Some of the tanks/pools...
 

Brett (Lastlight) asked me to show some of my tanks, specifically the shark pool. Currently I'm in Ontario, but thought it would be a great idea to at least get it started.

I'd been reading on various forums about people building shark/ray tanks out of industrial feed bins or the like and figured it couldn't be too hard, all you would need to do would be to modify the filter/pump system.

So I bought one of these http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/pr...08474396672346

which fit nicely in our quanset on our acreage. I was worried that it wouldn't hold up as well as I would want it to over time so I actually epoxied over everything like one would when they're building a plywood tank or a large custom pond.

Which brings me to the next step. Water movement/filtration. A lot of lage ponds utilize giant tubs that are usually plumbed away from the actual pond. (If anyone has ever read any of the pond usa or koi magazines, you'll know what I"m talking about) Anyways, I decided I could make my own out of rubbermaids..(it took some figuring out) I bought three of these
http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/pr...romSearch=true

I used the pump that came with the pool to move the water from the "tank" into the first tub which was stacked on top of the other two. This holds sponges and rough media to do the "mechanical" filtration. it then flows down to the second one, housing the chemical filtration (purigen, seagel) and the third is just for extra water. I'll admit, it's not the most practical, which is why I changed it out and ended up buying two 30" models of these
http://www.bestpondfilters.com/

which I tied into a propane fed line heater that I was installing for the gar/ray pond also in the quanset. The only reason I was able to do this is because the temps need to be comparable for both tanks, so it was easy to sort of set it and forget it.

For the tank itself I didn't want there to be too much live rock, but did want there to be islands, so I bought about 250lbs of it and arranged it into three or 4 piles all the while trying to not make it look too fake. Since there were no plans for corals, I bought three flood lamps that we suspended from the ceiling.

Let the tank cycle for nearly two months and added my 3 sharks (1 coral banded, 1 "zebra" (really just another form of a coral banded) and a smoothnosed) The two bandeds just chill out on the bottom, but the smoothnose swims like you'd imagine.

There are always issues with algae that require me to get in there every now and then with brushes/scrapers on rods or with large gloves. I've never been bit (or even been shown interest) by any of the sharks, but I'd rather not risk it.

Feeding is pretty simple, I buy alot of seafood medley, talapia, shrimp etc for the gars and the sharks all eat it as well.

When I get home PICS!! And I'll add more about everything else....

Whoa. Ask and I shall receive. Can't wait to see some pics.

And an aquatic quonset. Now I know why they call you cash! How has that pump handled saltwater?

The initial pump that came with the pool was replaced when I bought the two tub filters. I ended up switching them to two Red Dragon pumps...I think 8.2's (one of the most expensive parts of this project actually)...If they weren't so damned expensive I would use them on every tank I own...love the pump and for larger setups you just can't beat em!

we built a step up deck/viewing area that went around about half of the shark poon and completely around the gar pond. It's really nice on a hot summer night to head into the quanset, have a beer and watch the sharks. Get the barbeque going and get those steaks grilled...yum. Anyways, back to the projects..

When we bought the quanset it was orriginally being used as a mechanical garage. There was a pit dug measuring roughly 10 feet long by 4 feet wide and about 5 feet deep. This works out to just under 1400 gallons. We'd been talking about a large pond for a long time and knew that when we initially bought the property we would be adding at least one here. (We now actually have a koi pond out by a shadded area with a swing chair...quite pretty actually) Since we were redoing alot of the plumbing under the quanset anyways, we dug a trench so that I could run 2 2" pvc lines up into a filter.

In order to accomplish this I pretty much built a fake floor in the bottom of the pit, about 4 inches off the actual bottom. In the floor are two drains similar to what alot of people have in their fish rooms. The rest of the pond was built as anyone would do with their normal out door ponds. We did use 1" styrofoam to help insulate and then pond liner and then epoxy. We used a very dark one, which now that I see it all the time, I wish we could have found something that didn't dry so dark.

Before we even added water I knew it was going to be too deep to even consider seeing my rays...what to do?

Pretty simple really. Build a shallow end! I wish we could have done it gradual, but for ease we pretty much just made a 5 foot section of the tank only 2.5-3 feet deep. The rays use the entire tank, but know when the lights go on to head to that end...it's feeding time.

Considering gars and rays don't necessarily enjoy overly well lit areas, I needed to get something that would still allow me to see the fish (otherwise, what's the point?!) but not be so bright as to bother them. We ended up going with lights that you would normally see in buildings (with 4 t8 or 12 bulbs in them) and suspending 4 of them above the tank. There is still some glare off the surface, but not enough to distort the view.

That pond currently houses a shoal of 8 Florida/Spotted gars, ranging in size from 20-24" and a trio of Motoro rays, the largest has a disc span of approximately 18" the last time I tried to measure.

Heat is again provided via a inline propane heater. Best investment for these two setups. EVER.

really cool! i was actualy going to send you a message bout your ponds and tanks today :p

i really hope you aren't in Toronto for too much longer.

Wow! Sounds amazing. Can't wait to see pictures.

I think I'm in the wrong line of work. Tattoo artist? Need an apprentice? I can't draw though. Is that going to be a problem?

Errr, I mean .. I can't wait to see the pictures. Hurry home.

Sounds amazing! Also excited for pics :D

Tattooing is my passion Tony, but not how I made the majority of my money. There's an old thread in the lounge somewhere where I touch it a little....buying and selling homes and properties wisely as well as a successful buisness that was owned by the other half (who recently sold it to his nephew) is where it all started...

I can't wait to see your pictures. Is there alot of time involved with maintaining a pool tank? I thought my small tank was alot of work:smile:

not as much as you'd imagine. If you set everything up right it can be really easy. I have a large ro/di unit that puts out roughly 100gpd and collects in two big bins with constant water movement. One bin then goes to the salt mixing bin and the other bin of ro water goes straight into the gar pond when I need to.

Which reminds me.

The way the filters are set up for both tanks I just turn some ball valves and it trains out towards the back of the quanset where no body needs to worry about it but the coyotes.

On the shark tank I do water changes every 2nd week. All three of the sharks are up around 2ft long now, which is close to full size, but being that they are the only things in the tank there isn't a whole helluva lot of bio load believe it or not.

The gar tank is merely topped up when I feel it's getting low (hahaha SO LAZY). Because the pond is constantly draining from the bottom the dirtiest water is being dealt with right away.


I can't guarantee that my half-assed approach to things would work for others though...I seem to be lucky in that way LOL

I think ya need pictures to go with all the jibajaba

If you've read the whole post, I'm out of town on buisness...pictures will be up when I get back and when I find them either on my computer or my old digital camera...but thanks ;)

One of the gars when they were in the 8 foot
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...rtank005-1.jpg

and the other half's summer toy:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...tertank010.jpg
...with dexter peeing in the corner...good boy!

Cool, another tattoo artist with the passion...keep up with the postin, very interested

the reason i gave up on the freshwater was i like the big stuff to much and cant really have it where i am, id love to come see the tanks one day. maybe a tank tour stop if that ever happens

I remember us touching base when I picked up the big tank...you've got a panther grouper though right??

the panther is the smallest one in the tank,i do have 3 groupers and a snapper in a 300g and since the one grouper is 2' its getting a bit small for him and i might be forced into building it into a 600g by just going for 30" to 60"wide.

I feel so unsatisfied...

can't wait to see some pics.
and not of cars...lol

are you home yet? are you home yet? huh huh huh??

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/bother-1.gif

Came home...to find our house broken into and computers, cameras and a tv missing....(in rural Alberta...REALLY?!?!) so no pics of the build. I'll grab some pictures once things calm down here though....sorry Karazy :(

omg! no apology necessary randi! that's just terrible that that would happen!
i really hope you guys are doing okay,
and i hope that that never happens ever again.

you gotta think though, wouldn't a robber be atleast a lil afraid of the sharks and gars?
maybe you need lasers that attach to their heads!

hope its not too early for jokes.
again, so sorry to hear that that happened.

not too early at all!

When I saw they had ransacked the house we ran to the quanset...the doors were open but I think once they saw the tanks they left. The quanset is divided into two sections, the tanks are in the front half and the cars are kept behind them. Had they walked around the back of the quanset they would have seen the garage-style door and probably figured it out...

I just can't wrap my head around the idea of people even having the remote idea of where to go....I mean...if you blink you miss the drive into the property....bloody hell

Sorry to hear. That really sucks. Cops have any ideas?

OMG! That sucks! I hope the cops find who did it :sad:

they don't even know when it happened. We were gone for a week. So that's the time frame they are giving me. (thumbs up for lolcal authority) They suggest that we change the locks (really?! wow) And look at putting a lock on our entrance gate...which would entitle us actually closing it...which we didn't normally do.

My guess is that once they got the computer, cameras and tv (and proceeded to dump the contents of my fridge on the floor...and steal all our booze) they took off. They never went into the basement or the cold room.

That sucks! Kids with nothing better to do in the country than get into trouble I imagine.

Sorry to hear this. All the animals ok?

Oh man I am so sorry to hear this!

Sounds to me like they knew of the house then and that there may have been some nice stuff to take :(

My last place was broken into a few years back. Frickin' guys walked out the FRONT door of my apartment with my 50" TV, computer, ect. ect. and when the police asked the neighbor if they heard/saw anything he said something like "oh yeah I saw the guys moving your stuff...never really thought to call the police or anything, thought they were suppose to be moving it" :rolleyes:

They also messed with the tank but didn't really hurt anything. Just unplugged it all for some reason. They also went through my fiances closet and had thrown her underwear all over the place. She went shopping the next day to replace it all...so, so weird.

Actually the one of the same cops "helped" us that night as when they almost broke down our door one morning trying to bust us for having some kind of grow op going on in our apartment, only to find out its just three aquariums. Man they wouldn't even let us get dressed before they searched the place.

Sorry...getting way off topic :)

All the critters are good, they live downstairs and whoever broke in didn't go down there.

I don't know how whoever did this could have figured out what we have though. I mean, I'm 13 miles from Strathmore and 30ish kms from Gleichen...so it's a trek either way.

At least they didn't trash the house too bad. Important family pictures were left alone. I think once they found the booze cabinet they took what they could and left. And because of the trees and everything we kept in place for privacy, no body would even have a clue that the house was being broken into when they drove by.

Been broken into twice and I feel your pain. It's just messed up to think of total strangers in your place doing whatever they please and taking stuff. If you want a laugh the second time we were robbed the old security system from the previous house was sitting in boxes ready to go in. oops.

Hope you get things sorted. Thieves SUCK.

Wow ... terrible. :( Sorry to hear!!

lousy crooks i know what your feeling its not so much the fact that they took everything, as it is the complete invasion of your privacy. insurance should cover it though right? sorry to hear of your misfortune

time for a house alarm or big dog,im shure you have insurance right? still sucks to make a claim but its probably better than taking the loss

Insurance will cover most of it, but you guys are right...the complete invasion is what gets to me. Pretty hard to sleep alone at night right now (other half has already left again for buisness...)
My current dog, Dexter, is the biggest suck in the entire world. I'm pretty sure as long as whoever tried to break in brought treats he'd show em around the house. But I might be getting a pitty...so that could deter any would be's

What?!! Since when is that legal? Police can't just barge into your residence because you have a higher than average electricity bill, that's ridiculous. No way I would have let that happen.

Also sorry to hear about the break in Randi, seems to be a common thing these days. My next home will definitely have a pretty fancy alarm system. I would have to agree that the people knew you were gone, most likely a connection to someone you know.

no doubt.
without a warrant, total infringement of your rights.

BC Hydro might be able to say they have to have access, but the cops stay at the door.
typical.

If the police knock on my door, I'll gladly let them look at my aquarium. I don't think arguing my rights at the door is really going to help the situation get any better. I mean... the more you object to them coming in, the more they are going to think they should come in! I'm more concerned about them shooting my dog for being too friendly.

Geez..how many of us have NOT been broken into? Happened to me about 10 years ago. They kicked in my back door, burned a hole in my bedroom dresser with a left-behind cigarette and took all the food from my freezer...and $16 worth of pocket change. My wife came home when the guy was still in the house. Scary.

Apparently the building across from us "saw bright lights all the time" from our living room and called the police :rolleyes: They also had out electricity bill records and some other papers. They banged on the door (6 am)...I jumped out of bed and answered and they started the 21 questions about who else is in the place, where the weapons were, ect. ect. I was half asleep and then when my fiance got out of bed they wouldn't even let her put on more clothes. She said the officer at one point even told her she shouldn't be involved with guys like me :)

We filed a complaint and my dads lawyer got involved but it never went anywhere. We contacted the news but apparently this is somewhat common. They said they may do a story one day and contact us again.

The police (4 of them) basically walked around, questioned us separately and then just left. No apology or anything. Just said they will be in contact. Ha...we never heard from them again.

BC Hydro wasn't even there. Just 4 cops. Very rude cops.