World War 2 Theme Tank

[mangrove_man]

I had this idea and I can't. stop. thinking about it.

My goal is to show that an aquarium can also serve as a memorial. December marked the 80th anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which resulted in the previously neutral United States entering into World War II. 3 years later, U.S. and Japanese forces faced off on Peleliu, a Pacific island consisting of little more than 5 square miles of jagged limestone and two airfields. After 2 months of some of the most difficult fighting of the war, U.S. casualties numbered 8,000 (the Japanese defenders lost an estimated 14,000 soldiers). Another, forgotten casualty of the Battle of Peleliu (and every other island campaign) was CORAL. Untold amounts of coral were destroyed by U.S. underwater demolition teams, naval and aerial bombardments, and amphibious landings. Recently, researchers have taken a closer look at the coral reefs surrounding Peleliu to see how they have recovered from their wounds: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/18peleliu/welcome.html. In addition to damaging numerous coral reefs, at the end of the war the withdrawing U.S. forces left behind (both unintentionally and intentionally) a literal treasure trove of military equipment at the end of the war, from personal effects to Sherman tanks. As a result, the waters around these islands are littered with relics, many of which nature has started to reclaim. Could this unique blend of nature and history be capturing in an aquarium? I will endeavor to find out.

If you read that entire paragraph, you are the same type of nerdy as me. Congratulations.

 

[mangrove_man]

Incoming inspiration pics

 

[Karen00]

Thanks for posting this info! I am following along to see how this turns out. What a great idea!!

 

[Supa]

Should look pretty epic if you can get it all figured out.

 

[mangrove_man]

I may have covid but I won't let it stop me from making progress on this madness. I found my first prop! A U.S. M1 helmet in "relic" condition. Whether I will carefully seal the actual helmet with resin or 3D print a replica of it in fish-safe plastic remains to be seen. Either way, inspired by pics I found of a helmet recovered from off of the coast of Normandy, I'm thinking about adding some barnacles, oysters, etc. to complete the look. Should serve as an interesting shelter for fishes!

I'm also throwing around the idea of creating some aquascaping using fish-safe concrete slabs to represent the remains of a Japanese fortification.

 

[Supa]

I may have covid but I won't let it stop me from making progress on this madness. I found my first prop! A U.S. M1 helmet in "relic" condition. Whether I will carefully seal the actual helmet with resin or 3D print a replica of it in fish-safe plastic remains to be seen. Either way, inspired by pics I found of a helmet recovered from off of the coast of Normandy, I'm thinking about adding some barnacles, oysters, etc. to complete the look. Should serve as an interesting shelter for fishes!

I'm also throwing around the idea of creating some aquascaping using fish-safe concrete slabs to represent the remains of a Japanese fortification.

Surely there is a way to seal it. Maybe layer of epoxy of some sort do multiple thin layers. Would be nice to be able to incorporate a way to tell if water ever penetrates the epoxy and reaches the metal(not sure how)

 

[X-37B]

Check this out.

Another Coraline algae covered green army men question?

So I put a few green army toy soldiers in my tank a few months ago and they got covered in Coraline algae super fast would anyone be interested in buying them I might start making it a thing. Also I do have growth of (leptoseris, psammocora and cyphastrea) starting to encrust the soldiers.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Weasel1960]

Very interesting idea. Maybe instead of using full scale you could 3d print at a smaller scale and possibly create some sort of diorama.

 

[Shooter6]

You may want to consider carving the shapes of the helmet ect out of Marco Rock. It may be a huge pain but coraline ect should inhabit it, making it look ages fast. Possibly get a silicone mold and fill it with sand then drip liquid superglue onto the casting, is a viable solution too.

 

[Supa]

You may want to consider carving the shapes of the helmet ect out of Marco Rock. It may be a huge pain but coraline ect should inhabit it, making it look ages fast. Possibly get a silicone mold and fill it with sand then drip liquid superglue onto the casting, is a viable solution too.

+1 for what this person said

 

[JoshH]

I had actually played around in great thought about something like this, Ultimately I had decided that my tank was nowhere near big enough to get the appropriate scale. I could have "Maybe" pulled off say a portion of the top of a hull from a sherman with a small portion of the turret and barrel sticking out. Incredibly difficult to do but not impossible.

 

[mangrove_man]

You may want to consider carving the shapes of the helmet ect out of Marco Rock. It may be a huge pain but coraline ect should inhabit it, making it look ages fast. Possibly get a silicone mold and fill it with sand then drip liquid superglue onto the casting, is a viable solution too.

Now there's something I never would've thought of

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Pretty rad idea! I'll be interested to see how this develops!

 

[NeedAReef]

Perhaps a downed plane model in there? After that crusts over in coral it might look pretty realistic

 

[Bepis]

Now there's something I never would've thought of

Something your going to really have to look out for is leaching metals into your aquarium, a idea I have is that maybe you can use e-Marco 400 to fully encapsulate your helmets and models, then grab some coralline chunks and glue them on, use glue and sand to add texture in places, maybe make a dip in the helmet for a future placement of a clam?

 

[Zarabyte]

Very cool idea hope to see more soon.

 

[mangrove_man]

I've been going back and forth on whether or not I should risk having an object that isn't fish-safe (i.e. metal) in this tank, even if they are sealed. I think I've arrived at the conclusion that such objects would be a constant source of worry, so I've instead been scouring the Internet for period objects already made of fish-safe materials, such as glass or Bakelite plastic. And I could also always go the 3D printing route.

In any case, I found my first piece of [fish-safe] set dressing! It's a glass Coca-Cola bottle from the 1940s encrusted with sea life from spending some time in the actual ocean! Simple, but I think it's going to add a lot of character. It already looks the part!

 

[Zarabyte]

Great idea I love it did they not have a beer bottle brand to popular at the time

 

[Zarabyte]

maybe a warship in a bottle but filled up with fresh water and sealed, maybe a replica of USS North Carolina and do a background at the back of the tank I know that is out of fasion now days but maybe a back ground of a sunken war ship of your choosing and flag of your choise or maybe.