http://au.msnusers.com/LynnCooperspi...oto&PhotoID=89

http://au.msnusers.com/LynnCooperspi...oto&PhotoID=63

Steve

very much like you said, I was thinking the anchor could be partly burried and on an angle with reef around it, its an exact replica, it will already look incrusted, it has all the encrusting life that was on it when the divers found it. I think partly burried in a rock pile would work, something for the fish to swim around too...

I love the sea pen pic!

If your doing sharks, that tank is deeper then it needs to be. It makes it hard to clean, needlessly risky. Why so deep?

Also, Why fiberglass?

On the size of your viewing pane, I assume acrylic is the material of choice? Do you know what thickness you would need for a pane 14'X5'? Single or joined sheet?

How big does a mini-hammerhead grow? Any idea what the scientific name is?

Cheers,
Vic [veng68]

By deeper, I assume you mean how tall the tank is, because at only 7' of depth(front to back) I feel that the tank is just large enough to house sharks. as for the height, at 8' tall, of course cleaning is a little different than your average tank, thats what SCUBA is for.... I dont understand where your comming from with "needlessly risky"??? how so? Are you speaking of swiming with the sharks? They are pretty mellow, and even if I went with black tips and white tips, I wouldnt have any quams about jumping in with them. The tank is going to be an open reef shelf with sharks as well. With the 8' of height, I will actually have some room to create a reef shelf. If I go with a single front pannel of 14'x5' it will be of the new scratch proof acrylic, and it will be a single sheet with a thickness of no less than 2". Why fiberglass??? Because its the best material the tank could be built out of, FRP is also a good material but the fiberglass will be nice, baby butt smooth inside walls of any colour, amazing strength, very light weight for its size, easy to insulate,(it will be heavily insulated)and its portable. When I move, it moves, cement is a last option for big tanks, it is a pain in the butt to work with for plumbing, hard to seal, pain to repair settling cracks, we can build 50,000+ gallon free standing tanks out of fiberglass, I wouldnt consider cement unless I was going over 50,000 gallons for freestanding, cement is also silly expensive to do properly. With fiberglass you can also make any shape of tank you want, its great stuff! The mini Hammerheads are Sphyma Tiburo, and rarely grow over 3'-4' and they do not get nearly as heavy as the blacktip.

You do realize that you're going to have to give us your address so that we can see this thing next time we're driving through... :smile:

If you could build the tank sturdy enough, I'd like to see a hydraulic jack that hoisted 1 end up and down an inch or two, so that you could get a back and forth surge thing going on. :cool: Or maybe an inside baffle that raised and lowered and accomplished the same thing.
(Save some money on circulation plumbing... lol )

Mitch
(I'm joking, btw, on the hydraulic jack...)

for surge, Im trying to design a large surge tank of about 400+ gallons

Hey Kyle ... What are you using for epoxy ( brand ) ? ... what type of Fiberglass matting ? ... what are you using for a frame to put the fiberglass structure on ? ... reason is I am thinking of building another tank ( I currently have a 300G fiberglass tank 96L X 24D X 31H ) and this time I was considering doubling the size ie. 96L X 48D X 31H or approx 600G ... I want to know if there are better alternatives in fiberglass construction that I could incorporate in the new tank and also what kind of dollars would be involved in getting a scratchless acrylic front panel ( also considering the 3/4" starfire if/when it comes available and of course which one would be the most cost effective ) ... any info would be appreciated

Cheers

Kyle have you put any thought into the design of the surge yet, what method do you want to use?

Im not sure what the scratchproof acrylic pannels will cost, and I dont personaly construct the fiber glass tanks, but I know he uses many different weaves of fiberglass and many different bonding agents which probably dosent help you at all...

I was thinking of a large suspended sump with a water level limiting, open stand pipe drain to prevent overflow in case an electronic selinoid ball valve fails, the ball valve will work on an open closed cycle, and the pump will move water continusly, probably a large ball valve of 4" or more.