I know I ramble a bit (I'm kind of the stereotypical blond, I've given up on trying to change), and my original post was apparently too long to be 'valid' (lol...), so I'll break it up a bit. This first post is mostly background, feel free to skip it if you're easily bored by stuff like this.

So we were going to build a walipini (in-ground greenhouse) and set up an aquaponics system there. That's still a likely scenario, especially if we do well with what I'm going to outline here. However, hubby wants to start working toward setting up NOW so we've been talking about using one of our bedrooms for this, as our daughter is all but moved out at this point.

With both of us gung-ho on the project, we don't have to worry about appearing crazy to each other (our families are a different story, lol), so we don't want to start small. We first were looking at IBC totes, then gave that up when we realized we wouldn't be able to fit them in the room. So we went to the tank idea...and after bemoaning the fact that we just COULDN'T fit all the grow beds in our house for what we wanted, we downsized our original tank to just under 1000 gallons. Still spills into the living room (maybe 'spills' is a bad choice of words...) but not too intrusive, and I don't have a problem with the size & scope as long as it's a) safe, and b) aesthetically pleasing. Yes, 'pretty' matters, at least inside my home

Our house is on a concrete slab foundation, by the way...there is no way we could do this otherwise. I'm actually a little concerned with the weight on even this kind of foundation, even though it's technically 'strong enough', so if any of you have any input on that I'd appreciate it. Hubby's a cabinet maker, and we've been researching how to build tanks for strength, so while I'm determined to be careful (leaks from a tank that size would be disastrous), I am confident we can construct a safe, reliable container for our fish. Grow beds too.