Dual Habitat Tank

[WPhyer]

I'm planning on building a custom dual habitat tank to house my kids' hermit land crabs plus some fresh water tropical fish. The 10 gallon tank the crabs were in shattered when changing the sand. And the family here like watching fish (we have a small 1,000 gallon pond in our front yard that we stocked with 6 feeder gold fish that were less than 1" in length and have grown and multiplied to 16 multicolored 7"-8" fish in the past 3 years).

Anyway, the thought here is to create a simple acrylic rectangle tank. Then add the platforms and partitions to give the crabs a place to roam. The thought behind some of this is that the water for the fish will add humidity and radiant heat to the crabs habitat. The tank itself has a rough dimension of 36"L x 20"H x 18". The platform areas for the crabs are roughly 10" x 12" on the left, 10" x 10" on the right and the "ramp" is 6" wide.

I've done the research for acrylic construction. I'm planning on using 3/8" thick acrylic (however, I've seen some people say 1/2" should be the minimum and other say 1/4" is fine). I was going to go with 1/4" for the partitions and platforms. Will that be sufficient or should 3/8" be done all around?

My concerns is how well will the fish and plants be seen. Will there be any condensation forming on the walls in the crabs area. The top of the crabs area will be covered with a screen. And will this be structurally sound (for the crabs, I don't want to drown them)?

I've attached a simple rendering of my idea. Any thoughts or ideas or advice is appreciated.

-William

(I've tried doing searches here, but it keeps asking if I want to download the search.asp file???)

 

[WeeNe858]

that looks ok.. as long as you can deaviate the 2 habitats youll be ok.. the major concern is the fishes as they are pretty sensitive.

one recommendation is to just divide the tank in half

 

[JoeRags3]

Thats pretty neat! here are my concerns, the pressure against the acrylic that seperates the two sections would worry me, I'de also be worried that the movement of the fish would stress out the crabs, and finally gravel vaccing under the crab section is going to be more difficult since you have less room to maneuver

 

[Cheech]

that's a cool idea.. never seen it before. .. And it got me thinking on what to do with my next project . .. hmmm . ..


Looks good. Keep us updated if you go ahead with it.

 

[Siren]

Don't let the hermit crabs go anywhere near the water. They can't swim and will drown very easily. I didn't see it in yrou schematics, but how tall is the wall going to be between the water and the land? Hermit crabs are Houdini's; if they can climb out, they will

 

[WPhyer]

Well, I talked this idea over with some other people and the consensus was pretty unanimous; the structural integrity is compromised. The crab habitat is acting as a large void between the support of the main tank walls and the water. And because there aren't any support braces, over time the water pressure could cause catastrophic failure.

So back to the drawing board with this.

And I appreciate the comments so far. I didn't think about the fish "spooking" the crabs. They are a little skittish at times. So this gives me some new ideas to ponder.

-William

 

[WPhyer]

Well, I went from a creative design with potential flaws to something more utilitarian and functional. I'll use black acrylic for the partition facing the fish to keep the crabs a little more isolated.

There still remains the limited access to the gravel (as JoeRags pointed out), but I think I'll deal with it. I can always design some new tool to help with that chore.

I still would like to use my first concept so I thought about the possibilities of attaching some acrylic rods in between the tank wall and partition to act as a support. But I'm not sure how aesthetically appealing that would be. The other thought was to modify the design to be more rectangular and integrate a cover piece to act as support, such as the one in my second design.

-William

 

[Cheech]

I like the first design better as well . . . There's always a solution for getting a design to become reality without making drastic changes. Maybe use a thinker plexiglass for the partitions? maybe 3/8" thick ?

also, maybe you can cut 3/8" thick strips to go along (under) the partitions, having the partitions sit on those strips, for added support. . .


go with the first! looks cooler!!

 

[WPhyer]

Thanks Cheech... I'm with you, there's got to be a way to go with the cooler design. I'm going to model up a new design, with the whole thing being done with 3/8". With a cover that will act as a top support brace will really make a difference too. The bottom I'm not at all worried about because the forces will be pushing up on the bottom and into the sides (the crabs' area is basically a box that wants to float to the top).

I'll post a picture of the final design when I'm done.

-William

 

[Siren]

.......go with the first! looks cooler!!

I agree. It's got a much better flow to it, doesn't look like it's a Kleenex box floating in a tank. I'd probably drill a few holes in the lid over the crabs to avoid too much condensation...it'll still keep the humidity up, but not enough that it's dripping or causing a mildew/mold bloom on any accidentally spilled food.