another monster tank project

[ill_eagle]

this is a tank that i built for a friend of mine about 6 monthes ago. im estimating it around 20k gallons. its a different situation than most tanks. as its in the floor. he wanted this to be an attraction to his resturant so people could walk out and look down on the fish. as always with a project like this runs short on money at the end. at the mean time we just have it set up with a pool pump running plenty of chlorine with artificial plants to just get the look and so it will stay clean. eventually we'll add some livestock. im thnkin with the circumstances of the tank being in the floor some rays would be the way to go. he has his mind set on marine sharks. i have drove myself crazy trying to figure a filtration system out for this thing. that pool pump works pretty good but airation seems to be the problem. its almost a sealed system and not much oxygen can get in. we tried using an air pump but the bubbles collected to the bottom of the glass. oh the water level has to be at the bottom of the glass for maximum visibility. we have some issues to sort out before we introduce any live stock but in the meantime its still pretty impressive. i have some pics but in the process of construction my camera dissappeared. these are what i have. i havent been by there in a few monthes so i havent had the chance to get ant current ones. it just has the lexan, water and artificial plants in there at the moment. let me know what you guys think. ill take any advice on this into consideration. this is a tricky project. thanks for the input brad

 

[ill_eagle]

its just hard to get oxygen in the water and keep the visibility. from a top view he will need some pretty big fish so you would be able to see em. he has a beach type them with his resturant and is hung up on some sharks. i checked with a supplier through my wifes store and it going to cost about 9k for the marine salt to set this thing up. very expensive to set up and im not 100% sure i can engineer a system that will keep the stock alive. freshwater will be hard enough. again any advice please. thanks brad

 

[bigspizz]

keep it open and have a monster pond......surface area will eliminate the need for surface aggitation. Gas exchange can take place on its own in an open air environment. Salt? Sharks? Booku bucks/knowlege. Sounds like quite the project to be "playing" around with ideas. Bad Bad idea to build then learn. If this has anything to do with you, make some final blueprints, have aim. This is a major major tank! I write plans for 150 and up......What are the deminsions?

 

[plausible]

you could make one part of the pond/tank covered up and have lids for feeding ,sump ,uv ster. etc and the glass panels the people walk on could be removed so that regular cleaning could be done

 

[fatboy22]

you could build a massive wet/dry on the side of the tank. you could put airstone inside of one of the chambers. i did this for my large pond. it works really well and provides overkill bio and mechanical filtration. i'll post some pics later for you

 

[dr_sudz]

you may have issues keeping fish alive with no cerface aggitaion even with a sump.

 

[fatboy22]

surface agitation could be created with return jets. the water would go from the huge wet/dry to the pump to the return jets at the surface creating movement.

 

[Greenaveli]

Someone stop me if I am wrong here but I was under the assuption that aerated water can be moved to different locations. For example in my 270 I aerate my water in my sump there is little to no breaking the surface in my tank unless the fish do it. With this being said then it should be possible to aerate the water at a different location and pump it into the tank right?

 

[fatboy22]

yes, but the tank has a greater surface area than the sump. more surface area= more air with less energy. i like to overkill almost every aspect so i do both.

 

[fishdance]

I am not sure what I see in the small pictures. Are the black squares the top of the tank itself and people look down into the tank? That would make all your comments about bubbles and making fish hard to see correct so thats what I am assuming. If so then I would keep the water level up against the glass for max visibility and simple raise the water level in another room. ie have the actual water level higher than this glass bottom to avoid any air bubbles. Simple to aerate this way. Think of looking into the sea through a glass bottom bucket only the room/tank is the bottom of the bucket. You will need some magnetic cleaners or very good algae eaters to keep the glass clean.

If your on a budget and your not sure how this will work and your client has unrealistic expectations and its a commercial project you do need to seek professional help. Asking for advice at a fish enthusiasts forum is a recipe for disaster.