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So I decided last year that I needed to set some of my tanks up in the unused storage area at my shop so that I could raise more of my pleco fry. I have collected a few different tanks over the years that were sitting empty and I had others in use at home that were just single drilled tanks with their own sump. I decided to plumb them all together using a common sump and set them up to auto water change and make my life a little easier. This was the initial set up that I envisioned...
The sump is a tank that I bought intending to use it on my fish system down in the shop, but Mike discovered it was the perfect length for that wall and it works fantastic. Lots of room for bubbles to settle out of suspension and room for bio media. On the left of the stand there will be a 15 gallon bio tower full of bioballs that drains directly into the sump. Feeding that biotower will be a fluidized bed filter that a friend is building from some round clear acrylic that I already owned. That will reoxygenate the water nicely. The lines that currently drop into the sump will be dropping into 7" filter socks that will hang in acrylic frames. The blue acrylic tank overflow teeth are big enough that I worried pleco fry will be able to get through them. My solution is to leave those overflows with no stacks so fry are dropped down into the socks. The first chamber of the sump maintains 10" of water all the time, so I just have to check the socks at least weekly or be willing to fish fry that have gone over the sides out of that first chamber. I will employ a sponge wall filter or two in the second chamber of the sump, just as another method of making sure no fry can make it to the pump chamber.
The pvc line in the front of the sump runs to a floor drain. The RO unit that runs at the store will start running all of the waste water through this system next week, so giving a 50-90 gallon water change daily, on average. Our tap TDS is 140ppm and the waste usually runs 180ppm. That should let me establish harder water, while also keeping it constantly changing, and then I can swap the lines over and run straight RO into the system for a couple days to give me a rainy season. (I usually have 65 gallons on hand but am adding another container so that will now always be 130 gallons.)
This is a view of the layout for the tanks.
This is another.
And this is the moment of truth! We had water moving in it on Sunday! I had to replumb part of the drain line system for the bottom 55 gallon due to a cracked fitting. That was finished and leveled today. I had one very slow drip at the front side of the manifold today, so I shut it back off, but tomorrow I will retape that and it will be turned on to run . I'm starting to get excited! If you would like to see the entire gallery of pictures and see any of them at super huge size, you can see it here.
The system consists of:
3 60 gallon acrylic tanks, both split into two chambers.
2 20 gallon glass tanks (will be 3 but one was one I had purchased from someone without noticing it was cracked at the drilled hole)
2 55 gallon glass tanks
1 125 gallon glass tank
1 90 gallon acrylic tank
1 72 gallon glass bow front tank
1 8' sump tank that will usually contain 100 gallons or more of water.
It will be more than 700 gallons of constantly stable water. Now if I can just get motivated and keep them fed! I will update with more pics as I put fish in .
Barbie
Side note, this has me down to less than 1200 gallons of water in my house! It's been a long time since that happened!
funny that you say that today! I left it running overnight for the first time last night . I will know in a couple hours if that was a good plan! If it is up to temp I'm going to add some crash test dummies and a cycled sponge filter today ;).
Outstanding Barbie. Can't wait to see it stocked up and running.
-Shane
"My journey is at an end and the tale is told. The reader who has followed so faithfully and so far, they have the right to ask, what do I bring back? It can be summed up in three words. Concentrate upon Uganda."
Winston Churchill, My African Journey
Well the crash test dummy lived, so I will be adding a few fish this week and the cycled sponge filters. Once I'm sure it isn't going to cycle and risk anything, I'll definitely fill it quickly! I'm starting to get excited now. I added some driftwood to a few of the tanks sunday and even that made it seem more "real" for some reason. I am looking forward to having fish in tanks that I might actually be able to take pictures of them in, also!
The store is Aquarium Solutions. If you have an eye for cories and know the difference in types of Aspidoras, you have already been here ;). If not, definitely stop by when you are up this way.
This is going to be awesome. I wish the best of luck to your system, 50-90 gallons of new H2O every day will be spectacular. It also sounds like your t.d.s is perfect.I could only wish mines at 290 so i mix at about 50-50
Barbie,
Oh yea, I remember you!
I stopped by your place in warehouse looking building, your very friendly!~
we spoke about Aspidoras actually. You had only one at the time.
Nice to put a face with the name
My son lives in Spokane, manager at Home Depot; so get up there a lot,
so I will visit you again!
Thanks Don. Trust me to remember another catfish nerd ;).
The system will be holding most of my Ancistrus. A. claro, L180, L184, Ancistrus sp. honeycomb, L144 (not, I know, but the only way I know to describe them), some types of longfins and super reds, my P. leopardus group, my Lep. heterodons, and probably a few I'm forgetting off the top of my head. That will let me focus more on the L183 and L184 groups at home, along with all of my Hypancistrus being spread out into tanks of their own, instead of sharing, and adding some groups from a dear friend that needs some down time. I have L201, L260, L46, L399/400, L134, L262, and L174. Hopefully it will drastically renew my enthusiasm as they start to get going . I've been feeding better for almost a month now and I am starting to see increased spawning activity.
I have the bio tower (otherwise known as a tall bucket full of bioballs!) almost finished and ready to install, I've added more fish, and the blower arrived yesterday. Now to add sponge filters and more fish! I guess I should be taking more pictures ;).
The system has officially cycled and is about half full now. The biotower is working wonderfully, and the fluidized bed filter I had a friend work on for me is almost done. The system is staying very stable, even upstairs in our extreme heats we're having this week. I will try to take and upload some more pictures in the upcoming weeks as I add fish. The crash test dummy cichlid fry have more than doubled in size in less than a month. All you can eat Repashy buffet and all that clean water really makes a huge difference!
This looks great Barbie! Wish I could do this. You could also just cut some squares of plastic mesh or screen to zip-tie over the acrylic overflow teeth? my 2¢.
Large size craft grid, I think it's labeled as #7, is what I've used in the past as strainer. It doesn't work for things like tetra, or even some smaller livebearer, fry. However, most African cichlid and pleco fry are too large to get through the overflow. They do make a finer size, #10, but it's too fine to let a good flow through and clogs easily.
Larry
Impossible only means that somebody hasn't done it correctly yet.
I was worried about the fish going between the teeth at first, but the way the socks will work, it should just make a baby containment system that allows me to be lazy and not have to net anyone that migrates to a sock ;). Then I can drop them into a condo or two and make life much more simple. Count on me to try to figure an easy way to catch fry .
I had a few ideas for free floating condos, but with the system, I can do some ridiculous water changes and never have to deal with that again. I have a feeling there will be another system of some sort in my future here at home. As long as I can stay regimented with my quarantine, it would sure make life easier!
I'm taking another load of fish to the shop tomorrow, so I will try to get some pictures to add to the thread .
The first viable spawn on the new system is officially from the L180. There were a few small clutches after the heat wave (otherwise known as the broken air conditioner and subsequent cold water over compensation on my part!), but none lasted more than two days. These are now wiggling, Everything is carefully labelled. Now I just need to update pictures ;).
The Seattle club changed that to Pleco Goddess a few years ago. I think I prefer that, it feels more timeless! I have a way to go before I feel like I deserve it again though ;).
OK, maybe I should buy a lottery ticket, but I just found fry from my L260 pair! They haven't spawned before and I wasn't sure that the female even WAS female. She is quite hairy and has a colored stomach and thickened pectoral rays, but she definitely looked female to the male, it seems! 15 fry isn't too bad for a first spawn! I pulled them and brought them to the shop to grow out on the system. I am already in need of condos for fry! It's a fantastic problem to have! I will try to upload the terrible pictures I took later .
OK, since the last update, I have pulled wiggling fry from L180, L400, and had two spawns eaten by parents in the Ancistrus sp. honeycomb and the (Not)L184s. The super reds have wigglers, calico and albino longfins are both on eggs, the L144 females are very gravid. I have the 5 L114 together in a 125 successfully with only a few torn fins. One is already using a cave, and one of the females is rapidly filling with eggs. L46, L260, L134 and L135 are trapping females with no spawns yet this week. It does feel like a productive week at least!
My friend built me 6 new fry condos (ever the optimist I am!) and I have plans for more tanks already to add to the system. I am working on taking a video of everything. The store has been nicely busy this week, but I do want to try to document as things get rolling .
. I'm starting to get excited! If you would like to see the entire gallery of pictures and see any of them at super huge size, you can see it here.
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