Stingray addict w/o hope must build bigger

[DIDYSIS]

All is running great, Just enjoying it. Had my first 4 pups show up in the system at start of week. All is well, KNOCK ON WOOD. Love the easy 5 min filter clean out and tank is staying really well heated and filtered. Now working on a lid system before winter fully hits to help with humidity.

When we going to get an updated video of the build?

The top tank running okay as well?

 

[kelz]

All is running great, Just enjoying it. Had my first 4 pups show up in the system at start of week. All is well, KNOCK ON WOOD. Love the easy 5 min filter clean out and tank is staying really well heated and filtered. Now working on a lid system before winter fully hits to help with humidity.

Any videos on both the system so we can see how everything is ?

 

[DIDYSIS]

I know it has been a while and well life has been good and busy and the pond and aquarium setup has just been doing super well. I have a lid system on for winter and honestly might leave it on all summer as well. Humidity was kept to a really low percent and made winter life great in the house but still having a 3k gallon heating unit is great as well. Bills were at an all time low honestly. Other than fish food. Lol. Darn thing want to eat so much. I have a smaller slimmed version of what use to be a separation cage which now helps support the lid. Need to find a more better option for achieving the same results. I did decide to open up my bead filter as it had been close to a year and see if any gunk or what was collecting in it. I am happy to say all is perfect and doing great. Plus side of having a blower and side valves is that I can pump air in and push the water height down and then open the top and look inside and check things out without bothering anything. Really like that ability just to make sure all is working as it should be. The 600 gallon up top was being cleaned by a pleco which started to grab stingrays so I tossed him and got a flag tail who cleaned the whole tank from I could not see it to spotless in 2 days. I thin he grew an inch just from all the eating. Makes he want another for the pond but the albino pleco in there does alright. I still clean the glass a fair amount to help.

 

[ReApEr666]

Lookin good as always Kev! love seein ur hoard

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

What an amazing project!

 

[DIDYSIS]

Two weeks ago the pond finally developed a leak and after thinking for the last couple years of getting out of the stingrays and fish for a while I decided now was the time. But of course what caused the leak and what could I learn from it for next time or others I think is very important. The leak was small only a 1/4 gallon every hr ish and then increased a bit over the next 24 hrs till I drained it fully. When I built the tank I remember very well and wonder if I even talked about it here that the extra 90 degree angles you had to cover for the window ledge support I installed was a weak spot and risky feeling when costing it all. I knew then and still fully believe that was my weak spot. I added pictures for others to see. Water was leaking out the front there and it's the only place I found wet. All the other areas of the tank even tearing it all apart were impressively strong. Fiberglass mat really is the way to go with building a strong setup. As you can see in the pics one spot looked really bad and found wet behind after forcing it apart. Windows with silicone have so much holding power you dont need it at all. The surface area they have to hold and grab with a two inch overlay is great. I wish the original color coating would have lasted unfortunately it didnt. I would use a different top coating product next time but other than that I would build it all the same way. Only other issue was just how heavy everything was to haul out of the basement. I feel sad leaving this big part of 10 plus years fish keeping behind for now but am happy and looking forward to the future and appreciate all the love and kindness and friends met here. It's been a long up and down journey and still more to come on life. If anyone has any questions about the pond please ask happy to help give input or details.

 

[DIDYSIS]

 

[Backfromthedead]

Live and learn. The pond-tank had a good run. Build back stronger and bigger next time ?

 

[M1A1]

Interesting that that one spot was the leak. Was the plywood there different than the rest of the tank? Surface prep? Fiberglass or epoxy mixup?

 

[fishdance]

Thanks for the update. Most of these large DIY tanks stop posting and no one ever knows the outcome.

Hopefully you make it back into the hobby again. I gave up using wood many years ago. My longest lasting wood tank was 9 years and then several torturous years of constant fixes and patches and stress.

For your sized tank, tilt up concrete slab walls work well. Quite easy to self pour the walls in a horizontal cast, stand up, secure the corners and then pour the bottom. Coved corners and bottom drains even embedded wall jets. If you add key slots into the wall cast, the poured bottom locks in so the bottom can't float up and the walls can't bow out. For only 80cm high, 35mm thick walls would do. Add a sacrificial plastic sheet under the bottom slab pour if you want to demolish the tank one day.

High density concrete (42 - 50 Mpa) is already waterproof (first level). Adding Xypex crystalline additive will self seal voids if moisture occurs (level 2) and a paint on membrane layer (level 3) is a good way to add colour and add yet another waterproof layer cheaply.

Some of my concrete tanks are 20+ years old. I've gotten bigger and deeper as the addiction grows. Glass technology continues to improve.