Bored + SketchUP = AWESOME!!

[yellowworld]

Originally Posted by Lampshade

Lol, like the tank. if you get really bored check out the light up addon for sketchup. You can simulate lights, and import spec's from current bulb, LED's, etc. It can show a Lux reading everywhere it projects to, or just modeled pictures showing the lit area's.

anyways... 1 month free trial, give you one month of crack for aquarium planning in sketchup.

I was looking at that, now that someone said something I guess ill have to give it a try now, any idea how easy or hard it is to use??

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by yellowworld

I think that the acrylic would support and open top but i think i would have to use a massive eurobrace with perhaps a cross brace or two in it. I don't think it would have to be enclosed fully otherwise you wouldn't be able to put anything in it.

Hahaha, of course. I'm just thinking though of all the larger acrylic installations I've seen over the years and I can't really remember any where the top was completely open. The bracing has been enormous on all of them to the point where I thought that aquascaping has got to be a bit of a challenge. I could be wrong though, maybe it depends on the thickness used..

[yellowworld]

I wonder what the max thickness would be for this to still be able to achieve such a tight bend at the front end of the tank, I know that you can get it as thick as you want it basically but how much would say a 3 inch thick sheet bend before it would start to tare when its heated

[Lampshade]

Originally Posted by yellowworld

I was looking at that, now that someone said something I guess ill have to give it a try now, any idea how easy or hard it is to use??

It took a lot of playing around to figure out. Biggest thing is that there's no natural light, well, that I could get working. So if you want ambient lighting, you have to add it in. As for making lights, I originally i just designated a sketchup color as an emitter, and that worked fine, after getting used to it I found it easier to add in emitters using the tool, and it allows you to change the color output based on the color you paint the emitter.

[yellowworld]

Originally Posted by Lampshade

It took a lot of playing around to figure out. Biggest thing is that there's no natural light, well, that I could get working. So if you want ambient lighting, you have to add it in. As for making lights, I originally i just designated a sketchup color as an emitter, and that worked fine, after getting used to it I found it easier to add in emitters using the tool, and it allows you to change the color output based on the color you paint the emitter.

Alrighty then, guess ill give it try sometime this week and see what we get

[untamed]

Originally Posted by yellowworld

I wonder what the max thickness would be for this to still be able to achieve such a tight bend at the front end of the tank, I know that you can get it as thick as you want it basically but how much would say a 3 inch thick sheet bend before it would start to tare when its heated

I doubt you would have to use anything as extreme as 3" to make that. I think the more realistic problem you would have is that single sheet max length without custom sheet creation ($$$) is 8 feet.

As for the bend, it seems like a pretty shallow bend to me. Easily done with 1" stock...as for 3", I have no idea. The trouble with a shallow bend is that it distorts over a pretty large area. I expect you would have 1 foot (maybe more) of really distorted viewing directly at the end of the tank.

I would still do it though. It is a great plan. Eurobracing wouldn't be a problem.

[daniella3d]

Is it possible to build a tank like that? The closest thing I have seen so far is this one, and although your tank looks much prettier, this one is probably easier to build and might give you better visual end result due to the aquascaping inside and the coral cliff:

http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/9024




.

[Myka]

Oh come on guys, just do molded glass. Hehehehe... $$$$$$

[Delphinus]

Transparent aluminium!

[yellowworld]

@ daniella3d The drop off was actually the basis os this tank, I started out with just a standard long tank and just kept right on going, I love the idea of the drop off but my biggest issue with them is that you have the stick a powerhead on the glass right where you want to look when you get up in size especially if your deep end is very long. I designed the system with two closed loops to keep things moving, and a wave system that would operate from the exact middle of the tank with the hopes that the waves will sort them selves out and essentially "cut" in half at the drop off and then overflow at the back much like a natural wave would break on the beach. If my theory is correct it will only have a small amount of water returning from the back wall of the tank when another wave moves overtop of it, who knows i might actually get breakers in it hahaha

I haven't started small scale testing yet, that will come when i get back to calgary for my week off