Fish fan turns cellar into Britain's biggest home aquarium

 

When Jack Heathcote says his house is a bit of a dive, he couldn’t be prouder.

That's because he has converted the cellar of his five-bedroom house into Britain’s biggest domestic aquarium.

The 37-year-old, who lives in the Carlton district of Nottingham, has created a private underwater world in the basement of his five-bedroom home, filled with exotic species usually only seen in such far-flung corners of the world as the Amazon and Congo.

The tropical haven, complete with viewing window, lies directly underneath the living room of Jack's red-brick Edwardian property. And at 12ft 6in x 12ft 8in x 7ft, it is the same size as the room above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It is so large - arguably the largest privately owned aquarium in Britain - that Jack has to dive in himself once a fortnight to clean it.And the salsa teacher has admitted he does not own a TV, claiming he doesn't need one as he prefers to watch the sea creatures swimming instead. Jack, who has been fascinated by fish since a trip to a Blackpool aquarium when he was ten years old, said, 'My hobby's not only taken over my life, it's taken over my home. But I love it!'It is not the first time he has added an aquatic feature to his living quarters. In his previous home, he built an indoor tropical pond which he filled with 12 stingrays. When it came time to selling the house, two estate agents felt that the pond would hinder sales, but a third disagreed - and using the pond as a feature, the property was sold.Jack and his former girlfriend bought his present home with the intention of turning the cellar into one massive fish tank.Three of the walls of the tank are the foundation walls of the house and a large section of floor was removed by the bay window to allow access. Downstairs a wall of glass has replaced the brick wall, and behind it are some of the largest fish kept in captivity. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'I had to do some pretty accurate calculations, especially when you consider the amount of water behind the glass,' Jack said.'When it's full there's around 4,800 gallons in the tank and I'm on a meter! Each water change sees up to 1,200 gallons being taken out and then replace and even with my high pressure hose, it takes six hours to re-fill.'Jack paid just £700 for the glass panels and £800 for the fibreglass lining, adding that the tank cost him £5,000 in total to build. He has also stuck to simple decoration in the tank, which includes large, smooth boulders along with the branches of a damson tree which he chopped in half.The tank is an L-shape from front to back, meaning that the space immediately behind the bay window is 7ft deep, while the rest of the floor space is subdivided by a ledge that used to be the foundation for the window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Admiring the view: Jack said that he does not own a TV in his Nottingham home as he watches the fish tank instead.

 

 

JACK'S TANK BY NUMBERS

 

Measures 12ft 6in x 12ft 8in x 7ft.

Contains 4,800 gallons of water.

Cost: £5,000 for tank, £700 for glass, £800 for fibreglass lining... and high electricity bills.

Holds two chainsaw doradids, three 2ft long Pacus, some Pangasius, a Red tail hybrid catfish, two alligator gars, eight enormous stingrays and two Fly River turtles

... and it takes 30 minutes to feed them.