Retiring my old river tank and New River tank plans.
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Thanks all.
Without LOL I never would of been inspired to build such a river type set-up. I remember back about 4 or 5 years ago, it seems, when I read Martins river tank article, "a river runs through it". I purchased the same powerheads and built a manifold for my old clown loach river tank. My clowns loved that tank alot. They've been without it for about 6 months now. So it will be nice to see them be able to stretch out there fins when this new tank is ready for them. I hope this tank gives them some more security and privacy also. We'll see.
My main concern now is the concrete island. I won't add any fish to this tank until the concrete is sealed. I've heard from a very reputable fish keeper that nitrifying bacteria will seal the concrete and keep it from leaching any bad stuff. I don't know this 1st hand though. If this is true, I estimate that it will take about 2-4 weeks for the tank and island to cycle. The island with all it's surface area and high water flow will provide alot of biofiltration, I think.
Without LOL I never would of been inspired to build such a river type set-up. I remember back about 4 or 5 years ago, it seems, when I read Martins river tank article, "a river runs through it". I purchased the same powerheads and built a manifold for my old clown loach river tank. My clowns loved that tank alot. They've been without it for about 6 months now. So it will be nice to see them be able to stretch out there fins when this new tank is ready for them. I hope this tank gives them some more security and privacy also. We'll see.
My main concern now is the concrete island. I won't add any fish to this tank until the concrete is sealed. I've heard from a very reputable fish keeper that nitrifying bacteria will seal the concrete and keep it from leaching any bad stuff. I don't know this 1st hand though. If this is true, I estimate that it will take about 2-4 weeks for the tank and island to cycle. The island with all it's surface area and high water flow will provide alot of biofiltration, I think.
Right now, it's just a xls program I wrote. I hope to write a web version of this program this summer. I wrote it so that I could make multiple comparisons of various thicknesses of Plate Glass, Tempered Glass, and Cell Cast Acrylic.Curtis wrote:What program do you use for your tank safety calculations?
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Keith Wolcott
- Posts: 720
- Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2007 1:49 pm
- Location: Charleston, Illinois USA
That is going to be one very, very nice river tank. Well done.
The video of the current in your tank is great. How many and which power heads are pushing the current? Did you do the current demonstration before you put in the quarter buckets in the corners? I am just wondering how necessary they are or if the flow will go around pretty well without them.
Would you be willing to post your excel file of your tank safety program? Since I am working on the details of a larger tank, this would be very helpful.
You have a lot of experience with acrylic. What is your opinion of acrylic versus glass? The weight and expense of glass is certainly a problem, but I am worried about scratches on the acrylic when cleaning (especially because of a sand substrate). Have you had problems with scratches?
Again, your tank is really nice.
Keith W.
The video of the current in your tank is great. How many and which power heads are pushing the current? Did you do the current demonstration before you put in the quarter buckets in the corners? I am just wondering how necessary they are or if the flow will go around pretty well without them.
Would you be willing to post your excel file of your tank safety program? Since I am working on the details of a larger tank, this would be very helpful.
You have a lot of experience with acrylic. What is your opinion of acrylic versus glass? The weight and expense of glass is certainly a problem, but I am worried about scratches on the acrylic when cleaning (especially because of a sand substrate). Have you had problems with scratches?
Again, your tank is really nice.
Keith W.
Thanks Keith.
The demo was with the curved quarter buckets installed.
I just tried a demo without the curved corners, and I'll be damned, the circular flow is almost as good. The only difference is that there's alot more eddies whirling around the tank with the current. There is an eddie in each corner also. I think I might go without the curved corners for now.
The file for my material thickness calculator can be downloaded here-
http://www.geocities.com/chefkeithallen ... wizard.xls
I got the formula for safety factor from-
http://www.fnzas.org.nz/articles/techni ... _complete/
You can modify the tensil and elasticity properties in the function page if you know those specific numbers of the material you're working with.
Acrylic vs Glass. I've haven't had problems with scratches on my acrylic tanks. Probably because they have all been low light and never had any algae growth on the front viewing window. All my planted tanks with good lighting are made of glass though. I wouldn't want to have to scrape algae off of an acrylic tank regularly. That's asking for trouble.
The demo was with the curved quarter buckets installed.
I just tried a demo without the curved corners, and I'll be damned, the circular flow is almost as good. The only difference is that there's alot more eddies whirling around the tank with the current. There is an eddie in each corner also. I think I might go without the curved corners for now.
The file for my material thickness calculator can be downloaded here-
http://www.geocities.com/chefkeithallen ... wizard.xls
I got the formula for safety factor from-
http://www.fnzas.org.nz/articles/techni ... _complete/
You can modify the tensil and elasticity properties in the function page if you know those specific numbers of the material you're working with.
Acrylic vs Glass. I've haven't had problems with scratches on my acrylic tanks. Probably because they have all been low light and never had any algae growth on the front viewing window. All my planted tanks with good lighting are made of glass though. I wouldn't want to have to scrape algae off of an acrylic tank regularly. That's asking for trouble.
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Keith Wolcott
- Posts: 720
- Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2007 1:49 pm
- Location: Charleston, Illinois USA
ChefKeith- Thanks for trying the flow demo without the curved corners. I was interested since I have a strong circular flow in my tank but do not have the curved corners.
Also, thanks for the material thickness calculator. Nicely done. It has given me some much better information than I had previously concerning the glass thickness that I will use for my tank. I also appreciate the link which talks about the formula for the safety factor.
Is this new tank going to have water bridges to the other tanks?
Also, thanks for the material thickness calculator. Nicely done. It has given me some much better information than I had previously concerning the glass thickness that I will use for my tank. I also appreciate the link which talks about the formula for the safety factor.
Is this new tank going to have water bridges to the other tanks?
You're welcome Keith.
I'lll probably add a deflection % to the program also because I'm afraid people will abuse the safety factor when building oversized tanks. There is a loophole in the formula. The bottom safety factor stays the same, if the Length/Width ratio stays the same. I should also change the tensile strength of tempered glass to only 2x stronger than plate glass. (A few people are wanting to build 8ft x 4ft x 4ft plywood tanks with tempered glass based on this safety factor, this has me worried because not all tempered glass is 4x stronger than plate glass).
Yes, I'll have a waterbridge going to this new tank. I need to raise the other stands about 6" 1st. I want more space underneath all the stands now.
I'lll probably add a deflection % to the program also because I'm afraid people will abuse the safety factor when building oversized tanks. There is a loophole in the formula. The bottom safety factor stays the same, if the Length/Width ratio stays the same. I should also change the tensile strength of tempered glass to only 2x stronger than plate glass. (A few people are wanting to build 8ft x 4ft x 4ft plywood tanks with tempered glass based on this safety factor, this has me worried because not all tempered glass is 4x stronger than plate glass).
Yes, I'll have a waterbridge going to this new tank. I need to raise the other stands about 6" 1st. I want more space underneath all the stands now.
The day has finally arrived. I moved some fish over to the new tank. Staring at an empty tank these last 3 weeks has been grueling.
I moved 4 tetra's and 8 clowns to the new tank. The tetra's seem to be enjoying the river current, but the clowns just went straight to the cave to hide. I'll try to get some pic's of the clowns when they venture out. I hope they don't sulk long.
I got some pic's of the tetras though.
Here's some pic's of the tank. I'm using some real nice quartz pool filter sand.
Here's the whole tank. I don't have the hood built yet. For now I'm just using an old hood, glass tops, and styrofoam sheets.
Wait, I just saw some clowns peaking out! I'll keep watching for them and try to get some pic's.
I moved 4 tetra's and 8 clowns to the new tank. The tetra's seem to be enjoying the river current, but the clowns just went straight to the cave to hide. I'll try to get some pic's of the clowns when they venture out. I hope they don't sulk long.
I got some pic's of the tetras though.
Here's some pic's of the tank. I'm using some real nice quartz pool filter sand.
Here's the whole tank. I don't have the hood built yet. For now I'm just using an old hood, glass tops, and styrofoam sheets.
Wait, I just saw some clowns peaking out! I'll keep watching for them and try to get some pic's.
The small clown was the first to venture out up front.
Like shari predicted, the clowns are enjoying the flow ALOT behind the island near the pump. Here they are near the pump.
They are all getting use to this tank really fast. I think they already forgot about getting chased and netted by me. They are all up front as I type.
Like shari predicted, the clowns are enjoying the flow ALOT behind the island near the pump. Here they are near the pump.
They are all getting use to this tank really fast. I think they already forgot about getting chased and netted by me. They are all up front as I type.
You must be thrilled to have them in there finally.Who is online
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