Question: Building an aquarium

[Syllvie]

My grandpa is going to build an aquarium for my Axies that will fit into my room. It will be on my floor, and likely be bare-bottom. It will be roughly 8-10 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3-4 feet tall. If I change up my room a bit, it will be 5-6 feet wide. I will have no more than four Axies in it(actually, I'll probably only have two). IF I do end up getting a male and female, I will also have a divider ready to keep them separated if I don't want eggs, and if I do, the divider will be there to keep the eggs in a safe place. I say if because I do want to breed in the future, but by "future" I mean in two or three years, and making sure the Axies aren't related.

I want to make sure all of this will be suitable. As I said, there will be no more than four Axies, but more than likely only two or three. We will be looking for a filter when my grandpa goes to get the supplies to build the aquarium.

Also, he wants to use plexiglass because it's cheap and easy to use. Is plexiglass okay to use?

Thank you for your help. I know I've been posting a lot of questions, I just want to make 100% sure I have everything down.

 

[alexx]

That is huuuuuuge, you would lose them in there! You could have 2 axies in a 3-4 foot tank.
I have never used plexi for a tank, I know it's strong 'cause I play ice hockey but I don't know if it would work or not, the problem would be holding it together with the weight of all that water.

 

[Mr Poseidon]

The most important aspect of a tank when it comes to axolotls is the floor area, making your tank 3-4 feet high, is wayy wayy more then enough. although when it comes to ascetics thats your choice.

i dont know what makes up plexie glass, but its important to know if it will leach any chemicals into the water.

with an 8 X 3 X 3, you will have more than enough room for quite a few axolotls.

i do sudjest if you buy juvi axis, that you raise them in a tub or a smaller tank so they will be eaiser to watch take care of and clean up!

how are you planning on filtering your tank?
deal with temp issues?
are you building a hood as well or are you going to leave it open?
any awesome plans for decoration?

=P i wish i was getting a tank that large! good luck!

 

[Syllvie]

Well, my grandpa knows a LOT more about construction than I do, so I'll trust him in that area. I will also look to see if anything could leak into the water, but I doubt it. He used plexiglass for a divider in my 10gal tank with I was raising tadpoles, and they were never harmed because of it. I also googled to see if it was okay to use for Axolotls and Salamanders, and I got a lot of different posts talking about making different hides and dividers using plexiglass for both Axies and Salamanders, so I assume it's okay to use for a tank.

Poseidon - They'll be raised in a 10gal tank, and then moved into the larger one. If I have to, I can also build a divider in the tank now, and take it out later if they're the same sex. I'm probably going to use a few small-ish box filters. They seem to be the cheapest, easiest, and most reliable for the price. If I decide to use large river stones instead of bare-bottom, then I'll see if an under-the-gravel filter could be used, also(with the box filters). I'm really not looking forward to cleaning it, though. XD My room remains at a fairly stable temperament, but in the summer it can get hot. My windows are always covered, so it lowers the temperature greatly. We also have an amazing air conditioner. I also plan to get a water cooler if I can(I guarantee I'll never need a heater), and if I can't, I'm going to make sure I always have a lot of ready, cooler water if their tank gets too hot. Since I'm not going to fill it all the way to the top, I'm leaving it open. And for decoration, I'm going to paint some different images and designs all over the outside of the tank. Inside, there'll be lots of plants(all fake, since I'm not using light except for possibly a low-wattage little table lamp to see my Axies).

And don't wish you had one, haha. It'll be a mess to clean, and probably incredibly expensive to set up and make sure I have everything. Probably also difficult to make sure the temp. and pH are right. But I'm prepared for the work.

 

[Syllvie]

Update: I'm going to use the 10gal. tank to house a few underwater plants and a couple Cherry Shrimp. I'm getting two separate tupperware tubs to raise my Axies in before I put them in the larger tank. I'm using a couple airstones, open-top, fan, and a natural filter that doesn't produce a lot of heat to make sure the temperature is nice and cool. I'm not going to buy the tubs until around the time I order the Axolotls; as I said, I want everything to be perfect and ready. I'm going to see if my grandpa can make a homemade chiller, because I know for a fact he isn't going to buy one(they are extremely expensive). If not, though, it'll still be pretty easy to keep the tank nice and cool.

 

[Gromky]

I'd say scale back your build, based upon everything I've read. I haven't built my own, but I considered it at times and read up.

Plexi is very common for aquariums, don't worry about it. A tank that large is going to take thick plexi, and won't be cheap to build. Also, be sure your floor can handle it. An 8'x3'x3' tank is over 530 gallons, and well over 2 tons. 16" on center joists will not handle it long term, but if you're on concrete pad it should be ok.

I'd say scale back the depth, it will be the biggest factor in thickness of plexi you need, and axies don't need depth. If you can scale it back to maybe 20-24" you might be able to get away with 1" plexi and hundreds of dollars in materials. I have not looked at the calculators online to confirm this, it is a guess. Do look up the calculators before you build, and pay attention to advice about extruded vs. cast. Keeping 3-4' depth you're facing much thicker plexi.

The cheapest way to build a tank I've run into is the GARF design, it's much smaller than your build but pretty inexpensive. They use a glass front and frame out the rest, using pool paint to seal. GARF.ORG PLYWOOD AQUARIUMS