Has anyone tried a different theme other than "coral reef"?
- Thread starter xtm
- Start date
hsvtoolfool
Premium Member
xtm said:
XTM, there is no metal. Here is the thread where Putaway
describes how his underwater "props" were created...
Putawaywets Pier
Thanks hsvtoolfool for saving me from a bunch of typing 
And thanks for all the kinds words everyone.
As far as the tank itself goes... it's 24"Wx30"Dx30"H which puts it around 90 gals give or take. Way back when, long before this ever became a reality I had hopes of putting this setup in my bedroom. Originally it was suppossed to be all about the reef tank and I kind of just added the 90 gal cube into the design because I thought it might be interesting to try something besides a reef down the road. However, when the system arrived and I realized it was just too big for my bedroom I had to do a last minute change of plans and move it into the living room.
Had I to do it over again, the right hand tank would be the same size as the reef and I would have done something even nicer, but at the time that I was thinking it would wind up in the bedroom this was the maximum size I thought I could get away with.
As for the tank itself: Due to design requirements of the complete system this tank has 1 angled corner influent box in the left rear and 1 angled corner effleunt (overflow) box in the right rear behind the piling. Both boxes come together at the rear so insted of a straight back wall my rear wall is in the shape of a ^. Water flow is in a nice steady clockwise or circular path.
The 3 fish mentioned above are indeed Pajama Cardinals which were with me before the pier piling was fabricated along with a Royal Gramma, A Dragon Wrasse, A Coral Banded shrimp, 2 Cleaners, and 1 or 2 Pepermints (They don't seem to last more than 6 months in this tank for Some reason)
Shortly after the piling went in I added 1 Lyretail Hogfish (Bodianus anthiodes), 2 Split-tail gobies (Ptereleotris evides), and 2 Bar gobies (Ptereleotris zebra)
The gobies are particularly interesting as they spend the majority of the day hovering in the left front corner where the light is most intense. When I originally purchased them they were living in one of those large empty barnacle clusters and I thought it would be cool to have them as the focal point of the tank. Of course like most everything in this hobby things don't always work out like you plan and the minute I brought them home they immediately dissappeared into the rockwork and refused to go back into their barnacles. Oh well such is life.
Also, since this tank was first setup as a pseudo low-light biotope prior to the piling I just reused all my rock since it was loaded with sponges and rock boring clams (you can see those in the closeup of the discarded wheel on the link hsvtoolfool posted above.
Maintenance wise, this tank is a dream. Which, considering that I already had a reef on the other side was one of the orginal reasons for doing something like this in the smaller tank. Low maintenance was a huge requirement. Other than feeding, I really only need to wipe down the front window, hydrovac the sand once a week and give the piling a good scrubbing every 3-4 months.
About the only probs to date are I'm getting some corralline on the front portions of the piling and at some point I imagine I will have to take it out of the tank and either scrape it off or paint back over it .
One thing that I think everyone should know is that I consider myself far from an artist and while I did have some help from a professional company I see no reason why others couldn't do something similar on their own. Prior to this I had no mold making or resin casting experience and possessed skills probably equal to a casual plastic model builder. So, in all honesty, this was a total learn as I went experience. I was just lucky in that this project exceded my expectations.
So all I can say is don't be afraid to experiment, it's your tank so do what you think looks best. If you want a skull or bones do bones. You want a shipwreck do one. It's totally up to you and you are limited only by your imagination. Personally. I'd love to see something unique or different - nothing against a beautiful reef tank - it's just I think there's always room for something new.
Brett
And thanks for all the kinds words everyone.
As far as the tank itself goes... it's 24"Wx30"Dx30"H which puts it around 90 gals give or take. Way back when, long before this ever became a reality I had hopes of putting this setup in my bedroom. Originally it was suppossed to be all about the reef tank and I kind of just added the 90 gal cube into the design because I thought it might be interesting to try something besides a reef down the road. However, when the system arrived and I realized it was just too big for my bedroom I had to do a last minute change of plans and move it into the living room.
Had I to do it over again, the right hand tank would be the same size as the reef and I would have done something even nicer, but at the time that I was thinking it would wind up in the bedroom this was the maximum size I thought I could get away with.
As for the tank itself: Due to design requirements of the complete system this tank has 1 angled corner influent box in the left rear and 1 angled corner effleunt (overflow) box in the right rear behind the piling. Both boxes come together at the rear so insted of a straight back wall my rear wall is in the shape of a ^. Water flow is in a nice steady clockwise or circular path.
The 3 fish mentioned above are indeed Pajama Cardinals which were with me before the pier piling was fabricated along with a Royal Gramma, A Dragon Wrasse, A Coral Banded shrimp, 2 Cleaners, and 1 or 2 Pepermints (They don't seem to last more than 6 months in this tank for Some reason)
Shortly after the piling went in I added 1 Lyretail Hogfish (Bodianus anthiodes), 2 Split-tail gobies (Ptereleotris evides), and 2 Bar gobies (Ptereleotris zebra)
The gobies are particularly interesting as they spend the majority of the day hovering in the left front corner where the light is most intense. When I originally purchased them they were living in one of those large empty barnacle clusters and I thought it would be cool to have them as the focal point of the tank. Of course like most everything in this hobby things don't always work out like you plan and the minute I brought them home they immediately dissappeared into the rockwork and refused to go back into their barnacles. Oh well such is life.
Also, since this tank was first setup as a pseudo low-light biotope prior to the piling I just reused all my rock since it was loaded with sponges and rock boring clams (you can see those in the closeup of the discarded wheel on the link hsvtoolfool posted above.
Maintenance wise, this tank is a dream. Which, considering that I already had a reef on the other side was one of the orginal reasons for doing something like this in the smaller tank. Low maintenance was a huge requirement. Other than feeding, I really only need to wipe down the front window, hydrovac the sand once a week and give the piling a good scrubbing every 3-4 months.
About the only probs to date are I'm getting some corralline on the front portions of the piling and at some point I imagine I will have to take it out of the tank and either scrape it off or paint back over it .
One thing that I think everyone should know is that I consider myself far from an artist and while I did have some help from a professional company I see no reason why others couldn't do something similar on their own. Prior to this I had no mold making or resin casting experience and possessed skills probably equal to a casual plastic model builder. So, in all honesty, this was a total learn as I went experience. I was just lucky in that this project exceded my expectations.
So all I can say is don't be afraid to experiment, it's your tank so do what you think looks best. If you want a skull or bones do bones. You want a shipwreck do one. It's totally up to you and you are limited only by your imagination. Personally. I'd love to see something unique or different - nothing against a beautiful reef tank - it's just I think there's always room for something new.
Brett
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Paul B
Premium Member
Brett, I always love that piling tank. I am surprised pilings like that are not used more often since it is a very common scene at any marina. The only thing I would like to say about wrecks and plastic plane models is that in my opinion If you put something in your tank it should be life size. (like your pilings) if you want a plane, obviousely you can't fit in a real plane but you could put in part of a propeller or cockpit. It will look much more realistic. If you want a skull get a real one or a life size replica.
There was a very large tank once in a store a block from the Trade Center in Manhattan with a biotype from New York harbor. It was fresh water (this was before salt tanks) and it had a real broken toilet bowl with associated sewer pipes and valves along with other construction debris. I don't really want it in my house but it was the most interesting tank I have ever see.
We are only limited by our imagination.
Take care.
Paul
There was a very large tank once in a store a block from the Trade Center in Manhattan with a biotype from New York harbor. It was fresh water (this was before salt tanks) and it had a real broken toilet bowl with associated sewer pipes and valves along with other construction debris. I don't really want it in my house but it was the most interesting tank I have ever see.
We are only limited by our imagination.
Take care.
Paul
You know what? This thread has really given me some ideas. I'm currently setting up a 20H tank, all it has in it now is some base rock. I know a little small but thats part of the challenge, now I don't want to do the pier idea but this has got my mind going on some different things. Hmmmm...going to have to go look at some dive photos see what ideas I can get...
simple_joe
Member
I have been thinking of the same concept for a while now. Ideas include huge model submarines, wooden paddles, and black pvc tubes made to resemble oil pipelines. Interested to see what you guys come up with.
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simple_joe
Member
Here are some shipwreck replcas:
http://www.truelovefab.com/replicated_art_ex_gallery4.htm
http://www.truelovefab.com/replicated_art_ex_gallery5.htm
http://www.truelovefab.com/replicated_art_ex_gallery4.htm
http://www.truelovefab.com/replicated_art_ex_gallery5.htm
simple_joe
Member
Some more pictures:
simple_joe
Member
Not the same anchor, but still the same concept:
simple_joe
Member
simple_joe
Member
Atlantis:
simple_joe
Member
Pier:
MiddletonMark
Premium Member
Nova had a great episode last fall on the various old WW2 wreck, ships, planes, etc in the South Pacific that have now turned into reefs. Really really cool - and probably good inspiration for those who are interested in this idea.
Nevermind some of the corals/reef video was just stunning.
Not sure how to track it down [PBS] ... but I bet it's available somehow [PBS needs money].
Nevermind some of the corals/reef video was just stunning.
Not sure how to track it down [PBS] ... but I bet it's available somehow [PBS needs money].
aquaman67
Active member
xtm said:I'm thinking about skateboard wheels... LOL
Another thing that I was thinking of is a "crash site".. I'll buy a huge toy plane and set it up so it looks like this:
Overtime, coralline and other stuff will start to grow on the plane and it will look "natural"..
If you're into crash sites this video is awesome.
War Wrecks of the Coral Seas.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/warwrecks/
This is the PBS video mentioned above!
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