Super aquariums?

[pdisme]

I'm guessing that some people who are interested in luxury cars may have an interest in luxury aquariums? I was just curious what kind of money a high end aquarium can cost, and how much work it takes to maintain? (noise too)

Something like this:

http://www.livingcolor.com/img/aquariums/gallery/commercial/3_sm.jpg

"6'D x 7'-6"H seamless cylinder 1,585 gallons" from http://www.livingcolor.com/com_aqu_gallery.cfm

I love that, but I'm guessing they probably spend a lot of time taking care of it? Not something I have a lot of. Well maybe not that big, that's kind of insane for a house, but maybe half that size? Three foot diameter and a few feet high.

[Matt]

tanks like that can cost 10s if not 100s of thousands of dollars and a lot of time your house will need to be constructed with the aquarium in mind due to the fact that they weigh so damn much(tons) and they need seemless integration of all the hosing and filters etc.

i do love a nicely done aquarium though, that particular one looks amazing.

[pdisme]

Okay then, let's scratch the aquarium idea. :) Would have been a nice addition to the game room but I'm not $10k+ into the idea.

[Lasombra52]

I figure a few of the guys from this board, a few of my gorilla strippers, Matt's new found money that your going to give him for the car wash, some sledge hammers, some pimp outfits, and a couple bottles of cristal, we can demo and have that thing installed with only major structural damage to your house. I'll be there tomorrow at 6:30 am.

[pdisme]

You know what would make for a cool aquarium; a large circular one with acrylic stairs coming out of it and a railing so the aquarium itself is supporting the steps as you go up to the second floor. That would be serious money and I'm sure you'd need to have a different kind of slab poured due to the weight but wow..

[Matt]

that actually would be a really badass idea. I doubt you could use the actual aquarium as support for stairs, but it would be cool to have the stairs wrap around the aquarium.

Lasombra, Sounds good can we make it 7am though?

[pdisme]

I'm going to Walmart to get a shot gun, anyone waking me up at 7 AM gets to meet the business end of it.

[Matt]

I'm going to Walmart to get a shot gun, anyone waking me up at 7 AM gets to meet the business end of it.

:lol2: :lol2: :icon_hang:

Dont worry, its a rare day that i'm up at 7am.

[Lasombra52]

:lol2: :lol2: :icon_hang:

Dont worry, its a rare day that i'm up at 7am.

:lol2: :lol2: This just keeps getting funnier.:lol2: :lol2:

I wish I wasn't up right now, but I've already been up for an hour and a half.

[Minch00]

I like to eat fish rather than watch them swim. I'd rather buy some badass artwork. New idea: hot tub with fish in it :D

"Don't worry baby, that's just the grouper swimming around your crotch, it smells familiar to him"

[pdisme]

Getting back to the topic... :) check this aquarium out, it's built into the damn wall!!

http://www.seavisions.com/images/rodgerscloseup.jpg

These guys are evidently THE place to get a custom aquarium:

http://www.seavisions.com/

Check out the insane photo gallery:

http://www.seavisions.com/photo_gallery.htm

[Minch00]

Damn that is pretty cool. How do you get the fish out when they die?

[pdisme]

With the cost of those, there is probably a robot vulture that comes through and eats up the dead ones.

[duc749r]

I have an aquarium it’s a pain in the ass. All I can say is bigger is always better. With a small tank lets say 50g and below if the levels change your tank will react a lot faster than if you have a 100g or larger. If you can afford a tank like in the pics above you will probably have someone maintain it for you.

[MarkStudy]

Here's a cool idea.... I like the full room aproach

[Matt]

Thats amazing...

[pdisme]

I'll see your full room and raise you with a 10 x 10 x 5 double sided:

http://www.seavisions.com/images/talfloorliftlarge.jpg

Crazy!

http://www.seavisions.com/images/talkoskymain3.opt.jpg

[Matt]

Wow... dave you gotta get that in the game room... every game room needs a bar with a HUGE aquarium.

[zzzzdoc]

I have a Living Color Aquarium at home. 1000 gal. 2 sided.

$10K. ROTFLMAO. $50K 9 years ago. Not counting construction of a room to hold the filters and machinery.

I love that built in lift. I use a ladder. I'll look for a photo later.

[zzzzdoc]

You know what would make for a cool aquarium; a large circular one with acrylic stairs coming out of it and a railing so the aquarium itself is supporting the steps as you go up to the second floor. That would be serious money and I'm sure you'd need to have a different kind of slab poured due to the weight but wow..

Yes, you would need a reinforced slab. My tank weighs 6 tons. The house was built around the aquarium, so the slab was properly designed/built from the outset.

[pdisme]

Wow, yeah I don't think I'd have the patience to manage an aquarium, and too late to get the slab re-poured. :) You have to post some pics of that, sounds awesome.

[zzzzdoc]

Getting back to the topic... :) check this aquarium out, it's built into the damn wall!!

These guys are evidently THE place to get a custom aquarium:

http://www.seavisions.com/

Check out the insane photo gallery:

http://www.seavisions.com/photo_gallery.htm

Actually, their stuff, albeit nice looking, is pretty small compared to the stuff Living Color does.

http://www.livingcolor.com/res_aqu_gallery.cfm

Dave, you really need to come over some time.

[ADON]

There's a store in Houston called Aquarium World. They have a 40,000 gallon display tank. It's massive. Looks like something you see at Sea World.

http://www.aquariumworld.net/profile.htm

Pics suck and you cant really see it. But it's impressive. Makes it difficult to not walk out of the store with a saltwater setup of some sort.

[pdisme]

I can't believe a store that would build a 40k gallon aquarium would spend so little on a web page. :lol2:

[SuperVixen]

I'm going to Walmart to get a shot gun, anyone waking me up at 7 AM gets to meet the business end of it.

Sometimes Dave is getting up the same moment as me on the west coast.:eek:

Those tanks are cool. I showed my boss, but I don't think we're getting one for our showroom. :(

[ADON]

I can't believe a store that would build a 40k gallon aquarium would spend so little on a web page. :lol2:

Yeah, I don't understand that. They have a 6 figure aquarium, and a $3.00 web page.

[zzzzdoc]

I spend more on fish food than they spend on their web page.

Actually, my fish eat rather well, so never mind.

But the web page does suck.

[MarkStudy]

I've had fish tanks since I was 5 years old.

Never had a super tank.....but 110's and 125's down to 30's and even 10's when I was a kid.

Here's some of my favorite fish over the years.

( I was going to be a Marine Biologist, but wasn't the greatest job, so decided to keep my passion as a hobby and just have fun with it)

http://imagecloset.net/uimages/opt1175551887t.jpg

[pdisme]

Mark, those pictures are incredible, did you take them? The colors are amazing. Is that an octopus in the one pic? Or maybe some kind of squid? Wow.

[MarkStudy]

Mark, those pictures are incredible, did you take them? The colors are amazing. Is that an octopus in the one pic? Or maybe some kind of squid? Wow.

Thanks Dave, Yep those are all mine.

The squid is in my hand. I love the squid but hard to keep in a tank because they are free swimming (more of a open-water animal)

I've had more fun with the Octopus witch crawls on the bottom, and can be so much better for a tank. Fun to play with. (But not the Blue Ring Octopus...it is one of the few that is deadly and not a good pet)

Now if you want to see some real beautiful photos.... here's some Professional shots... of some really unique animals

http://imagecloset.net/uimages/cqs1175555673c.jpg
http://imagecloset.net/uimages/opt1175555949w.jpg
http://imagecloset.net/uimages/rgh1175556071t.jpg
http://imagecloset.net/uimages/rgh1175556155d.jpg
http://imagecloset.net/uimages/cqs1175556259d.jpg
http://imagecloset.net/uimages/opt1175556321c.jpg
http://imagecloset.net/uimages/jdv1175556437q.jpg

[pdisme]

Yeah, I try to avoid touching poisonous animals :) Those pro shots don't look particularly better than yours, but all are great.

[MarkStudy]

a few more pro photos....

http://imagecloset.net/uimages/klz1175556832l.jpg


http://imagecloset.net/uimages/rgh1175556918z.jpg


http://imagecloset.net/uimages/arx1175557063o.jpg


http://imagecloset.net/uimages/klz1175557219a.jpg

[MarkStudy]

Yeah, I try to avoid touching poisonous animals :) Those pro shots don't look particularly better than yours, but all are great.

Thanks... spent a lot of years (and money) taking photos...never learned how to do it right, but I'd take 700 shots for every one photo I kept. :beerchug: (I'd rather be lucky then good... and I use to be in the sports TV business so I got to borrow all the good stuff)

The colors are so brillant! They really pop with the right lighting :eek:


I never spent a lot of money on my fish tanks. Give me a simple 125 gallon for $2,000 all set-up and stocked and I'm all set to go. Let the fish speak for themselfs. ( NOW I WISH I HAD A $50,000 tank...but you can do it on a shoe-string and still have lots of fun. But it takes a few hours a week to keep on top of it)

[zzzzdoc]

Any hints on aquarium photography? My pictures alway don't do the tank justice.

Blue ring octopus - perhaps the stupidest pet ever sold. Yeah, I want to die from my pet. They are gorgeous in pictures, though.

[MarkStudy]

Any hints on aquarium photography? My pictures alway don't do the tank justice.

Blue ring octopus - perhaps the stupidest pet ever sold. Yeah, I want to die from my pet. They are gorgeous in pictures, though.


The best tip on aquarium photos...is to shoot with underwater camera.
I never shot through the glass and got very good photos. Or you can buy water tight cover for your current camera. I started as a diver first, and a photographer second...so I was always use to taking the camera in the water.

The second best tip... I'd take the fish out of the aquarium, and do a lot of shoots in those big black plastic garbage cans. Black makes a great contrast to get the fishes color to really come out in full spectrum (the capture and transfer of the animals has to be well thought out to avoid stess to the animal). Also helps to place a chunck of coarl in with the fish, to offer a little contrast.
This also give you the advantage of going out-side to take the photo and taking advantage of natural sun light.

Third tip.... get the fish use to seeing the camera a few hours early. So when you are ready to take photos...they aren't all spooked. Some times its taken days for a really shy animal to get use to the camera being around.


Blue Ring is stupidest pet for many reasons- they don't live very long...3 months is a long time for them. They don't travel very well, and they will kill you. I had 12 years octopus experiance before I got my first Blue Rings, I bought them from a pet store that got them in by accident, and the guy was putting his hand in the tank...no clue, what he had :eek:
http://imagecloset.net/uimages/opt1175612512e.JPG

http://imagecloset.net/uimages/rgh1175612806b.jpg

http://imagecloset.net/uimages/opt1175613090y.jpg

[pdisme]

Any hints on aquarium photography? My pictures alway don't do the tank justice.

Blue ring octopus - perhaps the stupidest pet ever sold. Yeah, I want to die from my pet. They are gorgeous in pictures, though.

You mean stupid like eating Fugu sushi? :)

[MarkStudy]

You mean stupid like eating Fugu sushi? :)

No, it gets more stupid than that.

A guy tried to eat a blue ring for sushi.....:2up: he died

[bridow]

ive always wanted a jellyfish tank...well i had no clue what a blue ring was; thanks to google, i read this (holy crap)

"The blue-ringed octopus is the size of a golf ball, but its venom is powerful enough to kill humans. There is no known antidote."

[zeeshan66]

dam alot of those pics rn't working for me!

[pdisme]

Damn, that's too bad, Mark had some awesome pics in there.

[demetri]

they all seem to work for me lol
these are the ones i can see....
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t170/demet18/talkoskymain3opt.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t170/demet18/talfloorliftlarge.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t170/demet18/rodgerscloseup.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t170/demet18/BigBigtanksmall.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t170/demet18/3_sm.jpg

[pdisme]

they all seem to work for me lol
these are the ones i can see....

There were a bunch of close up shots from MarkStudy that aren't showing now.

[abunawafff]

ive always wanted a salt water tank.. but never decided what kind of fish or invertabra to go for... any one know of a good online store that has a larg range , so i can decide??

[pdisme]

I wanted one until I realized how much time, money and fish they consume. :)

[Matt]

I wanted one until I realized how much time, money and fish they consume. :)

you can always pay someone to take care of it :lol2:

I've been thinking about going for a marine aquarium. something on the larger side of small like 150 gallons.

[abunawafff]

you can always pay someone to take care of it :lol2:

I've been thinking about going for a marine aquarium. something on the larger side of small like 150 gallons.

no mater what size tank.. saltwater fish just have such true color.. not like the other kind...

and yess someone taking care of it for you is the way to go... once a week a guy comes over and does whats needed:grinning-smiley-003

[zzzzdoc]

ive always wanted a salt water tank.. but never decided what kind of fish or invertabra to go for... any one know of a good online store that has a larg range , so i can decide??
http://www.liveaquaria.com/FFExpress/

Used to be called Flying Fish Express. Then bought up by Drs. Foster and Smith.

They've FedExed many fish to me. Very high quality, but fish are fragile. Some may arrive DOA, but they will just refund your money if that happens.

[pdisme]

Some may arrive DOA, but they will just refund your money if that happens.

Fortunately your kids are old enough now that you can forgo the fish burials when that happens. :)

[SweetDaddyDelicious]

My cousin is into Salt Water tanks. He's had a very nice one for years. (well not compared to these photos) I think his is around 150-200 gallons. He passed the 10K mark (in fish and corral) years ago and has quit keeping track now. It's a lot of work, and he has learned a lot- the hard way. Hillarious to listen to though. He's had Corral have chemical warfare with each other and kill each other. He's had $500 baby sting rays live a couple days. Expensive fish make expensive meals from other expensive fish. Plant like looking animals (anenomones -sp?) eat expensive fish. Once when remodeling his kitchen somehow some drywall dust made it's way to the aquarium and wiped the whole thing out. His X wife in the process of the divorce broke into his house and unplugged it once, wiping the whole thing out. He's got all these crazy filter systems, chillers, water change things, and still every once in a while it gets red bloom or something crazy and looks like total crap, so then he needs to get a day to spend all day cleaning it and get it under control. Now it needs some kind of new lighting system which is about a grand so he has a ghetto fabulous set up in the mean time till and extra grand for a fish light comes his way. And they just discovered that the weight of it has cracked his floor joist!

If you can put up with all that, on occasion it looks AWESOME! lol.

I've learned a lot at his expense, and after a while even he just kind of laughs at it. Definitely an expensive hobby. There are very few things that can add that kind of beauty to your home though when it's all going good.

Been years since I've had an aquarium. Used to have a 50 gallon with 2 Oscars better than 12" long and a snake head about 14 inches long. They would make a feeding frenzy of about 90 goldfish when i dumped them in. They even destroyed a 6 inch freshwater lobster i put in one time. They would sometimes draw blood on you when cleaning the tank (even without teeth, but they have these hard plates in their mouth) Tried to get a Piranah but he was too small to be in the oscars and started picking on the snakehead. Funniest thing was be taking him out to take him to the fish store and he bit two holes through the bag, so I had to find one of moms tupperware containers for him. lol. Always wanted to get into saltwater but never took the plunge. You could always just get a 50-100 gallon freshwater and they are much cheaper and easier to maintain.

[Matt]

actually, delicious.

smaller tanks are HARDER to maintain. If you get an imbalance in a small tank, it will be a lot deadlier than in a large tank. Large tanks have greater volume, so if something nasty is introduced, its not as fast moving and you have time to correct. where as in a smaller tank, the system is more fragile and can collapse easier.

[Tofu]

How about this?

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2315/aquadomaquarium01lx5.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/3609/aquadomaquarium02hu6.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/4472/aquadomaquarium03fs8.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7029/aquadomaquarium04wv2.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8674/aquadomaquarium05zl7.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/1333/aquadomaquarium07sy4.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/5729/aquadomaquarium08gh5.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6831/aquadomaquarium09ba5.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/3281/aquadomaquarium11ra7.jpg

[demetri]

^^^thats tiny:lol2: :lol2:

[demetri]

There were a bunch of close up shots from MarkStudy that aren't showing now.

so can everyone see the pictures i posted, if so il take them down they take up to much space :banghead:
and can u delete this post after youve read it lol

[pdisme]

That is absolutely incredible; where is that aquarium? Is that the largest one in the world?

Atlanta Aquarium has a pretty large one, possibly the largest, where they keep their whales, but the aquarium is poorly laid out and smells like piss so it wasn't a good experience.

[Matt]

wow, thats somethin' else!

[zzzzdoc]

How about this?

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2315/aquadomaquarium01lx5.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/3609/aquadomaquarium02hu6.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/4472/aquadomaquarium03fs8.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7029/aquadomaquarium04wv2.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8674/aquadomaquarium05zl7.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/1333/aquadomaquarium07sy4.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/5729/aquadomaquarium08gh5.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6831/aquadomaquarium09ba5.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/3281/aquadomaquarium11ra7.jpg

OMG. Who took a picture of my little quarantine tank without my permission. Call my lawyer.

Wow!!! Where is that thing? Think about how strong the foundation for that has to be. The stresses are mind-boggling.

[pdisme]

OMG. Who took a picture of my little quarantine tank without my permission. Call my lawyer.

Wow!!! Where is that thing? Think about how strong the foundation for that has to be. The stresses are mind-boggling.

The buildings behind the construction make it look kind of central European; and I'm guessing hotel for the structure itself.

[Tofu]

The buildings behind the construction make it look kind of central European; and I'm guessing hotel for the structure itself.

Good guess.

According to the site I got them from it's in the Radisson SAS Hotel in Berlin.

[zzzzdoc]

Good guess.

According to the site I got them from it's in the Radisson SAS Hotel in Berlin.
Saw an article on it today. It has an elevator in the middle.

"AquaDom, located inside Berlin's Radisson SAS (http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/feature-the-world-s-largest-cylindrical-fish-aquarium-stands-82-feet-tall-with-video-#) hotel, is touted as the world's largest cylindrical fish aquarium. It stands 82-feet tall, and houses 2600 fish of 56 species. Unlike other fish aquariums, this one has a built-in elevator"

[pdisme]

Saw an article on it today. It has an elevator in the middle.

"AquaDom, located inside Berlin's Radisson SAS (http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/feature-the-world-s-largest-cylindrical-fish-aquarium-stands-82-feet-tall-with-video-#) hotel, is touted as the world's largest cylindrical fish aquarium. It stands 82-feet tall, and houses 2600 fish of 56 species. Unlike other fish aquariums, this one has a built-in elevator"

You gonna restock yours now that the weather is cooling off?

[artherd]

Now that's ballin outta control!

[Pantera]

Now that's ballin outta control!

:stupid:

Just imagine how much it cost to have that thing cleaned and how much time it takes.:grinning-smiley-003

I would love to have one of those.

[Yeak]

The custom aquariums posted in this thread are some of the best out there.

The Silverfish Aquarium from Octopus Studios is one of the more unique free-standing aquariums you can purchase. I'm one of a few US distributors for the product if anyone wants more info.

http://www.ballerhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/cache/4591e4fe32e62761d9f12b6f510d7f1e.jpg

[Matt]

check this out!!

http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=afa_portfolio

[Tofu]

This is an alright size I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7deClndzQw

[abunawafff]

funny this thread should come up again today. i has just at this place today thaqt specializes in manufacturing custom tanks for salt water and especialy sharks.. and i think im going to take the plunj...and buy one... the one im looking at is a rectanglural about 5 or 6 meters long.. and about a little over a meter in hight... well i was quoted around $ 24000 for the tank... and full set up.. everything is conceled and and sound proof.. the syustem is under the tank.. and out of sight... and yess they will manage the whole thing for me at a reasonable price... what do you guys think. im having it put in my living room.. just waiting to meet with the engeneer so i can show him were i want it... the nset up i saw had about 5 sharks and a eal and some lion fish in it.. pluss the live coral and sand..

[BenNU]

That is awesome, send pics when done!

[Matt]

go for it buddy. I love aquariums. keep in mind live coral takes quite a while to get established.

[pdisme]

I would really love to have a huge kick ass aquarium but I can't find anyone locally I feel comfortable with maintaining it, because I know I would not be able to do it myself, I can't even take care of my own pool.

[zzzzdoc]

funny this thread should come up again today. i has just at this place today thaqt specializes in manufacturing custom tanks for salt water and especialy sharks.. and i think im going to take the plunj...and buy one... the one im looking at is a rectanglural about 5 or 6 meters long.. and about a little over a meter in hight... well i was quoted around $ 24000 for the tank... and full set up.. everything is conceled and and sound proof.. the syustem is under the tank.. and out of sight... and yess they will manage the whole thing for me at a reasonable price... what do you guys think. im having it put in my living room.. just waiting to meet with the engeneer so i can show him were i want it... the nset up i saw had about 5 sharks and a eal and some lion fish in it.. pluss the live coral and sand..
Depending on the equipment, that could be a very good price. If you don't mind me asking, which company?

[abunawafff]

its a local place here that just opened.. but thaey are afiliated with a place in malasia and singapore.. they even have a certefide engeneere who builds the tanks for you... im still not sure were i want the tank...undecided.. maby in the entrance hall or living room.. but i have a huge sound system i use regularly in the living room to im worried it might harm the tank.

[Matt]

I would really love to have a huge kick ass aquarium but I can't find anyone locally I feel comfortable with maintaining it, because I know I would not be able to do it myself, I can't even take care of my own pool.

plus you wouldn't be able to reach :lol2:

[zeeshan66]

i wouldn't mind a setup like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7deClndzQw&feature=channel_page

[BenNU]

When your aquarium has multiple whale sharks, your doing something right.

[FLNICK26]

When your aquarium has multiple whale sharks, your doing something right.

Agreed

[zeeshan66]

i didn't scroll up:fu:

[ddoninja]

friggin WOW..I saw a whale shark in an aquarium at Osaka and thought that was cool...this one is amazing!