[rec.pets] Marine Equiptment

clarke@acheron.UUCP (Ed Clarke) (01/09/88)

Does anyone out there know of a US distributor for 'Tunze' equiptment?  This
seems to be a German company (don't know if east or west) that produces very
high-tech marine aquarium products.  To quote from 'Practical Fishkeeping':

 "For those unfamiliar with Tunze equiptment, an osmolator is a device which
  replaces water as it evaporates.  An unhacked version can be genuinely
  sensitive to 5ml in a hundred gallon tank.  If 5ml of water evaporates, 5ml
  of water is dosed back into the system."

By the way, Practical Fishkeeping is a British magazine that I picked up at a
local pet store.  It has sections on fresh and salt aquariums, as well as 
artificial ponds(!) and biofilters for same.  Would you believe that one guy 
was asking for advice on building a 10'x4'x4' salt water aquarium?  That's
five TONS of water!  Hope he lives in the basement ... 'cause he will once
he fills that tank.
-- 
+=================================+=====================+
| Acheron: The river of woe which |                     |
|          winds through Hades.   | phri!acheron!clarke |
+=================================+=====================+

jla@inuxd.UUCP (Joyce Andrews) (01/13/88)

> local pet store.  It has sections on fresh and salt aquariums, as well as 
> artificial ponds(!) and biofilters for same.  Would you believe that one guy 
> was asking for advice on building a 10'x4'x4' salt water aquarium?  That's
> five TONS of water!  Hope he lives in the basement ... 'cause he will once
> he fills that tank.

I'm thinking of such a tank...but I want to build it as a wall.
The Florida room on the first floor (the house is on a slab and
the slab is on coral limestone) would be a great place for a
whole-wall aqaurium.  Since I am only a few feet from clean sea
water, I would just keep a fresh supply of ocean pumping in and
the old stuff pumping out, so I wouldn't have to worry much about
biofilters and such, I don't think.  I sure would be in trouble
if the pump went out, though.  

How big do you all think it could be?  At what point is the glass
going to have to be too thick?  I have such a wonderful choice of
specimens, although I rarely keep anything for a really long time
because I like to return them to the reef and get new varieties.
But a really big tank would allow me to have a baby nurse shark
and a 12-inch ray and BIG moray eels as well as young specimens
of the beautiful grouper family.  I saw a Nassau grouper the other
day (in someone's tank) that was about 5 inches long.  It is
striped (in a mottled sort of a way) yellow and brownish-black,
and it looks like velvet.  A really attractive fish. 

Maybe I should just build myself a commercial aquarium as another
tourist attraction?

-- 
	Joyce Andrews King                      
	ihnp4!inuxd!jla
	AT&T, Indianapolis

farrens@american.WISC.EDU (Matthew Farrens) (01/15/88)

In article <1124@inuxd.UUCP> jla@inuxd.UUCP (Joyce Andrews) writes:
>Since I am only a few feet from clean sea water, 

>	Joyce Andrews King                      
>	ihnp4!inuxd!jla
>	AT&T, Indianapolis


	I guess I didn't realize Indianapolis was a seaport.  Here all along I
thought it was in the heartland of America.

	As for the thickness of the glass, the Monterey Bay Aquarium (most
highly recommended!) has multi-thousand gallon tanks.  I think they use
plexiglass, but never the less it can be done.  They also filter during the day
and let pure seawater in at night.  Apparently pure seawater is cloudy and
reduces the opticality (?).

MF

richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) (01/15/88)

In article <1124@inuxd.UUCP> jla@inuxd.UUCP (Joyce Andrews) writes:
>> local pet store.  It has sections on fresh and salt aquariums, as well as 
>> artificial ponds(!) and biofilters for same.  Would you believe that one guy 
>> was asking for advice on building a 10'x4'x4' salt water aquarium?  That's
>> five TONS of water!  Hope he lives in the basement ... 'cause he will once
>> he fills that tank.
>
>I'm thinking of such a tank...but I want to build it as a wall.
>The Florida room on the first floor (the house is on a slab and
>the slab is on coral limestone) would be a great place for a
>whole-wall aqaurium.  Since I am only a few feet from clean sea
>water, I would just keep a fresh supply of ocean pumping in and
>the old stuff pumping out, so I wouldn't have to worry much about
>biofilters and such, I don't think.  I sure would be in trouble
>if the pump went out, though.  
>
>How big do you all think it could be?  At what point is the glass
>going to have to be too thick?


I knew a guy in Hamilton, Ontario, who had a "room tank".

His name was Stan Winwood, and he must be about 70 ish by now. He
had a small home in a quit neighborhood; you walked in and POW
there it was, 8' tall, 8' wide, and god knows how deep.

He also had a few 100 gal tanks scattered around his house, all
set into the wall.

You need better advice than can be had from a bunch of programmers
for your glass thickness question, but it will probably be
pricey.

But worth it.

Can I come and see it when it's done ?


-- 
              "Early in the morning, just about the break of day,
                    he used to sleep in till the afternoon"
                           richard@gryphon.CTS.COM 
   {ihnp4!scgvaxd!cadovax, philabs!cadovax, codas!ddsw1} gryphon!richard