Retiring my old river tank and New River tank plans.

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:28 am

Martin hit on something. I could silicone the quartered bucket pieces into place. Then I could frame out the tank with some oak plywood so that we don't see the the bucket pieces from the front. Or maybe get a black bucket to blend in with the island and the background I use.

rich · Post by **rich** » Thu May 24, 2007 4:01 am

How about a piece of thin acrylic glas, a bit preformed with hot air/water on a round object?

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:23 pm

That's a good idea. I'll probably try that out if Plan-A don't work.

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Fri May 25, 2007 6:45 pm

The new tank can hold water.

The Island goes in next.

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Sat May 26, 2007 2:45 am

Have the island in the tank now. I'm tired, so I'll refill the tank later.

loachmom · Post by **loachmom** » Sat May 26, 2007 4:45 am

Wow! You were certainly burning the 'after midnight' oil! Good Job!

ckk125 · Post by **ckk125** » Sat May 26, 2007 5:12 am

Im not try to offend anyone here...

But the acrylic looks a little bit too thin..

Thicker=expensive but better and more durable..

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Sat May 26, 2007 2:17 pm

Chen- The acrylic is 3/8" thick and the tank is 16" high. The height of the tank determines the pressure that will be on the joints. It's Cell Cast Acrylic also, which is a very high grade compared to extruded acrylics.

I have a program for determining safety factors for aquariums.

The side seams on this tank have a safety factor of about 13. So that's 13x the strength that is actually needed before joint reaches failure.
The bottom seam has a safety factor of 5.6.

Most commercial aquariums only have a safety factor of around 3.

Enough talk. Time for me to fill the tank again.

Graeme Robson · Post by **Graeme Robson** » Sat May 26, 2007 2:26 pm

Nice work Keith!! It's coming along nicely!

TeeCeeJay · Post by **TeeCeeJay** » Sat May 26, 2007 3:18 pm

Congrats on getting this far Keith. I can't wait to see it when it is populated!

In that last photo, has the tank got a clear lid on or is it just the angle of the shot?

TC

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Sat May 26, 2007 5:18 pm

Thanks all.
TC- The tank has center braces bolted in. They weren't bolted in during that pic because with them on I couldn't put the island in the tank. The tank does have 2" perimeter bracing also.

Update-

When filling the tank back up with water, to my surprise the island started floating when the tank was about half full. I put a few buckets of sand in the center of the island to weight it down (Thanks Bell for that great idea). I didn't have enough sand though, so I wedged some rocks between the island and the center braces.

Pics-

The tank is full now.

I ended up putting in the bucket quarters in each corner. It works and it was free.

I got the water pumps running now too.
This is turning out great. I'm so happy.
Here' a movie of the water flow-
Click here to watch New-river-tank-demo

I'll have More for you all later- I have a Texas Hold-em game to goto now.

shari2 · Post by **shari2** » Sat May 26, 2007 5:33 pm

The circular flow look perfect. Nice and fast at the backside too. You may never see your flow loving fishes again.

Graeme Robson · Post by **Graeme Robson** » Sat May 26, 2007 6:54 pm

Nice to see the duck and bunny molds are still around.

Emma Turner · Post by **Emma Turner** » Sat May 26, 2007 7:01 pm

The tank is looking fabulous, and your fish are going to love that circular flow. Very cool!

Emma

loachmom · Post by **loachmom** » Sat May 26, 2007 9:46 pm

It is very exciting to watch this tank take shape. It's going to be wonderful!

Loaches Online Forum

Retiring my old river tank and New River tank plans.

Who is online

Go to page

About us