early stage design of my DIY around the corner 400 US gallon aquarium

[Raven1645]

This is an early stage design of my DIY around the corner 400 US gallon aquarium.

It hasn't fully got the right proportions. The fish in there are the fish I'm planning on taking:

Brown banded bamboo shark
Snowflake eel
Emperor angelfish
Some picasso surgeonfishes
Black and white sailfin (forgot the real name in English, not shown in pic)
The snapper I will most likely not add because it's rather big and (no offence) ugly.

I will update the pic with the right equipment soon.


Please share your thoughts!

 

[Tabasco1]

Very cool concept! Emporers are my fav of all time fish. One day! Do you have the aquarium finished yet or is it being buil? Do you have another tank that you are upgrading from or will this be your first marine tank? Go big or go home! This will be a fun thread to follow!

 

[CJO]

Sweet idea. I assume you're going acrylic?

Go big or go home!

Says the girl with the cube?!

CJ

 

[JackoChang]

Sweet idea. There is a local guy with a similar tank, his is ~1200 gal. He uses closed loop system for flow. Just wanted to share some ideas. I can get you build thread links if you'd like.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Electrobes]

Man I wanna see the equipment running this tank, take pics! I take it it's going to be a fish only system? If so at least that's a whole lot less wiring and electricity!

 

[Troylee]

cool tank and great design but awfully small for a shark imho....

 

[Electrobes]

cool tank and great design but awfully small for a shark imho....

I've seen it done, but I do agree with troy, I don;t think it will thrive in that size tank.

 

[Raven1645]

Very cool concept! Emporers are my fav of all time fish. One day! Do you have the aquarium finished yet or is it being buil? Do you have another tank that you are upgrading from or will this be your first marine tank? Go big or go home! This will be a fun thread to follow!

I'll be building this from scratch and I haven't started yet
This is kind of the 'impression' drawing, I'll soon add sizes, equipment, etc to it.

 

[Raven1645]

Sweet idea. I assume you're going acrylic?



Says the girl with the cube?!

CJ

Actually going with polycarbonate.
Similiar but stronger. This is just because I happen to have alot of polycarbonate sellers near that could provide me with it at a cheaper price than acrylic or glass.

 

[Raven1645]

Sweet idea. There is a local guy with a similar tank, his is ~1200 gal. He uses closed loop system for flow. Just wanted to share some ideas. I can get you build thread links if you'd like.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Please do, I'd love to see those!

 

[Raven1645]

Man I wanna see the equipment running this tank, take pics! I take it it's going to be a fish only system? If so at least that's a whole lot less wiring and electricity!

I'll try to add equipment to the picture this afternoon. Haven't got pics as this is just the plan, I haven't got anything else yet, not even materials!

 

[Raven1645]

I've seen it done, but I do agree with troy, I don;t think it will thrive in that size tank.

I've spent atleast 10 hours of my life trying to find everything (especially size of the tank required) about this shark, because I'm one of those people who just has to have it after he's seen it.

Chiloscyllium punctatum requires a 180 gallon aquarium minimum. Because it's very slender it can turn almost on the spot and doesn't require an aquarium as deep (not height) as other sharks of its size.

Trust me on this one, it's big enough.
I'd be willing to pay alot extra if i knew everything wasn't to satisfaction for this shark.

 

[CJO]

Actually going with polycarbonate.
Similiar but stronger. This is just because I happen to have alot of polycarbonate sellers near that could provide me with it at a cheaper price than acrylic or glass.

I'm not familiar with that (beyond its name). How do you join it? How scratch resistant is it?

Thanks,
CJ

 

[Raven1645]

I'm not familiar with that (beyond its name). How do you join it? How scratch resistant is it?

Thanks,
CJ

It's comparable to acrylic on every point except strength. It's 250 times stronger than glass an thus unbreakable.
If you search youtube for 'acrylic vs polycarbonate' there is a video that shows the strength of the polycarbonate. It's quite amusing, especially if you like gauge shotguns .

Best way to join it is with silicone kit, but stuff like bison kit can also be used (but is more visible and toxic, so not recommended for aquarium use).
It's not very scratch resistant (about the same as acrylic) so care should be taken with metal objects (so no glass-algea scraper for example).

It has about 85% light puncture (so more than glass but slightly less than acrylic).

The reason it's not often seen in aquarium use is due its price. I can get it very cheap though because one of the main lexan (biggest producer of polycarbonate) factories is near, so my local DIY shop can get it quite cheaply.

 

[Electrobes]

Wait doesn't polycarbonate absorb water? I thought unless it was coated that it caused some craze and yellowing within?

 

[fsu1dolfan]

Cool concept and i love the idea for a wrap around tank. Looking forward to progression shots!

 

[Raven1645]

Wait doesn't polycarbonate absorb water? I thought unless it was coated that it caused some craze and yellowing within?

The yellowing is from uv light, but the ones I'm buying are with a uv coating.
Never heard of it absorbing water though, I'll look that up.

 

[Raven1645]

Cool concept and i love the idea for a wrap around tank. Looking forward to progression shots!

Thanks!

 

[Raven1645]

Wait doesn't polycarbonate absorb water? I thought unless it was coated that it caused some craze and yellowing within?

Your words Got me to change the plans quite drastically!
I did some more research on the polycarbonate and found out that the uv coating will only last for 3 years max.
I don't want my tank to turn yellow so I must take another material. The options are quite clear, acrylic or glass.

My nearby DIY store sells acrylic, 10mm thick for only €30 ($45) per square meter. However this might not be thick enough.
Could someone please tell me whether it's thick enoug or not?
The tank will be 85cm high and the longest panel is 205 cm. Don't forget the strong wooden frame.

If this acrylic won't work out I'll probably go with glass.

Can anyone help me here?

 

[Electrobes]

Yeah the only reason why I mentioned it is because my Dad works with Acrylic and Polycarbonate. I once asked him about using polycarbonate and years ago he told me only if I coated it.