Warruff
Mon Apr 02, 2007, 04:32 PM
I have been reading a lot of posts and looking at pictures of peoples breeding setups and fish rooms and still have a lot of questions regarding the most efficient system to design and set up for myself.
I live in Canberra so access to some of the quality suppliers of tanks in Sydney and Melbourne could be a bit limited to me.
Sorry about the length in advance but here are the questions anyway:
1. Tank Standardisation:
I am looking at getting standard tanks to lower costs, possibility second hand, and still standardising the fish room. If I can get the breeding tanks and grow out tanks the same height and depth it would be a bonus. Then my racking could all be constructed to the same size simplifying the process and wasting less space, as well as more pleasing to the eye. (Guess I must be slightly obsessive compulsive. :? )
The Tank sizes I am interested in are:
4 x 2 x 1.5 (320 Litres) for grow out tanks. Does the 2 height mean thicker glass making the costs go up terribly or is that size a common size making it possible to pick some up cheaper or second hand. Or would 4 x 1.5 x 1.5 (240 Litres) tanks be a lot cheaper and more common second hand, despite the smaller sizes. Meaning I would need roughly 11 4 x 1.5 x 1.5s(240 Litres) instead of 8 4x2x1.5(320 Litres)of them per breeding pair of discus to have the required litres to sustain an average 80 fry a month to a age where they can be sold, at 3 months or so?
2 x 2x 1.5 (160 Litres) for breeding pairs and a couple for quarantine tanks. Once again does the 2 height make it harder to get these tanks? I had read that a tank about this literage is close to ideal for a breeding a pair of Discus and lowering it to 2 x 1.5 x 1.5would not be.
Perhaps I should be looking at big water vats instead of tanks for growing out the babies. Vats would take up more floor space and are a less appealing option. They are probably not much cheaper for similar water sizes, and the inconvenience of taking up more space will send heating costs up - if I wanted to heat the room to assist the heating of individual tanks.
2. Filtration:
I was looking at using sponge filters with a big air pump or two smaller ones to drive them. This is so I could have air pump redundancy on each 4 tank - 2 sponge filters in each tank running off different air pumps - rather than a sump system for each bank of tanks. This takes away some worry of disease spreading through the tanks as well as cutting down on running costs.
That being said, I would still want to have a semi-automated water change system in place. would it be acceptable to have 1 pipe for draining the tanks, to a set water change level say 25% and use that same pipe to put new water back in by switching valves on and off? What problems can anyone see with a system design like this? If for some reason you wanted to change the water change level you could change the length of the pipe coming in through the bottom of the take to make it take more or less water out of the tank.
Would a system like this be plausible with the breeding tanks as well or could it be bad for the fry? Perhaps a large sponge from a sponge filter over the outlet/inlet pipe to stop any fry from getting sucked out or could the suction still cause damage to the fry if they get to close?
Slightly more hands on system than a sump with a float valve in it to top up the tanks from evaporation but still better than nothing and slightly safer than the sump system. From what I can tell I would have to make sure I dont overfill the tanks by not turning off the valves in time.
What other systems do people employ, especially for their breeding tanks? The idea of doing manual water changes on even these tanks would get tiresome when there are so many other things that time could be devoted too.
3. Tank Racking:
I would appreciate any opinions on the materials used for 3 tier tank racking. I am looking at having somewhere from 9 to 12 4ft tanks on it - that is 3 to 4 tanks per tier.
Is wood still a cost effective and viable option when you start thinking about tank racks this size or would metal be a stronger, safer and more cost effective option? Is powder coating the metal to make it more resistant to rust from the odd spill recommended?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Ben
I live in Canberra so access to some of the quality suppliers of tanks in Sydney and Melbourne could be a bit limited to me.
Sorry about the length in advance but here are the questions anyway:
1. Tank Standardisation:
I am looking at getting standard tanks to lower costs, possibility second hand, and still standardising the fish room. If I can get the breeding tanks and grow out tanks the same height and depth it would be a bonus. Then my racking could all be constructed to the same size simplifying the process and wasting less space, as well as more pleasing to the eye. (Guess I must be slightly obsessive compulsive. :? )
The Tank sizes I am interested in are:
4 x 2 x 1.5 (320 Litres) for grow out tanks. Does the 2 height mean thicker glass making the costs go up terribly or is that size a common size making it possible to pick some up cheaper or second hand. Or would 4 x 1.5 x 1.5 (240 Litres) tanks be a lot cheaper and more common second hand, despite the smaller sizes. Meaning I would need roughly 11 4 x 1.5 x 1.5s(240 Litres) instead of 8 4x2x1.5(320 Litres)of them per breeding pair of discus to have the required litres to sustain an average 80 fry a month to a age where they can be sold, at 3 months or so?
2 x 2x 1.5 (160 Litres) for breeding pairs and a couple for quarantine tanks. Once again does the 2 height make it harder to get these tanks? I had read that a tank about this literage is close to ideal for a breeding a pair of Discus and lowering it to 2 x 1.5 x 1.5would not be.
Perhaps I should be looking at big water vats instead of tanks for growing out the babies. Vats would take up more floor space and are a less appealing option. They are probably not much cheaper for similar water sizes, and the inconvenience of taking up more space will send heating costs up - if I wanted to heat the room to assist the heating of individual tanks.
2. Filtration:
I was looking at using sponge filters with a big air pump or two smaller ones to drive them. This is so I could have air pump redundancy on each 4 tank - 2 sponge filters in each tank running off different air pumps - rather than a sump system for each bank of tanks. This takes away some worry of disease spreading through the tanks as well as cutting down on running costs.
That being said, I would still want to have a semi-automated water change system in place. would it be acceptable to have 1 pipe for draining the tanks, to a set water change level say 25% and use that same pipe to put new water back in by switching valves on and off? What problems can anyone see with a system design like this? If for some reason you wanted to change the water change level you could change the length of the pipe coming in through the bottom of the take to make it take more or less water out of the tank.
Would a system like this be plausible with the breeding tanks as well or could it be bad for the fry? Perhaps a large sponge from a sponge filter over the outlet/inlet pipe to stop any fry from getting sucked out or could the suction still cause damage to the fry if they get to close?
Slightly more hands on system than a sump with a float valve in it to top up the tanks from evaporation but still better than nothing and slightly safer than the sump system. From what I can tell I would have to make sure I dont overfill the tanks by not turning off the valves in time.
What other systems do people employ, especially for their breeding tanks? The idea of doing manual water changes on even these tanks would get tiresome when there are so many other things that time could be devoted too.
3. Tank Racking:
I would appreciate any opinions on the materials used for 3 tier tank racking. I am looking at having somewhere from 9 to 12 4ft tanks on it - that is 3 to 4 tanks per tier.
Is wood still a cost effective and viable option when you start thinking about tank racks this size or would metal be a stronger, safer and more cost effective option? Is powder coating the metal to make it more resistant to rust from the odd spill recommended?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Ben