve had the tank up and running.
The new tank is on a 80/20 aluminum stand. I have to say at half the weight and the ease of assembly makes it a must have. We used 80/20.com for the new stand material and I highly recommend them they’re great at answering any and all questions.
after my first year with an acrylic aquarium and 4 kids / helpers I learned that they weren’t for me. I’m the guy that knows where every nick on the hood of my cars are and they drive me crazy so you know where I’m going with this. I know there’s a great debate on glass vs acrylic and truly I can see both sides of it. Half or less the weight of glass, better heat loss, ability to buff out most scratches but I can’t see myself continuing to do it or keep the kids at bay from the tank. After all it was done to connect…. Hell I’ve had more and better conversation in the last 12 to 18 months that start with the tank and go in so many different directions with my kids than I ever have.
So that’s when we decided we were going to change our path and go to the new glass tank. The acrylic tank is 48” from front to back and in theory accessible from 3 sides but honestly it’s too deep for me. I love the aspect the depth gives allowing the fish to swim towards you.
The glass tank is 96x36x26 and it plumbed as a peninsula we contacted glass cages and designed the tank with the help of Joe and the team. This is not a paid advertisement lol but I built my business on customer service and you won’t find better than them.
Like I said this was going to be my dream tank. We had spent months planning it out researching, and day dreaming. Then came Covid and we now had time. I figured out that a 96x48x24 would be the most efficient monster tank I could build. Then we went up to 30” and finally settled on 26” tall. We used 3/4” acrylic and being deep into woodworking I didn’t have much trouble building my tank. I am also in the auto industry so welders are also on my side so we had a 2” square steel stand made ( here’s my first I wouldn’t do that again) it’s tremendously strong and was also affordable, but even powder coating didn’t keep it from the inevitable water that gets spilled in the year we’ve had the tank up and running.
The new tank is on a 80/20 aluminum stand. I have to say at half the weight and the ease of assembly makes it a must have. We used 80/20.com for the new stand material and I highly recommend them they’re great at answering any and all questions.
after my first year with an acrylic aquarium and 4 kids / helpers I learned that they weren’t for me. I’m the guy that knows where every nick on the hood of my cars are and they drive me crazy so you know where I’m going with this. I know there’s a great debate on glass vs acrylic and truly I can see both sides of it. Half or less the weight of glass, better heat loss, ability to buff out most scratches but I can’t see myself continuing to do it or keep the kids at bay from the tank. After all it was done to connect…. Hell I’ve had more and better conversation in the last 12 to 18 months that start with the tank and go in so many different directions with my kids than I ever have.
So that’s when we decided we were going to change our path and go to the new glass tank. The acrylic tank is 48” from front to back and in theory accessible from 3 sides but honestly it’s too deep for me. I love the aspect the depth gives allowing the fish to swim towards you.
The glass tank is 96x36x26 and it plumbed as a peninsula we contacted glass cages and designed the tank with the help of Joe and the team. This is not a paid advertisement lol but I built my business on customer service and you won’t find better than them.
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