|
Mega Tank |
 |
In this chapter of my site we asking attention for, the building of a speciale project. A project started as a ostrich farm and anded as a mega tank.The first setup of the owner, was to breed ostriches in containers. After the first containers where put in place, breeding ostrich was not as easy as he thought it was. Then their was decided to build a freshwaterstingray farm. It took a lot of blood sweat and tears to rebuild a container disigned for breeding ostrich, into a mega tank. I'm not going to bother you with ostrich but going to tell you about building a big tank a mega tank.
This tank is going to be 33 foot wide and 20 foot depth and the water height is
5,5 foot. The total will hold an 26417 gallons of water. This is exclusive the
water in the filter system.
We will flow this tank from the beginning, till the very and, and fully operational. The estimations are, that it will take a year from now till he is up and running. But we are in no hurry to do so ( I personally want to see the and result now , but who am I ). This tank will be the biggest private tank I think their is ( if their are bigger tanks let me know) and is being build by Mister X ( for privacy reasons we keep owner on known, for the time being that is ). The pictures on this site are being made by Inge Ligthelm en myself, Frank Zijlmans. We will try with pictures to tell you the story as good as possible of the development of this tank. I hope you all will enjoy this chapter of my site ( it is going to be a lot of work )
The construction of this tank is simple (to tell ). Take 4 twenty foot containers stick them together put them on a concrete foundation and you are finished. This sounds easy but it will take a year to complete. So today the first pictures.
|
|
This is how it looks now 3 of 4 containers are in the building. The sides and fronts of these containers are stripped. When put together you have a strong frame to build the tank. You can get a idea how gigantic this tank will be in the future. |
| A close-up of one of the containers stripped from the sides and the front. When you see an container in your neighborhood stand next to it so you have an idea of the proportions. As you can see in the above picture the building is ready. The most work now is on the tank and the rest of the building. The enlargement of this picture is not the correct one the original picture was lost. Apologies. |
|
|
|
A top view of 2 containers against each other The top side has been cut of, to get the most beautiful light their is, daylight. Also for cost reduction this is a very interesting option. You don't need electrical lightning in the daytime. We have seen this in the Zoo of Bazel and it was an awesome sight. |
| The 4 containers in line. The base of this mega tank is now clearly visible you are looking at the front. The transparent panels on the roof will be placed over the complete tank later on. This is to get as much light in the tank as possible. |
|
|
|
This is me standing in the rough dimensions of the tank to give you an idea of the size. These pictures where taken on a very cloudy day but you can see the amount of light. This way you need only electric light in the evening. Some HQI lamps will do the trick. |
| This is a top view of the tank. The steal beams are for strengthening the tank. You can also see why was chosen for containers, the isolation is already in their. |
|
|
|
Another top view. You can see it was a lot of work to strip the containers. The isolation material that came out of the removed panels, is placed under the containers for extra isolation. From this part of the tank, when he is finished, nothing will be visible. |
| The back side of the tank. Here a platform was made for observation and maintenance of the tank, it is also possible entering the tank from this side. This must be done when you have to catch pups, because heavy breeding is the main target. Beneath this construction the filter is planed. |
|
|
|
Some of the see threw panels on the roof where put in place and you can see the amount of light coming threw these panels. The frame which will support the glass are also welded into place. ( A part of the welding was done by me so I hope it will be strong enough ; ) ) |
| A side view of the frame in which the acrylic glass will be glued. This frame will be the only thing which is visible after all the work is finished. Everything above and beneath the frame will not be visible. This all to get a real "aquarium" look. |
|
|
|
This is the amount of light coming into the tank on a cloudy day. Water will take some of the light away but not to much. The inner edges of the container are covered with bended steal plates to get a nice view and enough body to bolt the wooden plates to in a later stadium. |
| One of the ways to get in the tank for maintenance or catching young stingrays. The water height will be approximately 6 foot. Because the tank is fairly low you have a nice view on the bottom dwellers and the surface fish, which are swimming above your head. |
|
|
|
This tank is starting to look like a real "Aquarium". The front site of the tank is almost finished. Only the middle frame has to be covered with cover plates to give it a finished look. In October we expect the delivery of the front glass ( production takes half a year ). |
| This will be the first impression of the tank when you walk in the door (not bad in my opinion). Their is no artificial light this is pure day light. And this is on a cloudy day. |
|
|
|
Again looking at the amount of light . If necessary this can be doubled. This is 2 rows of transparent roof covering which can be doubled to 4 rows. First we want to see what this will do to the tank. |
| The complete inside of the tank is covered with wooden
floor panels. This is done to get a good attachment of the polyester to the
floors and walls of the tank. |
|
|
|
A front view of the tank with the wood in it. This is a lot of work. The big panels are easy but the small holes and corners are time consuming. But when this is done you have nice and need looking box chapped which is easy to cover with polyester |
| On this picture you see the double layer plastic panels which are covering the tank. This will provide enough isolation to keep the temperature in the tank. Also the top of the tank will be covered in polyester. To prevent any water entering the construction of the tank. |
|
|
|
The first pictures of the filter system. At this picture you see the tunnel which sucks the water in to the first compartment of the filter. This is what we call a vortex. The water splashes in this compartment and the heavy dirt will sink to the bottom of this chamber. The dirt can be removed by a tab on the lowest point of this chamber. This is a technique from the koi pond technology. |
Maybe it is hart to imagine but the filter is the same as a normal biological filter. The only thing is we have more filter chambers and they are little bigger : ) . The vortex is in chamber 1 . Chamber 2 is filled with big brushes to filter bigger dirt, which slipped threw the vortex, out. Compartments 3 and 4 are filled with Alpha Crock ( i hope this is correctly written). This is a very porous kind of stone to get as much surface as possible for the bacteria. |
|
|
|
After the compartment 3 and 4 the water arrives in compartment 5. In this compartment will be 5 till 6 airlifts of 5 inch each. An airlift works on the idea of an air bubble rising to the surface. When this is done in a closed surrounding( 5 inch pipes ) the water will be pushed threw the bubble. We did test with this system and it turned out that, with this system we can move 80.000 gallon of water threw the filter in one hour. This 3 times the total water amount in the tank. |
| Finally the acrylic glass arrived, from the United
States, in the Netherlands. Now they are being cut to the write size. The
picture shows one of the front windows being placed on the cutting table. I
would like to thank WSV KUNSTSTOFFEN BV to provide me with these pictures. |
|
|
|
The front windows are ordered oversized. You can see the size of these acrylic glass plates, when you compare them with the man behind the cutting table. |
| The saw is in. Hopefully all the measurements were correct. |
|
|
|
Window number 2 is ready to being cut. You can see the thickness of this glass. 62 mm approximately 2,5 inch. |
| The window is finished and ready to being placed in his steel construction.We have to wait till the polyester of the tank is finished. Then the acrylic glass can be glued in. Looking at the picture I'm wondering what the weight is these shields is. I will find out when they are being glued. |
|
|
|
We have started to polyester the tank. This is a lot of work, specially the part above your head. |
| A picture from the inside out. This is one of the 4 places where the acrylic glass will be glued in the tank. |
|
|
|
One of the sides has been covered and painted. The paint makes the tank waterproof. So the polyester provides the strength, and the paint makes it waterproof. |
| The acrylic glass has arrived, cut to the right size. The windows weigh 380 kilos a piece. It will take some men power to get this glass at the right place. |
|
|
|
To keep the glass at the right place and make a waterproof fixation, you need a lot of silicone paste. We need approximately 40 tubes for one window. So a total of 160 tubes for the entire tank. And the necessary, de greaser and primer. |
| With a lot of sand paper we make the surface very smooth.
Then we paint it twice, to get a surface as smooth as possible for the rays. |
|
|
|
The wooden boards, which will cover the filter in the back of the tank, are covered separately with the fiber mats. When they have hardened and are painted, they will be screwed to the backside of the tank. |
| Also the pluming has arrived. The cola bottle is for size comparison. |
|
|
|
When you look at this picture you would not say this where 4 containers. They have worked with 3 men, 5 weekends, on the tank to get this result. Also the top of the tank is covered with polyester now. This is to prevent damage through the high humidity. |
| We have put a stainless steal grid on the bottom of every filter compartment. This will cary the weight of the filter material. Under this grid air pads will be placed . This will blow a lot of air threw the filter material, and the water to get a well balanced bacteria environment. |
|
|
|
The filter substrate has arrived all the 950 gallon of it. |
| This is the filter substrate it is very light, but sinks very easy so it won't drift around. It is so porous when you throw a cup of water over it. The water does not flows around the stone but really falls threw it. When you do this with another kind of substrate you will see the water flows around the surface. |
|
|
|
Because we had some materials left we build another tank behind the big tank. This tank will contain approximately 1000 gallon. This tank will be used to observe the rays from above. This tank runs along with the main filter, but also can run on it's own. |
| The racks on the bottom are their to support the alfa rock. This will be placed in backs on these racks. |
|
|
|
The pats beneath these racks provide a optimal air flow threw the alfa rock. This supports a optimal bacteria environment. |
| This is one of 5 airlifts. In the pipe are many tinny drilled holes covered by a pressure chamber ( the dark grey part ). The air is pressed threw this small holes and wants to rise to the surface, pushing water along while rising. This creates a enormous suction on the bottom part. In this way one airlift moves 13000 gallon of water in the hour. |
|
|
|
The outlet of the airlift. The diameter is 5.2 inch. The upper site of this outlet will be approximately 0.4 inch above the water surface, to get a maximal result. With tests we did the water flow was unbelievable. 5 of these airlifts will be in this tank. |
| One of the two suction parts of the filter. Each site of the tank has one. Size is 4" x 20" . They will be covered with a grille preventing small fish ( or juvenile stingrays ) getting sucked into the filter. Threw this suction part of the filter the water will flow into the vortex chamber. This is the first compartment of the filter. Here a lot of the bigger dirt will be filtered out. |
|
|
|
The suction part while building it. The plates will be covered in paint and nothing will be visible after it is finished. The only thing visible are the filter intakes and the outlets of the airlifts in the middle of the tank. |
| Nothing of the filter will be visible. The compartments are only accessible from the top of the tank. |
|
|
|
The white panel in the middle is covering the joint compartment of the right and left filter. In this panel the holes will be drilled for the airlifts. This compartment is in the center of the tank. |
| How to build an Air lift a schedule. |
|
|
|
These are the basic parts to make an airlift. For the small pipes you can also use a strong air hose. The idea is to get, air from the air pump, to the pressure chamber. |
| The rings, which together with the outside pipe, will form the pressure chamber. Watch out that the ring with the holes in it ( for the air tubes ) is above when gluing them in place. With this airlift the rings are specially made to make a tight fit, and airtight pressure chamber. With smaller airlifts men can imagine al kinds of solutions to make the chamber airtight. |
|
|
|
After the rings are in place, we glue the outside pipe of the pressure chamber in place. With this airlift we made to air supplies in the upper ring. We need a lot of air capacity with this airlift. With smaller ones we can use one air supply. |
| This is how a finished airlift looks like. |
|
|
|
A battery of 5 airlifts. This is the suction part. |
| This is the back site of the filter panel in the middle of the filter. |
|
|
|
This is the front site. This is the only part, of the airlifts and filter, which is visible. The cola bottle is for size comparison. |
| A side view of the panel. |
|
|
|
A part of the sand is put on the top paint layer. This way when the rays are blowing or moving the sand the painted bottom never will be visible. This is the idea anyway. |
| The first big pieces of wood have arrived. We are thinking of letting them hang in the tank on thick fishing lines. This way the bottom stays free for the rays. |
|
|
|
The space behind the mega tank. The over floating water of the mega tank flows threw tubes to the little tanks behind it. The small tanks are 40"long and 16" x 16". They will be used for the upbringing of young stingrays. And other nice fish. |
| The floor is water proof. We used a kind of liquid rubber paint. It is easy to clean and efficient. |
|
|
|
Their are 66 small tanks running on this system. When necessary, with disease or other kinds of strange things, all of these little tanks can be separated from the main filter. But in normal conditions they will be running in the big system. |
| To prevent a big algae problem you have to take precautions for the sun. This is what happens when the sun shines. Daylight is very good for the tank but long sun hours will create algae and this is not what you want in such a big tank. |
|
|
|
With a tank this size, everything is more including the PVC for the plumbing. |
| A few lengths of PVC pipes. For the main system we use 4,5" pipes all the other plumbing will be made of 1,5"and 2". |
|
|
|
The front windows ar in place. They only have to be glued with silicone. I wrote earlier that we planed to use 40 tubes of silicone, this turned out to be 60. |
| We pulled a little bit of protective foil from the glass. It is 100% clear. Normal glass is usually a little bit green. |
|
|
|
The effect of daylight. We are very curious how this will look like when the water is in. |
| The front window is placed to the front of the tank with a small space. This will be filled with silicone. The water pressure will put more pressure to the silicone this way we have a 100% watertight construction. |
|
|
|
Here you can see how clear this glass is ( don't mind the mess on the background yet ). |
| A picture of the solar screen taken threw the glass. When the tank is filled with water this will not be visible, you will see the water surface. |
|
|
|
Solar screen open. |
| Solar screen closed. The red beam above the tank will be used for hoisting heavy pieces of wood or big fish inside or outside the tank. |
|
|
|
This is approximately 1/4 what's needed for the filter system. The smaller valves are for the smaller tanks behind the mega tank. This is the place where the most work is being done, the glue on the front windows of the mega tank itself hast to dry for at least 60 days. |
| A truckload of PVC piping. |
|
|
|
Also installing another 9 tanks for young or young adult animals. Tank size are 6,5 foot long 3 foot wide and 2 foot high. |
| This is the boiler which will provide the heating of the tank. |
|
|
|
The boiler. |
| One of the heat exchangers. The copper is not in direct contact with ray water. The inside of the heat exchanger is stainless steel. On the outflow a stainless steel spiral will be mounted which will heat the tanks. |
|
|
|
A picture from the walking bridge behind the mega tank. The empty space behind the big tanks is for the existing 4500 gallon tank. Which will be moved to this location in time. |
| We filled the tank with water to test it. We tested it with 2 very rare fish. |
|
|
|
Maybe by this clip you get a idea of the size of it. The water is very cloudy due to the 2 fish in it. After an hour the tank was clear again. This water is only for testing the tank and the filters. |
| This is the Mega Tank at the moment filled with water and testing the filters and also cleaning the tank. We have put in a couple of 100 kilos off salt for cleaning . In the background you see the flow of the airlifts. The airlifts ar at 70% now and produce an water flow of 66000 gallon in just one hour. |
|
|
|
The water is still a little bit green, but when the filter system is completely running the water will be almost white,and with the acrilyc glass it should be a very clear view. As you see the background is still a little bit dull. A specialized company from Denmark will create a special made background. This company also does this for big zoo's al over the world so it should be spectacular. |
| As you see daylight is wonderful and this is on a cloudy day near sunset. But the effect is spectacular. |
|
|
|
The overflow, the filter system is closed , beneath the 66 little tanks is another big tank with alpha rock. This is the lowest point in the entire filter system. In his compartment is a 10000 gallon pump. This pump pumps the water back in the mega tank. The water level will rise and overflows in a pipe which divides the water in the separate tanks . |
| As you see the divider pipe divides the water over the small tanks. Every big flow will be divided in 3 separate pipes. So each little tank has his own water supply. |
|
|
|
The first compartment of the filter is the location of the vortex, at this point we can get the big dirt out of the tank when necessary. In the left part of the picture you see the filter material. This will be covered with bleu sponge and cotton wool. |
| The other 2 compartments with filter material. You also see one of the 5 flow pipes of the airlifts. |
|
|
|
The air tubes going down the filter material are going to the pads beneath it. This way you have a optimal airflow threw you filter substrate. |
| This is the scale model which will be used in the construction of the background of this tank. The company who makes this background is Pangea from Denmark a company who is specialized in these construction in Zoo's all around the world they are experts in artificial backgrounds of top quality. |
|
|
|
First a frame is being made from PVC pipes. This frame is mounted against the back- and site walls of the tank. The white hoses running behind the grey frame are hoses which will provide the heating of the tank. |
| A side view along the back of the tank. |
|
|
|
When the frame is finished it is being covered with a netting what is thick and strong. This is fixed on the frame with tyraps. This is the rough construction of a rock formation. |
| The flow outlets of the airlifts will not be visible when the wall is finished. |
|
|
|
This is a picture from the suction part of the filter system. When this is finished nothing will be visible from the outside of the tank. |
| The right side wall completely covered in the netting. The orange plastic covering which you see is to prevent concrete to come in places where you don't want it. Your acrylic glass for instance.The big orange bags you see are big bags filled with sand. We had put in the sand already but for constructing the background all the sand hat to be removed. We had to move 4 of these bags with sand. ( My back is still killing me) |
|
|
|
A part of the background covered in the netting. With a little imagination you can see a rock formation appearing. |
| On the top right part of this picture you can see a little bit of the stair which will be used entering the tank. When the tank is filled with water, also this part will not be visible. It looks easy but it is an incredible amount of work. What you see on this pictures is 5 days work for 5 people. |
|
|
|
Between their regular work they also made a custom made background for somebody. This is the scale model. |
| This is the rough trimming on a wooden board. They sculpture this later. |
|
|
|
And now mega tank again. The walls have been plastered in concrete. With a very rough surface to give the finishing concrete maximum grip on this surface. |
| This is only the beginning and even know you can se this will be an amazing piece of work. The holes you see will be used to fill up the background with concreet.This makes it one piece of concrete rock. |
|
|
|
The stairs for entering the tank will not be visible from the front of the tank. Entering the tank will be done in a regular basis for maintenance and catching of the breaded animals. |
| A glance along the right site of the tank. You can not see the stairs when you look into the tank. The top of the stairs know visible will not be visible when the water is in. |
|
|
|
Beatifull.The Portuguese workers which were creating this background, found it strange that we were already impressed with this view. Later we understood what they meant. |
| For size comparison 2 adults in the tank. |
|
|
|
They have started now with the real work. They spray concrete on the rough surface and just before it's getting hard the sculptor / artist is doing his job. You are looking at a piece of concrete and before you know it it has changed to a piece of rock. It is unbelievable. |
| Difference between the ( still to be sculptured) rock on the left and the frame ( on the right). |
|
|
|
Again the difference. |
| On the left site of the tank they have started sculpting the concrete into rock formations. If you stand close by it looks if you are in a rocky canyon. The small ditch on the right part if this picture is the suction part of the filter. When you are standing in front of the glass this part will not be visible. |
|
|
|
The threshold between the containers is also being covered in concrete. And rocks are carved out of this concrete. The end result will be astounding. |
| Rock detail. |
|
|
|
Rock detail from the threshold. |
| When you look along the background you see how it looks like real rock. And this is still the rough pattern wait till the painter had done his work. |
|
|
|
Rock detail. |
| From the left outside looking in. |
|
|
|
Artist at work. |
| A very nice rock formation. |
|
|
|
Overview. |
| Overview. |
|
|
|
The outlets of the filter system not visible at all anymore completely integrated into the wall. |
| The company Pangea has done his work and the end result is mind blowing. It is beautiful. Normally you only see this in a zoo and not in a private aquarium. |
|
|
|
I have taken a lot of pictures, from some detailed parts of the tank and some overview pictures. But you can see this firm can do magic with paint and concrete. |
| Detail in the mud wall. The idea was to build a mud wall below water from the amazon. I think they have done a excellent job. |
|
|
|
Detail. |
| Detail. |
|
|
|
Detail. |
| A overview from the left site of the tank. On the left the stair for entering the tank. |
|
|
|
Overview on the right the stairs again. |
| The outlet of the airlifts. Look how this is merged with the background. |
|
|
|
Left site of the tank. On the far left the suction part of the filter system. Not visible on the outside of the tank. |
| Roots coming from the surface. |
|
|
|
Detail. |
| A view along the rear of the tank. |
|
|
|
Detail. |
| Detail. |
|
|
|
Outlet of the airlift covered in rock. |
| Detail. |
|
|
|
Roots from the surface. |
| Detail. |
|
|
|
Suction inlet. |
| Detail. |
|
|
|
The middle of the tank. |
| Detail. |
|
|
|
Detail. |
| The small tanks behind the mega tank are running almost 3 weeks now with small stingrays in it. |
|
|
|
Detail. |
| At the moment we are filling the mega tank. The tap is running 4 days know. When I'm typing this ( behind the mega tank 30 degrees Celsius) he has 1 inch to go before he is completely full. Just added 500 kg of salt. |
|
|
|
It's very difficult to get a decent picture of this beatifull tank, every picture you take does not show the beaty of it. The biological balance is really getting very good now. After a bad start evrything is comming together now. It took much longer as we thought. |
| After we put in the firts rays we had 2 powerfailures in a short period of time. And I can asure you this is very bad for the fisch and the bacterial balance in the tank. The water turns white and your fisch are not active anymore. This was a good lesson for us and we have installed a no-break system. If we have a power failure this system starts all the pumps and lighting within 6 seconds. And this is something that all tanks should have with a nice collection. |
|
|
|
A frontal vieuw of almost the intier tank. It looks if there are not so many fish, but their are more then 25 fish in their already. And we have a amount of fish which will move to this tank in a short while. |
| All colours are comming back. the sides and the back of the tank were covered in fine layer of algea, now you see that the colours are comming back as the tank getting to it's biological balance , algea almost completaly gone. |
|
|
|
A vieuw on the right side of the tank. |
| The biggest female we have in our collection almost 26" in disk. Always hungry. |
|
|
|
Typical ray behaviour blowing in the sand looking for food. Specially now she is pregnant se has a good appetite. |
| A small part of the collection. Motoro, pearl, leopoldi and P14. |
|
|
|
Also in the tank the famous white ray Potamotrygon Leopoldi ' spec ' Ingeborg. |
| The background is getting better visible every day but always remember you are looking threw 20 foot of water. |
|
|
|
A nice carpet of rays. |
| Something you see in this tank quit often is that the rays are swimming free in open water, and this is a very nice sight. |
|
| In the future I will post a lot more pictures about this project which is constantly changing. No we have imported a big ammount of Azian Arowanas. They also will go in the Mega tank ( and some in my private tank off course :-) ). Also how we collect the young in this tank is nice to see. | |
