Monster shark tank build

[Zoodiver]

You are right. What most places now call bead filters, most old timers call sand filters - I just need to catch up with my terms. You can use either media in them. Beads do work well and resist channeling better (channeling is when the water starts to cut through the sand bed and limits the amount of actual surface area. Think of it like little rivers cutting through the middle of the filter bed).

Setting up two loops is exactly what I would suggest. Run your skimmer in and out of the sump (the one I posted earlier does just that).
Then run the sand/bead filter and have your UV on a side stream after it. (Putting your UV after your mechanical filter assures that no chunks of anything will hit the quartz sleeve and damage it.) I can get some pics of a side stream UV set up for you today and post them.

 

[Zoodiver]

This is one of my UV units. Typically, I prefer longer units, like Emperor Aquatics offers - long exposure, lower wattage. This is a very high wattage set up (800 watts) with less contact time. The flow comes from the right and goes to the left. The big tan unit is a Pentair cartridge filter being run by a 3hp pump. The flow can be controlled over the UV by the gate valve (red circle handle on the by pass line). By opening or closing it, I control the rate of flow over the UV lamps. There is a flow switch on the left so the unit shuts down the bulbs if there is not enough (or no) flow to prevent fires.

This is an Emperor Aquatics unit (I think it was 750 or 800 watts - but it's on a 10,000 exhibit, so you can see the contact time increases the usable volume).

 

[andy_]

i have question what is the minimum tank size or gal. required for a bull shark? and also the dimension of the tank pls... thanks...

 

[DIDYSIS]

At least a warehouse full of water. Just keep them where they are.

i have question what is the minimum tank size or gal. required for a bull shark? and also the dimension of the tank pls... thanks...

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[Zoodiver]

i have question what is the minimum tank size or gal. required for a bull shark? and also the dimension of the tank pls... thanks...

It's about foot print more than gallons for them. I've been successful at 500,000 gallons with bulls. I've worked with others who have gone as low as 300,000 gallon for a group of adults.
Pups are a whole different story. A standard 26' round with about 4' of depth works great to raise pups in. The trouble with bulls is they stress so easy compared to their reputation for being the biggest, baddest sharks out there. I've only been successful moving bulls smaller than 5'. I know Oklahoma Aquarium moved one from Long Beach back in about '07. I'm not 100% sure of the size of that animal at the time of the transport, but I think it was about 4 ft when it moved.

Not a shark I'd recommend for anyone other than a professional. You're also looking at special permitting to collect and possess a bull shark.

 

[Yoimbrian]

So back to this post. For this set up you'd go overflow to sump. Then skimmer just in and out of sump. Then flow through mechanical filter (bead) and flow through UV then back to tank. For that type of set up would you also have filter socks on the entrance to the sump? What else would you have in the sump? (Ie, extra bio filtration, refuge with chaeto, etc).


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[Riley S]

There wouldn't be filter socks, the bead filter is the mechanical filtration. The bead filter can also provide biological filtration as well. A system like this doesn't have a refugium, cheato, ect. If additional biofiltration would be added, it would most likely be in the sump as a trickle filter, which would also provide degassing, and would be fed from the protein skimmer outlet.

 

[Zoodiver]

Yeah, when you step to large scale set ups, the focus is mechanical filtration. Get the waste out before it feeds into the nitrogen cycle.