Hybrid Low-Iron & Acrylic Tank?

I have lived in Earthquake country all my life. I have been in a multitude of small quakes as well as several large ones. There's no way I want to risk my reef by using all glass.

My house sits on top of two colliding continental plates, and the region is many years overdue for a massive quake. You can learn more about it here. Anyone using all glass for a large tank on the Left Coast is taking a serious risk. IMO, anything over 200g that is all glass has a very high probability of a blow out. Even a small quake can get water moving beyond the structural integrity of an aquarium. In my case, I would have about 9,000 lbs. shifting back and forth.

And earthquakes don't just shake. They roll like a wave on the ocean. I have seen it with my own eyes, and the stresses created by the roll are way beyond the shaking. When the Northridge Quake hit, I was living in Beverly Hills and many miles from the epicenter.

I watched the floor in my home roll like a 3 - 4 foot wave was going through it. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. On the bottom floor, everything was fine. On the second floor, absolutely everything was destroyed. No way a glass fish tank would have survived.
 
Jon,
Christmas is over, change your avatar,:lol:. My "Christmas" avatar has been up for about 3 yrs now:D

Scott,
Any more info on the sealant or glue you found?
 
Yeah you're right, but I still have lots in stock and I am waiting for something special to come in...

I have not been able to devote any time to this yet because I am getting ready to host the Jan. PSAS meeting. Hopefully after that I will get some time.
 
not yet im waiting for that company to check ther email. GRRR email is great if the person on the other end checks it once in a while. ha ha ha ha ha
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11609262#post11609262 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
pot...kettle...what?
Click to expand...

PM's dont count. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I would talk with Tom Hudson:
http://www.acrylicandglassexhibits.com/

His tanks are made with glass sides and acrylic parimeters, as well as a welded PVC bottom. He built my steel stand, and will be making my new 500g for many of the same reasons you have cited (not to mention, more tolerant of slightly uneven bottom surfaces). The PVC bottom makes the tank much lighter and easier to CNC with hex/heavy-duty bulkhead openings, as well as welded plastic overflows. Great stuff, seen a few in person. Yet, you still get to have the Starphire sides.
 
It seems like most all acrylic tanks I've ever seen in large sizes craze, crack and leak at some point down the road. I've seen tanks with 1.5" top braces with large radius corners crack. I'm sure there are a few exceptions to this, but it seems to be a much too common occurrence around the ~5 year mark with big acrylic tanks.

I hate the idea of the stresses in the glass sheet after drilling, and I hate the weight of glass. I also don't like the non-flexible structure that glass tanks become when entirely glass. You must be able to flex to be strong under high stress situations.

I also hate the brace needs and scratching of acrylic.

So, I welded up a 304 stainless frame that was plenty strong to hold the starphire panels, and made a plywood bottom coated with a stretchy and nearly indestructible poly-urea coating.

Now I've got a tank that can take flexing abuse, you can sledgehammer on the bottom of it, all the holes are in the indestructible bottom, you can safely hang from the plumbing. It has the viewing clarity and scratch resistance of glass, but the wood bottom keeps it lighter. It's also able to flex under high stress situations like an earthquake due to the glass panels only having single overlap joints, and using the stainless steel frame for pressure supporting strength, the silicone is only used to seal, not for seal and structural support.


If you want Jon, since you are only 45min drive away, you could have my father (25years of professional steel custom fabrication) make you a tank frame and stand for you. I'm thinking something like 4"x 5/16" 304 angle uprights in each corner, and welded in steel framework in the bottom to generously support a sheet of 1.5" thin-ply plywood.

To make moving things simple, the frame could be all prepped to have the well supported glass slide into place. Move the frame in with just the plywood bottom screwed in place, and get it setup on the stand. Each sheet of starphire could be brought in seperate, and slipped into place in the frame. Then you pour in your poly-urea bottom coating to seal the plywood and the bottom edge of all the glass panels. Then silicone up the side seams (just for sealing, not for support).

He could make the tank steel frame have a channel in the steel stand, with tabs that poked down to bolt the two together. Then you could bolt the steel frame to the floor of your basement.

I think if you had an earthquake strong enough to ruin a tank like that, your tank wouldn't be much of a concern to you. You would have to bulldoze the rest of your collapsed house out of the way to see if your tank survived.

Best Wishes,
-Luke
 
Does anyone know what adhesive AGE uses to adhere glass to PVC and Acrylic?

I do really like the work they do very nice aquariums. They also dado cut their bottom (maybe the top also) PVC pieces so the glass adheres to 2 surfaces for some extra adhesion contact. One tension load and one shear laod, for ether angle. simple idea but a good one IMO.
 
Thanks for the input Luke. It is so hard to get fabricators to do anything out here in Kitsap. I will keep your idea in mind but I have to confess, I have been contemplating another avenue. As you stated, acrylic can go bad after years of service, but I believe in an earthquake situation, it is better than glass.

So my other avenue? Well, I am seriously contemplating building a carbon fiber & low-iron tank. I have been mentally wrestling with this idea for the last two months, and in particular, whether to build a wood box and lay CF inside and out, or to use a mold like when building a fiberglass boat.

The Great Dahn Nguyen introduced me to carbon fiber rod, since he uses it in some of his pump mods, and I am probably going to use it as "feet" for my rockwork. Building the CF tank would be very doable for DIY and offer me the flexibility of placing external wave boxes just about anywhere I want. I have also been contemplating building Tunze closed loops, but I digress.

Any thoughts on usig carbon fiber? My only real reservations are how much UV will degrade it, and how to get a smooth surface if I don't use a mold.
 
Jonathan, I think you'll get just as good a seal if you do a wood tank lined with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, and still have the flexibility to deal with an earthquake. IIRC, you can buy CF cloth from some of the same places you get FG cloth

Is your new tank going to have a single viewing pane or 2?
 
Jeff,

Good question regarding viewing panes. Right now, in theory, I have 4, but practically speaking only two are kept reasonably clean. Again, more decisons to be made like going with just the one or perhaps doing an end in glass as well. I really like viewing the tank from the end, and enjoy feeding while being able to see the fish.

I also really admire the way Steve Weast installed his tank so you are looking through the "end". It makes for a better reef illusion, but doing so in my case would have a sizable impact on my tank room.

Ultimately I think because I want to put external wave boxes on each end, I may just go with the single viewing pane and consider front acceess. Since I have to tear out the wall to swap tanks, I could install access doors, although I really hate to do so for aesthetic reasons.

I have even toyed with the idea of making the viewing wall out of carbon fiber. That would be slick and trick eh? :eek:

Regarding fiberglass: I hate working with it and I don't like the color. I don't want to use a gel coat either...mostly I hate working with it! And it is nowhere near as strong as CF.
 
CF generally only makes sense in an application where weight/stregnth ratios are critical. In the case of an aquarium, keeping light weight is generally not a priority.

Keep in mind, carbon fiber that you lay yourself will look just as ugly as fiberglass. It's only pretty looking when it's had a top fiber layer layed astheticly, and then double/tripple clear epoxy coated. It does essentially nothing for stregnth, but it does make CF products sell, which is why it's done.

However, I do fully support the idea of using plywood as opposed to acrylic. You could simply make a wooden frame, then screw in sheets of thick plywood and coat it with the amazing poly-urea coating I'm using. It would be more flexible, and take much less time and resources.

It could be done with CF, but for a non-weight critical application it seems a bit like a waste of resorces. It's not going to look shiny with a deep gloss showing the top sheet of perfectly smooth CF weave like you may be thinking. It's going to look like fiberglass that you dumped a bottle of black ink into the resin before you layed it.

Best Wishes,
-Luke
 
what is the coating you are using Luke?

And BTW, many people would consider a SS and Starfire tank to be a "waste of resources" too! :lol:

Perhaps I could use the same core material used for boats rather than plywood??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

E
4x2x2 Acrylic reel tank and stand for sale
Replies
4
Views
254
ebe
E
D
Which sump would you choose?
Replies
5
Views
335
Devilphish
D
G
Starphire or Low Iron Glass
Replies
3
Views
820
griss
griss
J
Plumbing 300 gallon acrylic aquarium
Replies
4
Views
3K
corvinridge
C
V
AQUAVIM 155g Corner 1/4 Cylinder Glass Reef-Ready Aquarium Set, Lifereef Sump, Skimmer, Refugium, Reactors, Mag Pumps, 15g IM Glass ATO container +
Replies
0
Views
219
ViolentA79
V
Back
Top