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I have a 4 feet by 6 feet hole newly introduced on one of my walls. This wall in particular, separates the foyer and the drawing rooms in my house. I have mentally worked out a plan to use this hole for a couple of needs, such as placing my TV, and some books may be. Now, I have a left out space of 3.5 feet by 3 feet (thickness of the wall is 1 feet including the projection slabs) where I think it is appropriate to place a planted aquarium. Here is a representational image of what I'm planning to do. The blue box is the proposed aquarium.

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Notice that, there will be view from both sides of the aquarium.

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Here is the view from the other angle.

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The approximate measurement of the aquarium will be 106h X 95w X 30d (all in centimetres).

I have no experience whatsoever in this domain. So I would like expert opinion on the following questions.

My Questions

  • How viable is such a project? (Alternate opinions also welcome)
  • Is it possible to build this tank leak proof and without additional structural support given the large height requirement?
  • How difficult and practical it is to build a double sided aquarium?
  • How costly this project will be approx? (I'm living in India)
  • My plan is to put very tiny fishes, in small numbers (like 3-4 guppies). What species should I look for?
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    FYI that's about a 300 Liter (79 Gallon) aquarium. Which, if I calculated right, would weigh about 365 Kilograms (800 Pounds). So you're going to want to make sure your shelf (and the wall underneath) can support that.
    – Spidercat
    Commented Sep 15, 2016 at 14:45
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    Question on diy.stackexchange: How can I estimate the load capacity of a set of shelves?
    – Spidercat
    Commented Sep 15, 2016 at 14:48
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    @Spidercat Yes, the beam and the bottom slabs are planned to be done with re-inforced concrete. Thanks for noticing it.
    – C--
    Commented Sep 15, 2016 at 14:48
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    The height of your tank might be a problem. First of all you'll have to get some strong lights above your aquarium to get enough light to the bottom for your plants, or make sure you only get plants which are easy to keep and don't need much light. Also maintenance will be trickier. It will be harder to get to the bottom of the tank (unless you have really long arms). On your plan I also don't see any space for your filter. And 3-4 guppies will become 70 guppies in a couple of weeks (unless you only get females). Neon/Kardinal tetra's are also nice & small.
    – Diether
    Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 14:25
  • Points taken. What kind of lighting solutions are suggested for aquatic plants? And I assume, I can fit the filters on the sides since I have space just below the TV. Regarding cleaning, you are right. I think I should consider limiting the height to something like 90cm, although I have long arms.
    – C--
    Commented Sep 17, 2016 at 3:13

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