WWII Theme Aquarium

[mangrove_man]

New here, but I’ve had tanks for as long as I can remember. For the last 48 hours, however, I’ve been obsessing over a very specific and nerdy idea I had for an aquarium display: a shallow coral reef in the waters around Peleliu (or any other island involved in the Pacific campaign). The idea would be to include items from World War II as decorations. Part of an airplane’s fuselage, a dropped Japanese helmet, etc. I don’t want a hokey miniature battleship!

Of course, metal and saltwater don’t mix, especially in an aquarium system. And there doesn’t seem to be a reliable way to seal objects for a long-term stay in salt water. The only solution I can think of would be to befriend somebody who has the means to recreate the items in an aquarium-safe material. If anybody has any ideas, I’m all ears! If nothing else, it was a fun thought experiment.

 

[Peace River]

Wow - interesting idea! Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[PeterC99]

Welcome to R2R!

Really cool concept - good luck with your build!

 

[Fred2482]

Welcome! I hope you find someone to help. If so please send pics of the final project, sounds amazing

 

[Billldg]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[fishguy242]

Hi ,welcome to the reef...
i'm sure somebody knows somebody who can print these for you...

 

[G Santana]

Welcome aboard

 

[USArmyReefer]

New here, but I’ve had tanks for as long as I can remember. For the last 48 hours, however, I’ve been obsessing over a very specific and nerdy idea I had for an aquarium display: a shallow coral reef in the waters around Peleliu (or any other island involved in the Pacific campaign). The idea would be to include items from World War II as decorations. Part of an airplane’s fuselage, a dropped Japanese helmet, etc. I don’t want a hokey miniature battleship!

Of course, metal and saltwater don’t mix, especially in an aquarium system. And there doesn’t seem to be a reliable way to seal objects for a long-term stay in salt water. The only solution I can think of would be to befriend somebody who has the means to recreate the items in an aquarium-safe material. If anybody has any ideas, I’m all ears! If nothing else, it was a fun thought experiment.

you could always take said helmet and encase it in a thin layer of resin?

 

[ying yang]

Hello and welcome ,hope all is well .

Good idea and sure if you chase the idea and keep on trying to find someone to help you get tank you want then you can sit back and enjoy it

 

[JNalley]

The idea would be to include items from World War II as decorations. Part of an airplane’s fuselage, a dropped Japanese helmet, etc. I don’t want a hokey miniature battleship!

What part of the "miniature battleship" is "hokey"? You obviously can't put an Airplane's fuselage in your tank, unless you're building some monster 20,000 Gallon setup, even a Japanese Helmet would be quite a large piece to put in most tanks. So obviously any of these things would have to be miniaturized replicas of the real thing. So, I'm unsure of why a miniaturized battleship or tank or whatever would be "hokey" while a plane fuselage would not. If you can explain further, I might be able to help (on all fronts).

 

[Kiwi reefer]

Welcome to R2R

Intresting build

 

[Jeffcb]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[Schraufabagel]

Welcome. Awesome pictures!!

 

[mangrove_man]

What part of the "miniature battleship" is "hokey"? You obviously can't put an Airplane's fuselage in your tank, unless you're building some monster 20,000 Gallon setup, even a Japanese Helmet would be quite a large piece to put in most tanks. So obviously any of these things would have to be miniaturized replicas of the real thing. So, I'm unsure of why a miniaturized battleship or tank or whatever would be "hokey" while a plane fuselage would not. If you can explain further, I might be able to help (on all fronts).

Apologies for my confusing and perhaps judgemental-seeming language, I only meant to reflect that I would want the items to be at the same scale as the animals, which would indeed limit my choices (e.g. a *small* part of fuselage). I have yet to convince the public aquarium I work at to install the 20,000 gallon Guadalcanal exhibit I’ve proposed

 

[mangrove_man]

The results can be striking

 

[JNalley]

Apologies for my confusing and perhaps judgemental-seeming language, I only meant to reflect that I would want the items to be at the same scale as the animals, which would indeed limit my choices (e.g. a *small* part of fuselage). I have yet to convince the public aquarium I work at to install the 20,000 gallon Guadalcanal exhibit I’ve proposed

That being the case; going to scale. It's going to depend on the size of the piece and the tank it's going in. A "small" part might not even be recognizable depending on your tank. I agree that the pieces look awesome out in the open ocean, but once you consider putting one in a tank, it's hard to make it recognizable considering the scale of these things. But, I'm all for helping you achieve that dream if I can. A 1:1 scale replica in reef-safe materials would be hard, but not completely out of the picture. So I guess the first question is, what size tank are we talking about here? dimensions are more important than gallons.

 

[mangrove_man]

you could always take said helmet and encase it in a thin layer of resin?

I’ve seen good and bad feedback about this approach, so I worry about reliability

 

[ProxyAquarist]

The idea would be to include items from World War II as decorations. Part of an airplane’s fuselage, a dropped Japanese helmet, etc. I don’t want a hokey miniature battleship!

Of course, metal and saltwater don’t mix, .... The only solution I can think of would be to befriend somebody who has the means to recreate the items in an aquarium-safe material

Welcome to R2R !

This is a great idea. To get ideas, I'd suggest walking through a "war surplus" store and looking for items that might have been discarded or dropped by soldiers. These could be part of a landing beach homage. Some items like the classic WWII Lensatic compass are now reproduced in plastic. A flag topper emerging from the sand might be striking.

For other items, consider 3D printing them. That would also allow you to change the scale. This is now a skill found in teens. My son and friends even 3D printed a chess set with the faces of their favorite teachers.

Best wishes on your project,
Jim

 

[mangrove_man]

That being the case; going to scale. It's going to depend on the size of the piece and the tank it's going in. A "small" part might not even be recognizable depending on your tank. I agree that the pieces look awesome out in the open ocean, but once you consider putting one in a tank, it's hard to make it recognizable considering the scale of these things. But, I'm all for helping you achieve that dream if I can. A scale replica in reef-safe materials would be hard, but not completely out of the picture. So I guess the first question is, what size tank are we talking about here? dimensions are more important than gallons.

You’re kind to entertain the possibility! As much as I’d like to go bigger, I’m currently probably limited to 60-80 gallons. I’d want it to be shallow, primarily because I have a mangrove sapling I want to plant in the tank, so something like 48x24x12-16.