SW tank that's hard to believe

[John >]

I have been discussing LARGE tanks with NetMax and one just came to mind.

If you ever get to Nashville, TN there is a Mall right next door to the
Grand ole Opry with a restaurant called the Aquarium (or something like
that). Outside the entry way there is a SW tank that is 10' to 12' and 20'
high. This tank has what seems like 200 fish or more in it just circling
around and around and around.

NetMax, you thought you would build a 9' X 6' round tank when you get rich,
How much would a tank like that cost. Just for the fish? Coral, Water
Maint. etc.

Inside the restaurant there is a 100,000 gallon SW tank that you sit and
watch while you eat your dinner. The food isn't bad either, but the 3 hour
wait to get a table is a killer, bring a sandwich.

JOhn ><>

[NetMax]

"John ><>" > wrote in
message ...
>I have been discussing LARGE tanks with NetMax and one just came to
>mind.
>
> If you ever get to Nashville, TN there is a Mall right next door to the
> Grand ole Opry with a restaurant called the Aquarium (or something like
> that). Outside the entry way there is a SW tank that is 10' to 12' and
> 20' high. This tank has what seems like 200 fish or more in it just
> circling around and around and around.
>
> NetMax, you thought you would build a 9' X 6' round tank when you get
> rich, How much would a tank like that cost. Just for the fish? Coral,
> Water Maint. etc.

You are jumping to conclusions. I never said I was putting fish or water
*inside* my 9' x 6' cylinder. It's actually for me & my friends. I'm
dropping a circular staircase down the centre and will have a few
recliners at the base of the cylinder. The cylinder is sitting in a
'finished' basement roughly 13' in diameter. It would be 'finished' in
concrete, driftwood etc and then sealed up along the walls and floor and
up to the cylinder. I'll be sitting in my 360 degree tank.

In terms of biotopes, it will actually be 3 tanks, so I can keep a
sampling of African lake fish, and Amazonian fish and some in between,
but the seperations will be hidden, so it will look like the fish can
swim all the way around, but each 120degree (1/3s) will be a different
aquarium. The 3 tanks will have the same water level (probably, as the
cascading waterfalls between sections might be too ambitious), so
structurally the weight pushes evenly on the cylinder inwards, so I can
go to a much thinner material (less $ and less visual refraction).

I don't have a SW section planned. I haven't gotten bored of FW tanks
yet. As for cost, ever hear the expression that if you have to ask, you
can't afford it ;~). I'll have a pump room which I will climb down into
(in the event of any breakage, I don't want to flood too many other
rooms. Actually, beside the main tank and pump room, there won't be
anything else at that level except for the foundation and grading outside
the house (and yes, I know I have to built the house *around* the
cylinder).

One of the biggest expenses is not the main tank but the rows of
quarantine/isolation/breeding tanks required to support this quantity of
fish in this level of biodiversity. I have some connections with
transhippers which I hope I can capitilize on to pick up a few crates
from Brazil and Singapore, but they would all need to be quarantined and
acclimated in isolation, and that's a lot of tanks, each with their own
filters, heaters etc.

Besides the expense, just 'finishing' the basement (the floor and back
wall of the tank) will take between 3 and 4 years (I have a lot of
elements and effects planned), so I better get rich soon while I'm
relatively young ;~) if I hope to finish it and have lots of time to
enjoy it.

> Inside the restaurant there is a 100,000 gallon SW tank that you sit
> and watch while you eat your dinner. The food isn't bad either, but
> the 3 hour wait to get a table is a killer, bring a sandwich.
>
> JOhn ><>

Three hour wait eh? Maybe I should serve a couple of tables on weekends
to help pay for my tank once it's complete ;~)
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