Ugly acrylic monster bracing questions

[mrunlucky07]

Here are a few pics, the turtles are settling in. Sump planning is coming together...
Also I am not feeling the black trim, think I will go with woodgrain trim, there is a piece sitting by the bottom of the tank.

Here is the other tank in the room, it has a mix of koi, goldfish, and some other stuff that my students brought in.

 

[cvermeulen]

Wow with the trim on and the lights on, it's a pretty decent looking tank actually. I thought from your original pics that it was horribly scratched up or something.

 

[loogielv]

yah, not too shabby at all

 

[mrunlucky07]

Still been playing as time allows. The kids are really enjoying the turtles. They are now feeding by hand so I have to make sure the kids keep their fingers away from the tank.

I drilled the tank and put the first 1.5" drain in and tested. Going the DIY cheap route with male/female pipe connectors. I was going to hard plumb it with PVC since it was cheaper than flex, but then found Lowes has 22' rolls of 1-1/4 flex pipe including threaded male connectors for $7. Its with the sump pumps. One roll should be enough for both drains and the return.

For the sump I am using a 55gal drum cut off around the 45gal mark as I mentioned earlier. The pump is rated for 1200gph at 2'. In my pond it seemed ok, in the tank its pretty crazy. I throttled it back a bit and it did fine with one overflow, I am still going to add the second though.


First overflow upper left

DIY bulkhead

Elcheepo drain line

Tank with temp return running and sump underneath.

 

[loogielv]

looking good actually. glad the kids like it! kids can be so great when you pique their interest

 

[Yanbbrox]

Glad you managed to get it all sorted in the end, and the kids are happy

 

[mrunlucky07]

Last update before the winter break. I ditched the black trim for some fake wood trim and added the second 1.5" bulkhead. Both overflows are running to the sump now. I have been adding media from my pond TT over the past few days and will finish filling the barrel tomorrow. If all goes well I will have a good amount of seeded media ready to put back in the pond come spring. For a spread plate I drilled a plastic bin and have the drains running to a small bin first for the fish that want to test out the drain. Hopefully the turtles wont cause too much havoc over the 2 week break.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Last update before the winter break. I ditched the black trim for some fake wood trim and added the second 1.5" bulkhead. Both overflows are running to the sump now. I have been adding media from my pond TT over the past few days and will finish filling the barrel tomorrow. If all goes well I will have a good amount of seeded media ready to put back in the pond come spring. For a spread plate I drilled a plastic bin and have the drains running to a small bin first for the fish that want to test out the drain. Hopefully the turtles wont cause too much havoc over the 2 week break.

Still looking good, as normal your doing a great job

 

[tylerperkins]

not bad for a $50 monster mess also i like that you had some ohms law going on the white board in the pic

 

[cvermeulen]

not bad for a $50 monster mess also i like that you had some ohms law going on the white board in the pic

I think Ohm's law is the VIR triangle.