Arapaima Pond Build

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Luc

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Thanks fish friend1, I consider myself very lucky every day working for a great company with great staff.
Having Mr.T. finally brought me into 2 new parts of fishkeeping, ponds and Monsterfish. Enjoying both.

Cheers,
Luc
 

Luc

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That settling tank is where I pin high hopes for filtering out dirt. Really look forward to fill up the pond. So far with only a little bit of water flow, it already pulls down sand nicely.
 

Fishfriend1

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Dec 11, 2009
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Impressive, I wish you luck with the settling tank.
 

Luc

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Thanks FishFriend1, guess it will be a matter of silicone for the nails and then let dirt do the rest. Not too worried about it. More worried about the liner-bottom drain part and moving Mr. T. to the new part of the pond.

Still few weeks for that.
Cheers,
luc
 

Luc

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Looks like the Settling Tank is ok...found that the bottom had quite some space below, so I washed in 3 bags of sand to support.
Filled up all rivets and another ring at the bottom-drain with silicone, waited a couple of hours and started to fill first a bit, then step by step until now. I'm at 60%, just above the connection of the two antenna.
So now we will wait, at least there's no water leaking at the connection anymore, and filling seems to have been much faster than before, another show that most leaks are now plugged.

Will hope for Monday to have not much loss of water. Mr.T. is doing fine, but I'm very anxious getting him over. Too hot and windy for his current small pond.
With luck, we're able to make his pond smaller next week, roll out the liner and fix the bottom-drain.
Let that dry, then start filling for testing the bottom-drain and settling-tank.
If ok, then we'll start preparing to move Mr.T.

Took the Bottom-drain Dome out of the mold. Bit of work to smooth it, then paint it and ready to go on.
Hole is just big enough for male PVC adaptor for the air-diffuser. So it will be a matter of measuring the exact hight, then glue the diffuser and adaptor. Add tape and then stick through the dome, screw it in the drain-adaptor...finished.
 

Luc

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Pictures of today. Dome needs filler and paint, then it's pretty much finished.
1 inch clearance, very curious to see that working it's way on dirt.
Heavy as hell, so I'll need not worry about knocking it off from the bottom-drain.

Settling tank is in the clear, sure thing. Can't see any difference yet and if there's any, I expect it to be minimal by Monday.
Let's wait for that.

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Nolapete

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I thought it was funny you said that pacu were too big. You do realize the potential Mr. T has for growth. 14.5' (4.41 meters) and 450 lbs. (204.11 kilos). Most arapaima won't achieve that in captivity, but 2/3 of that is 9.6 ft. and 300 lbs...
 

Luc

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Hello Pete, yes, it sounds funny indeed. What I meant is the shape of the fish and the requirements.
Pacu are more barrel-shaped and need more deep waters imho, which is minimal at 1.20 to 1.30m in my pond.
For Arapaima, that's just enough since they are surface-breathing and their shape allows for shallow waters.

If I see Mr.T's current pond, where deepest point is just about 70cm and he's happy and looking good, then I'm confident that his new home with 120cm is going to be perfect for the coming years. With Pacu I might be ok, but don't think its a good choice.

Correct me if it would be possible, would sure like to add them.

Cheers, good luck Wednesday and the days after with your monster-tank.
I know the feeling, even after a couple of weeks I just want it finished...you're waiting years by now to get there.

Luc
 

Luc

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Ha...came into the office to see that water only dropped 5cm since I left it on Saturday.
That result is good enough for me. Few small pin-holes I guess, they will settle with debris/waste over time.
So settling tank now ok.

Next this week is to do the metal-rail for sunshade, roll out the liner and hopefully on Friday or Saturday we can fix the bottom-drain.
Then test-filling it on Monday.....Move Mr. T. in the latter half of next week.
 

Fishfriend1

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So, it's been a few days, how much has the water dropped? And whats the progress on the sunshade and roll out liner?
 
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