elusive_fish

Rather than start new threads I may as well ask all my projecr related questions here. The poly background I am carving is coming along nicely. Now I just need to figure out what colour sand to coat it in. I basically have three options: 1/ Mid grey/greywacke sand as found on the local beach 2/ tan/limestone sand. The stuff they use as grout when bricking houses looks like it would work nicely. 3/ Black/iron sand like found on the west coast. I've read people on here saying that fish look better on a dark background... but would iron sand be too dark? The limestone sand would look closest to their natural environment...not that any of my fish would have seen it! What do you guys think?

Fair enough I don't think ive seen (or maybe just haven't noticed) a tank with black silicone before. Let me know how it looks!

what's the fuss with black silicone?

Why don't you try calling him? He doesn't always seem to be very quick at email, but he seems very easy to contact via phone.

Thanks for asking, I just did too before checking back here. They will probably be wondering why two different people are interesting in an odd application Did you paint it first so that any gaps in the sand dont show through as white?

I've started carving a big chunk o' poly to make a rock looking centre piece for the tank. Would dems/yellows/peacocks look better in front of a dark rock? Anyone in chch know where I can get some very fine dark sand? Also, is this epoxy resin suitable for adhering the sand? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Boats-marine/Parts-accessories/Other/auction-221596026.htm Thanks again to all those helping me with this crazy project!

Thanks living art. I cant quite make out the design. Is the ply wood sitting directly onto the 100x100 posts and the 150x50 is a skirting around the outside?

I'm really nervous about designing a base that withstand 1200+ kg. Anyone want to throw me their ideas on what it should look like? should I use house piles for the posts/legs?

Ive played around with carving poly and got some pleasing shapes. Ive read about coating the final creation in epoxy resin and covering in sand while still wet... but I still dont know what glue to use to laminate a couple thicknesses of the polystyrene together. Anyone know what is safe?

I'm thinking of doing it at bar height, with people sitting on all four sides. Part of that reasoning is that it will be above small kid level... if they want to view it, a parent would have to lift them or sit them on their knee. The bar also provides a buffer between people and the tank, making knocks far less likely. I love little kids (I have two under 4!) but I know they will probably enjoy trying to smack the tank/fish with something hard. Mine have grown up with aquariums, but they still slap the side of it at times. Can anyone help me with a couple Q's? 1/ I want to create a polystyrene wall/divider in the middle. Otherwise you'd be making awkward eye contact with the person opposite I have a big chunk of poly, but how do I laminate a couple of layers together to give me a big chunk to carve? What adhesive can I use? 2/ Would 6 x 4ft neons be sufficient lighting?

Haha! I wasn't sure anyone would recognise my avatar

I'm still not sure if I have the time or money to be doing this... but... Here is an idea I have for the cafe tank. Its higher bar seating surrounding the tank. To stop awkward eyes-meeting-across-the-tank moments Id have to make a polystyrene rock wall free standing in the middle with a cave network going through it for the fish. For those in Chch, like the cichlid tank out back of redwood aquatics. Please excuse the ugly drawing, but you get the idea! For construction, I was thinking about something like the below. Red = 100 x 50 clear framing timber, yellow = 100 x 100. It would have kitchen style laminate covering around the outside. Despite he way ive drawn it, I think id make the bar free standing on its own fitting around the outside (that way no pressure made on the counter surface would impact the tank cabinet in any way) Two questions: 1/ Would this arrangement be attractive? 2/ Would the bare bones be strong enough as ive designed it?

The cafe is certainly happening, the fish are To Be Determined I'd love to do it, but its a matter of money and whether I have time to organise it when I have so many other things to do in the next month. If I dont have an aquarium on open day, it will still happen at some stage. Why would I spend $2500 on a plasma screen TV when the same money would buy a truly amazing tank that would make a real unique feature? (thats a rhetorical question.. im 99.9% sure this crowd will agree!) The cafe is in New Brighton.

I'll have somewhere for you guys to meet in July... I'm opening a cafe June 27th. I'm hoping to put a monster tank in the place too (see the technical forum). Would that be enough to tempt you there? I'd love to go to the June event and meet some other locals but the next month is going to be MANIC.

Great suggestion. Something like that would be perfect. Can anyone out there supply? It would be so much better to start off with fish bigger than juvies, but id imagine I wont find many people willing to part with quantities of adult fish.

When I was living in Canada I got an unwanted fish from a friend they said was a blood red parrot... but looking at pictures on the net it looked to be a red devil... or more red devil than whatever else it was hybridised with? Very similar orange to pinky colour and shape as this guy: It was about 20-25cm long and a real character! It used to spit stones against the side of the glass to make noise and get attention. It pulled out and played with the plastic plant (there was no way I could keep any real ones with it) and would really savage my algae scrubbing brush when I used it. It would get ultra excited when you went near the tank... but I could never tell if it was glad to see me or wanted to attack me :lol: It had by far the biggest personality ive seen in a fish. A few people commented that it was more like a dog in a fish body (and strangely enough, the above pic came from a website called dogbreedinfo.com haha)

Another idea I just thought of, instead of one big tank in the middle of the room. What about I put two three 4ft tanks end-on-end. That way I could put three different displays with different types of fish/aquascapes in each. I could either do this in the middle of hte place, so that tables etc could be arranged on all sides, or at a wall for higher bar seeting in front of it. What do you guys think would be the most visually appealing?

Eek! a 2.5m long sump tank? I liked the 4ft idea a lot more I really like the idea of doing this, but taking the time to understand the design and requirements might be the killer. I get posession of the cafe in just over 3 weeks and in the mean time I have to negotiate the lease, determine the branding, design the interior layout and colour, modify the kitchen, set up the business, determine the menu, organise suppliers... and for the next week and a half, still doing my regular job I don't mean to sound lazy, but it would really help me if the kind people on here can post specific links to products (with prices, if possible) The other big question, is that if I can pull this off what kind of fish to put in? My natural lean is malawi cichlids, as they are not only colourful but are active and full of personality. I know it would probably be a shame to have such a big tank without big fish, but things like arrowanas and oscars do nothing for me. Giant gouramis tend to be characters from what ive seen.

aweseome picture, thank you oeminx. How big would a sump tank be in comparison to the main tank?

Can one of the more technically minded people here help me my drawing what the sump design would look like? would the heaters be in the sump tank? If anyone can give specific ideas about filtration methods and lights I would be very appreciative.

But surely having 80cm of width certainly helps? It could be against a wall, but if you can sit people on every side it maximises the appeal and makes it that much more interesting, does it not?

good idea... but its a concrete floor

Hi, I'm opening a cafe in Christchurch on June 27th and I'm seriously considering putting a big fish tank in the place as a point of interest. Something in the order of 250cm long x 80cm wide x 60cm high = 1200 litres. I really like the idea of putting the right in the middle as kind of a divider - and this means that people could sit on every side of it. Id imagine the only way I could provide power would be to drop a line down from the ceiling. Maybe incorporating it into a false colum What do you guys think of the idea? How would I run filtration? How would I be able to hide any pipes as much as possible, but not limit viewing? What kind of lighting would I put on it? Any additional thoughts/insights/comments are most welcome

I guess its pretty much impossible to tell what those things are on trademe. After looking at those two awesome fish specimens marklb posted I'd have to say those fish don't have much of a sunshine peacock shape - the front shape is very different between the two. The red shoulders has a mouth that is closer to half height up and the whole front is far more symmetrical, whereas the sunshine has a mouth far closer to the botom and not the same torpedo symmetry. Not that it really matters, i think you guys have successfully instilled a healthy scepticism about trademe fish in me and I won't be touching auctions like this

But it wouldnt be like the US government to act upon partial or erroneous information would it?