Kudzu,

You sound a lot like me. My dream house will have a river running
through it. I haven't quite figured out how it will work, but I want a
continuous flow of water from one end of the house to the other. I could
have it a floor level and just have bridges at the doorways, and that
would work fine for fish that look pretty from above, like koi. But I
want a mini-Amazon with all South American tropical fish and plants. And
tropicals generally look prettiest from the side, so I have to figure
out how to have an eye-level river and still deal with doorways,
windows, and such.

Oh, well, that's a few years down the road, after I finish nursing
school and spend a few years letting the U.S. Army show me the world,
while I save my pennies. While I'm out and about, I'll have a real
estate agent looking for acreage in the Idaho mountains, then give my
dream over to an architect and see how he pulls it off.

Keep us posted on the process. Links to pictures throughout the
construction will inspire more people like us, I'm sure. And of course,
we want to see pictures when it's done, too.

Good Luck,
Christina

Kudzu wrote:

For four years we have been talking about our new house. Now it is going to
happen. In the next few weeks I will start to finalize and draw up the
plans. One of the things I am going to have is a tank as a divider wall or
screen if you will. The plan it have it open on three sides (two long sides
open) with a custom made stand and hood.

Size is up in the air but most likely a 4 or 5 foot long tank around 75
gallons. 6 ft long 120 gallons would be about the max. Nothing is decided
yet but I am leaning toward a sump with a sand filter inside the stand. All
the water lines will have to be plumbed up the one enclosed end of the tank
to remain out of site. I am thinking either an overflow box or standpipe on
one end of the tank and then just run rigid PVC inside the hood to dump the
water on the opposite side of tank.

Now for some of the ideas I am tossing around and maybe someone has done
this or will have some suggestions on something I have not thought of.

1. Building the stand with a water proofed pan in the cabinet with a built
in drain. Since I will be building the stand (I'm a woodworker) I am
thinking about a shallow plywood box fiberglassed with a shower drain that
is tied into the plumbing drains. Then overflows or leaks are not nearly as
big of a problem. (like tonight when the 0 ring in my canister let go!)

2. Hot and cold water inside the stand. Perhaps a laundry sink faucet since
they have a garden hose thread on the outlet. If I design this right I was
thinking I could leave my python connected all the time. It would make
servicing this tank and the others in my house MUCH simpler. I had a sink
that would not drain fast enough so I attached a short garden hose to the
sink and laid the python pump in the shower floor. The water splattered very
little. So I was thinking of the same thing in the cabinet.

OK, someone got some other ideas? Or see any flaws I might have overlooked?

Kudzu *\\



--
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
--Dylan Thomas