humm... light bulb flashes... idea

[TroyPham]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5InNVJ_Ythc


something like this would make a cool reef and clam tank combo. still not sure how this works.

[TroyPham]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_uG3PIuEsU

another tank. same idea

[erikharrison]

~deleted~ firewall!

edited by greenmako

[Ram_Puppy]

same here, troy for those of us stuck at work can you describe?

[TroyPham]

humm... to hard to describe.


i tryed to google a pic. but didn't find anything. it's worth taking a look at when you get home.

[dshawls]

how does the top connect to the bottom? if my eyes do not decieve me, it looks like they connect on the bottom but somehow the water stays in the top?

[Richard]

Yeah on the second video you can see a fish swim out of the upper portion to the lower portion. Pretty cool setup. Are they making those tanks themselves or buying them somewhere?

[cpreefguy]

Cool, but I dont get it :roll

[urban79]

Its like holding a glass under water and lifting up. how the water say in the glass intill it gets air in it from the bottom.

[urban79]

http://knuttz.net/hosted_pages/Home-Aquarium-20061031

[TroyPham]

Its like holding a glass under water and lifting up. how the water say in the glass intill it gets air in it from the bottom.



that is right.... but they have a airstone in the upper section.. how does it not break suction and drain out. that i what i don't know.

[TroyPham]

Yeah on the second video you can see a fish swim out of the upper portion to the lower portion. Pretty cool setup. Are they making those tanks themselves or buying them somewhere?


no idea about this. I'm into building different (crazy) tanks... this might be my next project.

[urban79]

well as long you draw the air for the top part of the tank. You never loose.

[Ram_Puppy]

that is crazy insane...

I have visions of flooding in your future troy. :) good luck.

[TroyPham]

that is crazy insane...

I have visions of flooding in your future troy. :) good luck.



Thats what a lot of people said about this tank

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/bagedtaco/wholetankangle2.jpg

[erikharrison]

so you have an overpowered return pump and an underpowered overflow to keep it full all of the time? That tank is sealed correct? Where is the access? Nice, btw! :)

[TroyPham]

so you have an overpowered return pump and an underpowered overflow to keep it full all of the time? That tank is sealed correct? Where is the access? Nice, btw! :)


no the tank is not sealed. the top is open

[Ram_Puppy]

now troy, if you do this, it would be awesome if you could use large acrylic cylinders instead.

[TroyPham]

now troy, if you do this, it would be awesome if you could use large acrylic cylinders instead.


i could do so if the **** things didn't cost so much. now if you wanna pay for the cylinders and let me experiment, i'm all for it. :D

[Ram_Puppy]

tell yah what, when that winning mega millions ticket falls in my lap we'll talk .:)

[erikharrison]

so how is it done? ARG! tell me!

[Ram_Puppy]

erik, if I understand it correct, the tops of both aquariums are open, but the structure between the two of them is essentially a square pipe. because both ends of the pipe are under water, a suction is formed and will not release unless one side comes out of the water, then all bets are off and it comes pouring out.

if you want to wrap your noodle around it, do the experiment someone talked about earlier. fill a large bowl with water, then put a glass in it, on its side so that its under water, and there is no air in inside of the glass, only water. then, turn the glass upside down being careful to keep the rim from breaking the surface.

if the glass is taller than the water level of the bowl, then you should allready have water in the glass higher than the water in the bowl. next, slowly lift the glass up out of the water, straight up, and you will litterally lift the water out of the bowl until you break the surface w/ the rim and it goes flooding back in. essentially atmospheric pressure, and lack there of inside the glass, pushed the water up into the glass.

[Ram_Puppy]

oh, are you talking about troys tank?

that thing is awesome...

if i remember right water spills over the sides, collects under neath, and is pumped back in... it is a wicked cool tank.

(and i never thought it would overflow!)

[erikharrison]

lol yes Troy's tank. :) I get how the other works ;)
It's a mess waiting to happen. :D

[edawgm]

If only evaporation was not an issue ;)

[Ram_Puppy]

I swear Troy, you should market that clam tank, and market it high end... it's a fantastic design.

[LoneStar]

With Troy's old tank, just get a autotop off and make sure the sides stay algea free!

[TroyPham]

If only evaporation was not an issue ;)


this was never an issue. i topped off a total of 1.5g/day in my 120g system.

the big issue was trying to keep all the sides clean of algae, in and out. the acrylic made it hard to scrap and if i left for a few days. i spent the next 2 cleaning.

i really did love the setup, but i would never do it out of acrylic again. glass is the way to go and with the new pvc bottom and bonding that they doing to the rimless tanks now, you could make a great tank.


in regards to this

"I swear Troy, you should market that clam tank, and market it high end... it's a fantastic design. "

there is a company that is building tanks like this. they sell them as a complete system for $3500. they were at MACNA and the ORA tank was there setup.

i talked to them for a bit about there tanks and they had a few things to say about my design and the " patient" on their tank i was humm infringing(sp) on.

i could build these and sell them as full setups for less then half of what they r asking, but i don't have the time to build them.

i'm going to attempt a glass tank in the near future. living in an aprtment is a diy project kill.

[Ram_Puppy]

um... you can patent a box of water that overflows and recycles? i doubt it. :)

When you do the tank You must document it so we can all live vicariously! and I know what you mean about apartments!

[LoneStar]

Yeah with a PVC bottom it would make a nice setup. Anyone with some garage space and the right tools could make it at home. I would feel more comfortable in siliconing the glass to a routered PVC bottom vs a glass only bottom anyday.

[Ram_Puppy]

so these pvc bottoms, they just route out grooves in the bottom for the glass to go in, add some silicone, insert, and now there is a braced frameless edge that is easily drillable now?

that is pretty cool...

where does one get these pvc sheets? I am wondering if that would be an easy and effective way to build a pico cube.

[TroyPham]

if you search my sn on here you can see the tank setup and all the pictures.

you can buy the pvc sheets online.. they are expensive. but a much better base to work from. if i do build another tank it will be the same size as the last clam tank 24x24x10. i'm gonna to some testing at the apartment pool with the other tank design. gonna put a seio in the upper chamber and see if it will still hold a vacuum with that much water flow.

[LoneStar]

so these pvc bottoms, they just route out grooves in the bottom for the glass to go in, add some silicone, insert, and now there is a braced frameless edge that is easily drillable now?

that is pretty cool...

where does one get these pvc sheets? I am wondering if that would be an easy and effective way to build a pico cube.

Yup pretty much. AGE does this. I haven't searched for PVC sheets but I can imagine it isn't too cheap ;) BUT a lot easier to work with. :)

This is a real purdy one similar to Brian's:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1033086

DIY PVC bottom with starphire sides sounds like a pretty cool (expensive) project!

[TroyPham]

that's eddie's tank here in houston.. it's not a diy tank. it's an AGE tank if i remember correctly. i haven't seen it in person yet, but heard it was nice.

[Ram_Puppy]

wow.. JUST got done going through that thread... what an amazing tank!

makes me wanna win the lotto. :(

[mathias]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHzGhGNbZFI&mode=related&search=

couldn't resist in posting it

[LoneStar]

that's eddie's tank here in houston.. it's not a diy tank. it's an AGE tank if i remember correctly. i haven't seen it in person yet, but heard it was nice.

Yup its an AGE tank ;) Guess I didn't state it clearly before he has it at the top of his thread on RC ;)

[Ram_Puppy]

yeah, I caught that. it is absolutely stunning.. he really did take it to a whole other level.

[TroyPham]

in a shallow clam tank i wouldn't do it starfire or low lead glass. it would be a waiste. plain glass would work just fine. at 24x24x10 you could go 3/8 glass and be ok. 1/2" would give you more room for polishing the top edge. but 3/8" would work fine. i really want to build an sps/clam lagoon tank. I'm wainting till i get into a house here in Houston before i do so. everyone loves the topdown shots of sps tanks and clams. why not just build a tank that you view from the top down.