Tank Man

Nope, not the NZ Aquarium keep guessing..............

Hi Mystic, PM me for prices etc, I can possibly deliver for FREE as I'm suppose to be heading south on friday.

Yes you could see it because it's coming to Welly soon :lol:

Tank man does indeed make acrylic tanks and can bend "most" shapes although several architects have near caught me out on several occasions but then that's what they do for a living - design the impossible to build :lol: suphew - Acrylic has many advantages over glass, it will form to complex shapes that glass will not and is chemically joined meaning no silicone in the corners just a nice polished edge. smidey - Contact Tank Man for acrylic and he will look after all fnzas members with discounts.

Just thought I'd post what I've been up to this week as the DIY seems a little slow at the moment. Pics are always good... This is a 70mm thick panel formed to R8222mm with an arc length of 4340mm. There is a pair of these panels and we will be installing them into a steel / fiberglass tank on site later this month. They look a bit dull as we are presently resurfacing the outer side. Now can any one guess what these panels above are going to be made into ? Cheers, Tank Man.

Oh forgot to mention too, the Wellington International Air Port is getting a nice new big fish tank as well.

Warren - I'd give you a job sweeping my work shop for extra pocket money but the temptation for you to try and slide out with one of my tanks would be too great We review the security cams every time you leave by the way

It's only money and you can't take it with you

Acrylic ? :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Well firstly, I can't take all the credit for this tank. It was sourced from a japanese company but some one screwed up and forgot to order it with the bottom in it :oops: hence where I come into it . A tank of this size manufactured by us would be between $8 to 9K approximately depening on material thickness etc. Tank Man

Here ya go 1500 x 1000m high.

Hang on be right back............................................................................................................................................................

Some thing must be going ahead as I've just finshed glueing a base on a 1500mm Diameter tank for them :bounce: Want pics ????

I use Mazzei injectors for our protein skimmers we make, a small one like that costs us over $200 NZ but they do have replaceable parts unlike the one your looking at . Tank Man

Don't even go there, cheap acrylic is not suitable. I've found cheap Asian made sheet is not polymerised properly and won't last. We've had to replace Tanks in the past which we made from cheaper sheet, now we only use Rohm sheet (German origin) which we can guaranty the quality of. Another problem of Asian sheet is the consistency of the thickness, 20mm sheet for instance can vary over several millimeter's in thickness making it hard to work with. Tank Man.

That's no where near what I was thinking it would take, I was think you'd have to muck around for a hour a day sort of thing. Might have to start building me a tank with all this inspiration around !

Cracker That's Awesome, Tell me (the No tank guy!) how many hours of work do you have to put in each week to maintain this tank ? Cheers, Tank Man.

Yip that's a seat alright ! It's only 800mm O/D, I climbed in and tried it out - it's not to person who like to stretch out!

MRSkz, This is how we'd make a steel stand of the approximate size you have stated. The material choice of either stainless steel or mild steel normally depends on the persons budget (but I like stainless myself :lol: ). The larger framing is 50x50x2mm and smaller is 25x50x2mm. We normally use marine Ply Wood to cover the top rather than MDF as it won't swell if it gets wet. On top of the ply we use a close cell PVC type sheet 10mm thick although we're having problems sourcing it and may have to look at alternatives in the future. I hope this helps. Tank Man.

Mate, that's a very impressive display ! Do you have a shot of the whole tank ? Tank Man

I've built skimmers and sand filters for commercial jobs and used PVC Cement with no known problems to date, I'd just let it cure properly (24Hrs) before using it that way your assured all the solvent is evaporated fully. The stuff I used is called Beta Plus but Marley gold will do the trick too. Remember to use the primer as stated in the instructions. I've used the heat gun trick to recover fittings as well, worked well as TM said. Tank Man

Thanks for the welcome. Some thing a little different for you, a Japanese Bath (Ofuro) built for Mangapapa lodge - Havelock North.

No, Thats one of the workers who I use to make my tanks look bigger in pictures than they actully are - If you meet him you'd understand

Here's a few more once again I mainly have pictures of the heavier stuff :-? This tank has a R300mm front then 200mm straight on the sides, front is 20 and rear is 25mm ROHM sheet. The acrylic is 1400 high pictured in the work shop. Same tank in customers house with his base and top. I built him two of these tanks as when he lowered his theme rock in by rope the first one he drop it and destroyed the whole tank ! This one is 1120mm OD and located in Under water world, Pattaya (Thailand). This is the D tank in Pattaya. This is a R4m x 6800 x 1800mm H Panel in KL city Malaysia This one is R4m cut back to 4800 x 1800mm H in KL also.

Skippy, Acrylic will scratch but it can be polished out with easy enough by your self. Quality acrylic that has been manufactured then fabricated to the required standards will not craze. This is where most people have trouble first off they use cheap Asian sheet and then don't have the knowledge or equipment to process it properly. As an example you must anneal it after every glue joint has set and with in a certain time frame that means you need an oven big enough to fit the tank in and that will ramp the temp and and down as required automatically. We spent well over $100K developing an oven that is 8 x 6 x 4m high and will hold the temperature within .2 deg C of the set point to do this correctly. Cesarz, Fabricating acrylic sheet is not a cost effect way to build small rectangular tanks compared to what you'd pay for glass how ever yes we can do it. The most cost effective way to have a acrylic tank is to go with a cylinder as this cuts down the material thickness required. I'm presently look at importing cast acrylic tube (No joins!) at 650 OD to make up to 1000mm high cylinders with which will be a cheaper option again than fabricating them from flat sheet. We may also look at smaller diameters too depending on interest. MCT, Sorry I will put some tissues out for you ! Most of our tanks and tunnels are fitted by another contractor so we don't get involved and don't have a chance to see them finished. We have been to Thailand and Malaysia last year to go through a couple that we supplied the acrylic for and take some pictures. Smaller tanks for individuals normally just get shipped out and we don't see the end product for those either. I'll try find some pictures to post of a few. Tank Man.