Fish Story Aquarium and Rescue, Naples, FL; two 4500 gal 13'x13'x4.5'
- Thread starter thebiggerthebetter
- Start date
wednesday13
It seems on some catfish the spine points remain very sharp, e.g. indian shovelnose and firewood.I am thinking at the moment that my only simple but high risk approach is to hang the rubber liner only covering the vertical walls and a little lower where the walls meet the bottom, hoping that the tenants wouldn't puncture the bottom and let the waste flow towards the pumps along the bottom, as it does now, and collect on the matt over the shower tower filter, which I vacuum regularly.
On the emptying the pond and concreting... One big con is that the 45ft acrylic homemade window is only 3/4 inch thick and it is an experiment and IDK when or if it fails. It bows in some places a lot and has been developing crazing and IDK how well, if at all, it could handle the inevitable run-ins and blows from 50lb-100lb arapaima, paroons, other monsters. So going all this trouble of concreting the exhibit just to have to replace, or repair, or reinforce the window relatively soon or having to rebuild the whole tank anyway relatively soon seems counterproductive. A cheap and easy way out for now may be warranted. But it's a gamble. IDK. Really.
What would you say? Protect the walls by a rubber liner curtain, close your eyes and step off at the deep end? Of let it be as it is and do NOT put spiny fish in the 25K - better safe than sorry?
thebiggerthebetter
tough debate here across the board my friend. 3/4” acrylic is still pretty strong. I do like the liner curtain idea around the sides. Similiar to using the 6-8’ wide strips like i was saying. Keeps it a bit more manageable to physically get it in there and weight it down somewhat flat. The paroons and arapaima do pose their own problem of possibly hitting the window too hard. “If it aint broke don’t fix it” comes to mind also. Personally, id probably just leave it as is and work towards finishing the 10k gal all acrylic tank. Would solve both problems of keeping the spined fish off the liner and also open another option for the paroons and arapaima to have a “final” home in. How far off are you on the 10k build?
wednesday13
You are a God sent, Russ, to me. Sincerely.3/4” acrylic is still pretty strong.
***If you saw how 2 out of the 5 main panels (9ft x 3.5ft x 3/4" strongly reinforced by strips along entire perimeter building it up to 3" acrylic; the panels are glued together inside and out by other two 2ft-wide panels) bow out, about 1"-1.5" at the center of the 9 ft span, it might have made you nervous
I do like the liner curtain idea around the sides. Similiar to using the 6-8’ wide strips like i was saying. Keeps it a bit more manageable to physically get it in there and weight it down somewhat flat.
***In your picture I thought you meant laying the strips across the length covering both bottom and sidewalls, no?
***There should be no need to weight down epdm liner, it's heavy by itself, no? I didn't plan to weight down the curtain but let it hang freely along the sidewalls.
The paroons and arapaima do pose their own problem of possibly hitting the window too hard.
***They hit really hard!!! They broke and continue breaking the jumbo 4500 gal fiberglass seams, the whole tank shakes and reverberates from even a mild hit. I think this hitting ability and propensity of theirs is badly missed by people like me and others. Overbuilt fiberglass 4500 gal (Dolphin Fiberglass, 8ftx4ftx2.5" acrylic window, thick 0.5inch fiberglass reinforced with embedded 2x6 boards on all 3 sides) is NOT strong enough to house 4ft paroons, 5ft piraiba, and 5ft arapaima IME.
“If it aint broke don’t fix it” comes to mind also. Personally, id probably just leave it as is and work towards finishing the 10k gal all acrylic tank. Would solve both problems of keeping the spined fish off the liner and also open another option for the paroons and arapaima to have a “final” home in. How far off are you on the 10k build?
***You are forgetting the 10K is also an exercise and experiment in cheapness. It's made with 3/8inch acrylic, it's just an acrylic skin in a wooden box. Good only for non-banging giants. Plus it is too small for the arapaima for sure. I only have to glue the 10ftx5.5ftx2" front panel, plumb, think through how I'd like to filter it and how to have it self cleaning the detritus.
Ahh, ur too kind Vik… im just tryin to help the cause. I have similar, but much smaller problems by scale lol… My largest tank is also a liner. Theres always that looming worry of failure by placing the wrong inhabitant inside it. Id like to add my Aethiopicus in mine. I know 1 chomp on a fold and its over. Sadly, every option/style of build can fail when it comes to tanks. Had no idea the large cats are what broke ur big fiberglass tank. I remember you repairing the bottom seam with gold label. I asked about the 10k to kinda see where Ur thoughts were for the pimas final placement also. Makes sense theyd need to stay in the 25k.
3/4” acrylic is still pretty strong.
***If you saw how 2 out of the 5 main panels (9ft x 3.5ft x 3/4" strongly reinforced by strips along entire perimeter building it up to 3" acrylic; the panels are glued together inside and out by other two 2ft-wide panels) bow out, about 1"-1.5" at the center of the 9 ft span, it might have made you nervous
I do like the liner curtain idea around the sides. Similiar to using the 6-8’ wide strips like i was saying. Keeps it a bit more manageable to physically get it in there and weight it down somewhat flat.
***In your picture I thought you meant laying the strips across the length covering both bottom and sidewalls, no?
***There should be no need to weight down epdm liner, it's heavy by itself, no? I didn't plan to weight down the curtain but let it hang freely along the sidewalls.
The paroons and arapaima do pose their own problem of possibly hitting the window too hard.
***They hit really hard!!! They broke and continue breaking the jumbo 4500 gal fiberglass seams, the whole tank shakes and reverberates from even a mild hit. I think this hitting ability and propensity of theirs is badly missed by people like me and others. Overbuilt fiberglass 4500 gal (Dolphin Fiberglass, 8ftx4ftx2.5" acrylic window, thick 0.5inch fiberglass reinforced with embedded 2x6 boards on all 3 sides) is NOT strong enough to house 4ft paroons, 5ft piraiba, and 5ft arapaima IME.
“If it aint broke don’t fix it” comes to mind also. Personally, id probably just leave it as is and work towards finishing the 10k gal all acrylic tank. Would solve both problems of keeping the spined fish off the liner and also open another option for the paroons and arapaima to have a “final” home in. How far off are you on the 10k build?
***You are forgetting the 10K is also an exercise and experiment in cheapness. It's made with 3/8inch acrylic, it's just an acrylic skin in a wooden box. Good only for non-banging giants. Plus it is too small for the arapaima for sure. I only have to glue the 10ftx5.5ftx2" front panel, plumb, think through how I'd like to filter it and how to have it self cleaning the detritus.
When it comes to acrylic and bowing… that doesn’t bother/worry me too much honestly. Every acrylic tank out there bows. I have a 500 in 1/2” and 3/8” at 32” tall. Its 43 yrs old and still kickin. Bows a good 2-3” front and center. Every large exhibit ive seen in zoos looks the same from the side with acrylic 2-4” thick. Nature of the beast with acrylic.
The crushing blow of a large paroon, i know nothing of, but can imagine. That alone may be ur deciding factor on how to move forward. Sounds like there going to need a cement build. Id wager u could keep the pima as is for many years. Much calmer than the paroons so theres less chance of an outburst on those big windows depending on tank mates of course.
Your probably right about the “liner curtain”… id guess it would lay down better than i initially thought and sink due to its own weight. Depending on who you choose to add in there you may not need it.
