Oregon Coast Temperate Setups.

AquaticEngineer wrote:

I'm planning on doing a 72"x20"x20" tank using 1" acrylic for the front pain and 1/2" for the back bottom and sides with insulation attached to those sides.

Sounds like fun, but if you are covering 4 of 5 acrylic sides with insulation... then why not just use plywood and resin with a glass front? Glass looks nicer and won't scratch. Your plan just seems harder than it needs to be without any of the advantages of acrylic. IMHO.

Don't want to mess with a dual pane glass front mostly. Its going to be in my living room so the reason I was going to do acrylic was mostly for aesthetic reasons since its clearer than glass.

The back wall is going to have a 72" coast to coast overflow on it with a closed loop running through it.

I'm not very familiar with building plywood and resin tanks, so I wasn't sure if I could incorporate all the features I wanted in a tank using it.

Oh.. I thought glass was clearer.

I only know of their construction in concept. But I imagine that if you used plywood, drilled the holes and then incerted whatever bulkheads and fittings you needed it should be no problem.

Here.. I JUST found this for you!

http://www.jonolavsakvarium.com/eng_diy/2200litre/2200litres.html

That is an awesome link to his tank build, thank you for posting that.

Its got me thinking about how I could use some of that in my tank build. The one thing that I really wanted to do was run the tank open top at a height that adults could stand over it and view it from above. I dont know if I could do that with a wood framed tank.

AquaticEngineer wrote: I dont know if I could do that with a wood framed tank.

Why not? you would certainly need some cross supports, but I imagine that to be the case. OR what if you put in a top panel that has the middle 80% cut out?

Trying to do it with no cross supports, at most I would want it euro braced. Thats why the more and more I think about it the more I may wait and save my money and do the whole tank in 1" and 3/4" so that it will be rigid enough to hold its shape without bracing.

Well I honestly just marked the first like half of this thread as read when I came back and with me reading up on equipment and stuff for the coming investment I cant say im willing to go back and read through. With that said I do have to ask, What is the appeal in looking at the tank top down? I always thought a tank for an adult standing view would have the bottom of the sand bed at say 5" 6" or 5' 9" off the ground. I personally dont see any appeal in looking down into the tank unless its designed in the floor. Otherwise it just seems like a weird point of view to me.

I'm going to have lots of tidal animals so viewing the anemones from above would be the coolest I think. Also the fact that I don't need light right on top of the tank leaves the top open for viewing. I'll probably put recessed lighting in the ceiling or walls or something.

I'll have an auto feeder on the tank, but I'll be feeding the anemones pretty much every other day and it'd be nice to not deal with a hood. Plus, who do you know that has a front viewable and top viewable coldwater aquarium?

AquaticEngineer wrote: Plus, who do you know that has a front viewable and top viewable coldwater aquarium?

Me

But any ripple on the surface really wrecks it in terms of viewability.

That was my point mike. Otherwise it sounds great. I guess youll just have to be really picky about flow.

Flow I have figured out, there will be a coast to coast overflow and all the returns will be below the waters surface. Everything on the surface of the water will be skimmed into the overflow and it will be such a wide overflow that the depth of the water going over it will be minimal to silence the tank better. Should result in a fairly viewable water surface.

Sounds good man. I was a bit curious as to how you had planned that out.

I've been messing around with google sketch, I've never used it before so its taking some time to get used to. Hopefully between getting something made up in google sketch, and building a small scale version of the tank, I should be able to work out the kinks before actually building it.

Well if you have any problems just ask man and il be glad to help you if I can. Preferably post in here so we have a future reference point for related questions though.

Your plan sounds good. Ive always wanted to look at a tank from the top, but ripples have always messed up my view. but your plan sounds good.

Picked these up today to go along with the one I already have set up.

So yes, that is three 110 gallon coldwater tanks I have now

I only needed one more of them, but the price was too good to pass up. They both need a little cleaning and some minor modifications like my current one to make them work for home aquariums. I've already done all the experimenting on the one I have running so I know exactly what to do with these ones.

Anyways, I'll probably be selling one soon if anyone is interested shoot me a PM.

Selling one?

I think you just need to hit the beach a couple more times!

Well, I'm selling one so that I can fund my display tank build for inside, I mean really, who needs 3 of these in their garage?

What about 3 in the living room? lol

You could use one as an octopus tank.

I figure 2 of these plumbed together will make for an excellent sump setup for my display tank when I get it build inside and plumbed through the wall and into the garage.

and you can keep an octopus in one!

Wow. Great deal!

I caught you looking at a tidepool tank on NR. Spill. c:

Thinking about going with a little smaller tank than originally planned for the indoor setup.

Ah, I see.

It looks like a nice tank though, I have to say. A bit expensive at $500...