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....