Mega clear vinyl prototype tank build (concept building)

[Egon]

Anyone have some monster fish I can borrow, so we can see what this thing looks like in action? I'm having a hard time determining if the distortion would be too distracting. My feeling is that, with large fish, it wouldn't be, but smaller fish would be very hard to keep track of.

Maybe I'll throw my goldfish in there tomorrow.

I think you need a female swim suit model...........

 

[littlewangzfan]

I think you need a female swim suit model...........

+1...um... no make that 10.

 

[Gervahlt]

I think you need a female swim suit model...........

Yeah, we'll let you know if her...er, I mean the...curves would be too distracting.

 

[MaddMaxx]

Any progress lately?

 

[soulpatch]

Yeah please say somethign is coming along. I would love to get started on an indoor pond/bar setup in the house and this would make my life a LOT easier

 

[jkayden]

Juggling a lot of stuff right now. I am working on a die to plumb directly into the liner with 7/8" OD flexible PVC tubing. I'm trying to develop an aluminum framing system for this monster, to sell as a kit. I want to put a canopy on this and dress it up a little, throw some fish in there and see what it looks like.

I dusted off an old 55, set a liner in it and filled it with water to see if the vinyl would cloud up. Its been about 4 days and it is hard to tell if it has clouded any. I'll wait another week and drain to see if it became cloudy.

I've done more research on the vinyl itself and determined it is 100% fish safe... or as fish safe as any PVC product is. I've also sourced out a black pond material supplier for the bottom and possibly the sides.

Also, I think I have an awesome idea--refugium/algae scrubber bags. Clear vinyl cylinders--about 6" diameter--filled with duck weed with a 4" cap on it. Intake at the top and exhaust at the bottom. Grow food for your herbivores while scrubbing nitrates out of the water.... maybe add glass shrimp to the mix?

At this stage I'm confident the liner will not kill the fish. I'm still afraid the liner pressed up against glass/acrylic may cloud up, but I'll know for sure soon. I think, at this stage of the game, it is up to the imagination of the hobbyist to figure out what to do with a clear beaded liner. For instance, I found a coffee table on the side of the road that used to have a decortative glass top to it and has a big rectangle cut out of the middle--I'm going to mount some track in it and install a liner (I'll take pictures when I start that project)

Gotta Run,
Jeff

 

[sugarsilver]

This is so incredibly exciting! I've subscribed to your mailing list via your site, and as soon as you've got a model for the public you will have a very excited Canadian customer with money coming your way!

 

[jkayden]

So the vinyl does indeed cloud up when pressed against a solid surface. As you can see in the picture, there is a rectangular cloudy section--that is where the vinyl was pressed against the plexiglass.

So people are going to have to live with bulging fish tanks for now.

The 700 gallon tank has been holding up nicely. I park next to it every day and it is growing on me quite a bit. Albeit, it doesn't offer the pristine view of a flat sheet of glass, it is glass clear, and has an interesting look to it. Maybe this weekend I'll dress it up and throw my silver dollars in it.

I've been working on developing the "refugium" which has more evolved into a remote, wall mounted fish tank. I'm very excited about this project. The idea is you can plumb it into your existing fish tank plumbing and keep fish that you normally couldn't keep in the main tank--fish that would normally become food.

...anyway, all this talk about fish--I've got to go grill some salmon.

 

[VLDesign]

What if it's up against glass?

 

[MaddMaxx]

Cool man, keep at it, there's a solution out there!