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Test Tank

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Hi Everyone

I have an idea for a test tank and would like some imput please.

I cut a plastic 55 gal drum in half and I am wanting to add a discharge hose, pump and a inlet hose to create water flow.

I'm thinking the hoses should be straight across from each other with the discharge on the bottom and the inlet at the top below the water line.

My questions are would you be able to control the flow enough to gauge the action of a bait?(by pump size and a gate valve)

What size pump and hoses?

Has anyone tried this before and does anyone have any suggestions?

thanks for your help and for a great site.

Good Luck Fishing

Todd

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Great project.

I have a simple spread sheet that calculates the flow rates required for various sizes of half pipe and square sections at various speeds. Metric and imperial! This information will help you choose a pump for the job, removing some of the trial and error.

A lipped lure has a minimum speed before the action starts. This is about 0.5m/s or 1.5 ft/s.

Whether a straight inlet and outlet system will work, you will have to build one to find out. My thoughts when I was planning the same thing, was laminar flow is the ideal test conditions. The inlet and outlets are going disturb the flow dramatically, probably a high speed jet up the middle and static water at the sides. To counter this effect, a series of baffles at each end, to even out the flow would be required. This would mean a longer tank length to accomodate the baffles.

The best plan would be to decide on the length and width you want to work with. Using this information and the data sheet, select a pump that is capable of exceeding the figures in the data sheet and see if such a beast is available at the right price.

As for the baffle design, I have no idea, but I'm sure we could work it out. PM me with your e-mail address and I will send you the spread sheet.

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I cannot see a problem with a circular tank. The most important thing is that the flow is constant and uniform or laminar. The larger the diameter, the less the curvature will effect things.

If it is the intention to use the tank to tune the lures for straight running prior to delivery, this could cause a slight problem. But by running a perfectly tuned lure first, would show if the tuned lure runs to one side or not. You just need to tune to the same pattern. I didn't explain that very well!

I agree with Pete, the power to push the required volume of water through a straight pipe is large in comparison to the motor required to drive the circular tank.

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Good ideas everyone. LaPala's thread "Lure Making Videos" shows video of a Rapala lure testing tank in action at their facility in Estonia. Might be helpful, looks pretty simple to implement.

When I test lures, I need to be able to test them at a variety of speeds-- from dead slow to quite fast. The straight tank setup Rapala uses allows for this. I suspect that the test parameters you subject your lures to would largely determine whether a round or straight tank works best for you.

Here's the video: http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10964

Good fishing!

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Thanks Bruce for your help, but it did not work. I've just spent the last two hours reading help docs and messing about with settings. NO MORE! It's going to the shop.

Goolies (like it!). Interesting idea, but I still like the circular tank with the giant vortex. What am I talking about, I'm not the one building it, sorry for that. It is just that I spent so much time thinking about this project a few months ago.

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Vodkaman-This might make you scratch your head Dave- How about a wind tunnel, there is probably one at work. I know this is left field and as usual a bit wacky, and gravity would have alot of influence as opposed to buoyancy etc in water. BUT if the tunnel was vertical, Huuuummmmmmmmmmmm??? pete

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