18' x 9' x 3.5' catfish tank build in progress.....

[nitrofish1]

I'll have to do some research. I just know that fiberglass resin has to stick to it. Also some food for thought. I was thinking of using one end of the aquarium as an internal filter. After adding the partition the filter part would be around 500 gals vol., and the tank portion would be closer to 3000 gals. These would be based on the new inside measurements. I'll have to do a sketchup of exactly what I'm thinking, but might help me save some space as with the tank pulled 3' from the wall and measuring 9' from front to back I'm reduced in space by 12', and I'm not sure I can park a car in my garage anymore with the tank that far out. Would also give me more room for my future tank projects. When it's all said and done the garage should have a 3-4k tank, 1200 gal tank, and a 500 gal tank.

I think the tank will look a lil smoother if pushed against the wall and had an internal filter. Could also just make it a filter on each end going about half the depth from front to back. Leaving about 18" of walking room behind the aquarium for maintenance. With the barrel filter system design I'd have to walk on top of the aquarium to get to the filters. So with the behind the filter barrel system the filter will have around 300ish gal capacity with a 3700-4000 gal aquarium, but if I do the internal sump idea it will be 500 gal capacity with around 3000-3200 gal capacity aquarium. All ideas are welcome. The barrels just seem like a pain, and if I do the internal ones I can custom make each chamber to my specifications.

ultima pond filter would cover your entire ponds filtration needs

 

[necrocanis]

Anyone ever use this stuff?


Features:

• Acrylic Gap Filler Sealant for Laminate & Hardwood Floors • Perfect For Filling Gaps Between the Floor and Skirt Boards, Tile & Stone, Entrys, and Fireplaces • Odorless with Minimal Shrinkage • Flexible and Solvent Free, Gap Filler Can Be Coated Over • Excellent for Transition and Difficult Areas, Gap Filler is the Perfect Fit

 

[necrocanis]

ultima pond filter would cover your entire ponds filtration needs

lol,

a) are you buying it for me?

b) doesn't help the space needs

c) will it still cover my entire pond's filtration needs when all the fish are fully grown and the total mass of all the fish is around 500 lbs? Being fed around 10-20 lbs daily. If it can great, but the price tag on the one needed for this pond is out of the question. Unless, again, you decide to buy it for me! hehehe

 

[cnoel08]

lol,

a) are you buying it for me?

b) doesn't help the space needs

c) will it still cover my entire pond's filtration needs when all the fish are fully grown and the total mass of all the fish is around 500 lbs? Being fed around 10-20 lbs daily. If it can great, but the price tag on the one needed for this pond is out of the question. Unless, again, you decide to buy it for me! hehehe

maybe you could take up donations and everyone subscribed to this thread could send u $2 lol

 

[necrocanis]

maybe you could take up donations and everyone subscribed to this thread could send u $2 lol

That might be a lot of cash, but I think everyone unsubscribed as it was getting way off track there for a while!

 

[nitrofish1]

even id like it if someone sent me one of those lol, id turn my garage parking space into a pond for sure

 

[necrocanis]

Thinking something like this on each side of the tank. There's a few things i'd have to work out and the measurements on this are not exact or final by any means. I made it look like glass so that you could see everything. It would actually be 3/4" plywood box. Let me know some ideas here. You can see the sump has a shaft that goes to the bottom of the tank for suctioning off the bottom, and also a slot on the top for removing floating waste. It would then travel through some sort of mechanical media for dirt removal, and out into the large area, that would be filled with scrubbies, and several air discs to help promote bacteria growth. After that it would overflow into the last chamber where the pump would sit and discharge back into the tank. There would be one on each side of the tank mirroring each other. Would give me roughly 400 gals filter capacity. Sound good? Give me some feed back on potential no, no's here. Don't have any expirience with making internal sumps.

 

[cnoel08]

are you going to have strong current in the tank? prob not right?
if not then you might want some pipes w/ holes running along the bottom to get junk off of the bottom throughout the tank. the main problems i can see w/ this is 1) the amount of suction required to make it across your tank and 2) the suction sucking up your sub if you have any and it is light...

you know what im saying?

 

[necrocanis]

yeah, I was thinking of going with medium sized river stone about 4" deep and making a custom RUGF system for it. If I did that I would eliminate the need for the bottom exstension of it. The plan for it for now is 2 5000 gph pumps to start with and adding a third eventually, and maybe some powerheads for dead spots. Would start off just running the rugf and one of the filters. This is how I will keep costs down for a while. I won't be able to afford another pump, or scrubbies enough to fill the second one for a while. Thanks for the info!

 

[necrocanis]

So to start with since my actual gallonage will be around 3500-3600 with this type filter I will have 10,000 gph turnover or roughly 2.5x turnover rate for starters. After I add the third pump it will be around 4x turnover per hour. That's better than the turnover rates I have on some of my smaller tanks lol.