Arapaima Pond Build

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mykidsmylife

Princess of Peons
Aug 26, 2005
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Indiana, U.S.A.
WOW..what a project. Lucky, lucky Mr. T.

Love following the progress of this story. :thumbsup:
 

Luc

AC Members
Aug 25, 2008
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Ok...pictures for the bottom-drain:

Picture 5 the various parts to fit the elbow around the duct-plate
Picture 4 positioning of the elbow under the plate.
Picture 3 bit misleading, but this is how the opening will be made smaller to fit exactly around the duct-plate flange. 2 rings glued first. Sanded slightly and then fitted around the flange. Later I can then fit the elbow with glue.
Picture 2 I cut the top-rim of the flange used for the drain. sanded it down to get a good fit later with the PVC.
Picture 1 Top plate to hold the liner in place.

You can see, the old popnail holes in the top-plate are nicely aligned with the popnails in the duct-plate. These popnails will provide perfect screw-holes for the top-plate.
Also, there is part of the original flange that I've left in, with some sanding and hammering, it now sits flush with the side-walls of the flange.
So by cutting out the opening in the liner and using silicone, there's a very good grip and seal on the liner when I put the top-plate on.​

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Luc

AC Members
Aug 25, 2008
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Bottom Drain finished:

Ok, good progress today. All went well and i think I got a decent chance of having a good drain.

Pictures of the result below. I figured that an air-line would be good, so instead of having that running inside the drain, I just glued and epoxied away and the result is a separate airline going through the support for the dome.
Dome is just a dish, i did ask my wife and she said ok..(without asking a favor in return..pfffff)...
so, pictures explain it...only glue the drain to the bottom-plate and stick the 4 and 3/4 inch pipes in. Then set it in concrete and done.


 

Luc

AC Members
Aug 25, 2008
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Internet out yesterday, so finally the pictures for the previous post:
1. Full unit with top-plate in it as well.
2. Top plate removed
3. Drain with air-pipe front.
4. Looking in the drain from the top.
5. The bottom-plate with the 2 rings glued and epoxy to be 200% sure.
6. Bottom plate from the top.

The 2 PVC rings, after glueing them together and pushing in the small wedge, became a solid ring with nothing to spare on the flange. Had to send out a little bit and then used a hammer to slowly get it on the aluminium flange. Went on without glue, but they really are solid and water-tight around the flange.
The drain-assembly slides on very easy and I'll get it glued together once we are ready to install at the pond.

Just to be sure, I used 2-part epoxy and filled in between the aluminium and plastic as well as the opening from top-plate to flange. So there's absolutely no way water can go anywhere.

I can now get the Drain-pipe, dig the trench further to horizontal and then put the pipe and glue all together.

The ugly blue / brown ring on top is a quick and dirty air-ring. Drilled a lot of holes and air comes straight through the pipe that is used to screw the dome on.
Plate is a simple plastic dinner-plate, hole in the middle, epoxy and a pipe-fitting. Can just unscrew it without messing with airlines to unhook from the diffuser. Makes for easy changing that part as well if I ever want to.

Best part: Total cost is THB 200 or about USD 6.50
This compares to USD 100 - 150 for a 'professional' one.

Cheers,
Luc

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Luc

AC Members
Aug 25, 2008
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Thailand
Lot of things happened, moving forward on it, hope to have some time to update later today.
Mr. T. is doing good, healthy and happy, 2 nervous events coming. 1 is to install the bottom-drain and cut the liner. 1 is to move Mr. T. to the new pond.



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LiveMermaid07

Bloody Mary. As in, hand me one.
Jul 7, 2009
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Awsome. :clap:
 

Luc

AC Members
Aug 25, 2008
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Thailand
Thanks LiveMermaid07, much more to come...

Digging work done yesterday for the settling tank.
there will be 2 drains coming out to the left side of the pond and tank, under a 45 degree angle with a valve at the end.
1 from the bottom of the settling tank. 1 from the bottom drain of the tank.
Both these should help me to keep the pipes clean by just releasing water without any bends (except the 45' bend up) that could trap dirt..

The settling tank consists of 2 old GSM-antenna's, painted aluminium.
Pictures below. Because the antenna's are not straight but one end cut off at and angle, I've taken two housings and mounted them with bolts together, forming 1 cylinder.
I then took 1 parabolic disc and used that as the bottom of the tank.
Flange with PVC fitting in the bottom, it's now ready to go in. Pictures of the completed tank later today

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