garbage dump tank

[NJFishman]

I know this sounds stupid to some, but I was thinking about making a tank that mimicked the Hudson River in NYC. But not cruely. I want to make it look polluted but of course it's not. I though maybe you guys could give me some ideas. please don't be offended by it, I would never put anything in it that would harm fish. I was thinking bottles, and that's really all I could think of. I know metals and things that will rust is no good so I at a jam. Do any of you have ideas? The tank would be a 30 gallon rectangle. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Frank_the_Tank]

adding driftwood that would release tannins in the water would give it a yellow tint, which could look dirty. Peat will also give it the yellow color.

 

[Regen311]

I'm pretty sure our zoo aquarium has a tank like that (the toledo zoo in ohio). Unfortunately, I haven't been there in a year. I"ll be going back in about a month, but I"m sure you want to get started before then. Maybe you can contact them, or if someone on this forum is from the toledo area and has been to that zoo, maybe they can help....

 

[got bait?]

Maybe a tennis ball or two floating arount. Couple of zip ties in various geometric shapes.

 

[Jchillin]

adding driftwood that would release tannins in the water would give it a yellow tint, which could look dirty. Peat will also give it the yellow color.

Unfortunately, yellow is not the color of the Hudson. It is a sickly green/brown thick color.

I think I know what you're talking about. You want sludge and garbage around the tank edges and that mysterious foam that appears during high tide. I just have no idea of how to create this.

 

[bound_for_obx]

I had a friend that had a "Potomac River Tank". He put in a broken cinderblock, some bricks, and a couple of bottles. I don't recall him ever having troubles with the tank but it has been a few years.

 

[XXFirefighter]

you could put metal in the tank no problem even rusted metal ! Just seal it well with a clear epoxy ! driftwood would be GREAT, pvc piping broken in parts, anything plastic, a 6 pack holder together thingie too !

 

[youronlysin]

Its sad that our rivers are in that condition in the first place....why would you want to mimic that? Wow. Then you could find some little plastic scuba divers from the NYPD looking for missing bodies...Ok Im kidding...Hope that wasnt too off color...I watch too much Sopranos I guess.

I dont know what scale you want things on...Id make a trip to a hobby store and look through model railroad accesories. They have small plastic models of almost anything...complete cities, cars, trees, fencing, bridges, light poles, street signs, almost everything.

 

[Melody]

What kind of fish were you thinking of? What about some broken pieces of styrofoam? for floating. I like the tennis balls... and if you could get something to grow on them? Maybe attach some moss? maybe some smashed plastic soda bottles? put water in them so they wouldnt float and put the lids back on so no one can get trapped if you use smallish fish?? maybe use some narrow strips of plastic bags sticking up out of a few things? OH OH OH!!! plastic army guys! 2 or 3 scattered around? Headless barbie doll to go with the dive team?? OH!!!!! find a plastic squirt gun that looks like a real gun!!! COOL!!!! what about some plastic car parts that are broken? tail light lens? I will think of some more...

 

[frog girl]

I think that foaming is often from really high phophate loads or detergent additives. I don't know enough to know if any are fish safe. How many fish does the river have in it & how many eyes do they usually have. I am sure there are some fish safe green dyes that are used in ponds for algae control that could give you sort of the right tint (or maybe a green bulb out of sight). The milkiness you can sometimes get from putting limestone in your water I have read or you could just go with a really soft substrate & fish that like to dig like khuli loaches and use some light colored or white clay.

Instead of an airstone you could always have a pipe coming in from the side that dumped into the tank like from industrial waste dumping. You could probably crack it & paint it to look pretty nasty. Just make sure that anything you put in there is old and weathered. Like the dolls without heads - go to a garage sale or find them in your neighbors back yard - don't get them new. This will minimize the amount of toxins that anything like that will give off.

John Paul who commented in the Beer Can posting which might be off use to you could probably advize you on metal things.

 

[molotov256]

That's a pretty cool idea. I wanted to set up my second tank with a bit of an 'urban' flavor, and thought about some of the same things. Bricks/PVC pipe would be really neat, I think, and depending on the size of the tank, you might have enough room to stack up lots of bricks and things to make fun places for your fish to hide.

Instead of a pet store backdrop, a big piece of graffiti covered posterboard or something might look pretty neat. Or, if you're going for the nasty polluted look, maybe some US Army camo cloth? Thats got lots of murky colors in it.

 

[Psyhampster]

depending on the size of the tank, you might have enough room to stack up lots of bricks and things to make fun places for your fish to hide.

Or build a lilttle house!

 

[jgc8fan]

If you want to keep a small scale you could get the miniature liquor bottles. You could probably go to a novelty store, and find plastic fake beer cans, and I think I've seen small plastic keychains that are tiny beer cans.