4300 Gallon Plywood Build (3600+ Take 2)

[nolapete]

The grill holes are 3/32" and unlikely any fish of size will get sucked up. Not really concerned about fry in that tank though.

Weekend didn't work out for the test fill. Bought some fittings today to set up temporary plumping to test fill with. Too hot to do anything right now. I just cut the front yard which is 90% shaded and I felt like I was going to pass out.

 

[Redearsunfish]

May I ask, have you ever considered, even for a fleeting/passing moment, to have the tank house a multitude of smaller fish, like an amazonian biotype? Just curious

 

[nolapete]

The only thing I considered doing was putting 1000 cardinals since a friend could get a box lot price really cheap on them. Not going to do that. Just want to get all the fish I have in the tank, have it up and running and get to thinking about the rest of the stock later.

Worked on some of the plumbing. Still not settled on the plumbing out the door. Probably will figure out what I want to do sometime before I leave work tomorrow. There's some cheap flexible hose, actually flat rubber hose that could work. Just need to figure out the fittings if I do that. My problem is that I don't want to have the back door open the entire time I'm test filling the tank.

 

[epond83]

Water company is going to think there is a pipe leaking when you do a total fill!

 

[nolapete]

I recently filled up the swimming pool and it's 2000 gallons more capacity than the tank.

Received the Uniseals from AquaticEco and the equivalent of aquatic porn; their 2010 master catalog!

 

[nolapete]

Uniseals installed on one of the drum filters. Love these things. So many filter projects are made extremely simple with them.

Capped three of the drains with rubber end caps.

Thanks to the pump I got from Necroanis I have the solution to my emergency drain strategy for the test fill. Not that I think I'll need it, but hey you know that Murphy guy shows up when you least expect it.

Plumbed up temp pipe to exit outside.

Plan is to take of the grill for the one drain I'll be using and cap it with a temp plug in the end of a piece of 2" pipe. This will keep the outside drain from filling.

When ready to drain, I open the door, loosen the rubber union, then position the pipe outside. Then I get in the tank, uncap the drain, hook up the pump to it, get out of the tank, plug it in and voila 5K gph out the door.

In a few of the pics there's the plumbing with the 45, Y, and 90. One for each drain. The Y and the 90 on the bottom are the sediment trap entry.

 

[zennzzo]

 

[Redearsunfish]

I can only dream about a tank like this... maybe one day.

 

[Malawi Monster]

Incredible build! Very impressive!

 

[Diskboy12]

Sweet build you have going, keep it coming!