My water aging drums.

[Ben]

Hi peoples,
I just got my new rack for aging water (also some tank space on bottom shelve :wink: )

I thought i would share it with everyone, maybe get an idea or 2 !
As water changes are SO important i have gone to a lot of trouble to set this up! Makes life a lot easier too...

There are 3x 200 litre drums set 1.1 meters off the ground.
All i do is clip a hose and turn the tap on! works a treat! :D
I only had one drum set this way, now i have 3 in total and i have room for 1 more drum.

The frame is steal and welded by a proffesional welder so it would take the weight of a couple of elephants!
(cheers Ian :wink: )


Ben

[Ben]

Ok, how do i siphon the water out of the tanks?
I simply use normal plactic tubing, the water goes into another drum
(see pic below)
It is on castors so i can move it around to each tank easily,
there is a tap on the bottom which i can connect a hose and run it out side onto the lawn.
:D

[wild_amazon]

Will it be better for you to join the 4 drums together with PVC pipes. Like the outflow valves that you have now but join two tanks together so you need 3 joins for 4 drums. Then to circulate the water you put a powerhead on drum 1 and outflow hose from the powerhead to tank4. Since the water level on all 4 drums will remain the same you will always have water flow in all drums. Easier to condition the water if you need to and you don't need to fill up the drums individually. Basically is like having one 800 liters water storage.

[Ben]

That could work just aswell, except i have a large 260 LPM air pump so i have 2 airstones in each drum. That airates the water.So far only 2 drums are heated.
I dont condition the water only age it for a minimum of 24 hours.
I guess the only problem with the above method is that it might get a tad bit messy with pipes and i would need to buy a powerhead. (not that they are expensive.)
But that would work.

cheers,
Ben

[wild_amazon]

Yes it would involve some works. The other day I saw a water container about 1x1x1m (1000 litres) on a steel stand in a local paper for $200. It's the same container that my LFS uses to keep their saltwater. I like the idea of having storage water in a cube shape as it takes less space. I currently only have a 200 litres drum to age water.

[Mattzilla]

i have seen those 1000 ltr plastic water drums with a cage around them for $100 in sydney.....

would definately be easier running one large storage drum than 3 or 4 200ltr ones. i would try to find one if i where you...then just hook a pump and pump the water into your tanks. it would probably be alot faster and easier once set up.

[wild_amazon]

Yes that's what I mean. It's white plastic cube with a cage around it.

[flukes]

Does it take long using gravity??? Thats what made me go the pump way, a bit faster..

[Ben]

Hi Flukes, When doing a %50 water change on a standard 4 foot tank it takes 8 mintues to
fill it up. so it is a tad slow, but coz i have 2 more should speed things up a little.

cheers,
Ben

[benanddebbie]

In regards to the 1000L cubes for holding water we use these all the time in the mining industry for chemicals and safe transport. You can buy them from Drum Services Limited (DSL) for ~$300 brand new or ~$100 second hand depending on the model. Check out dslpackaging.com for more info, i have dealt with them previously and found them to be very helpful.

[Merrilyn]

Thanks for the info benanddebbie.

How are the fish?

[DR.V]

nice work

[benanddebbie]

Fish all doing well - following lots of water changes and a blackout we have managed to get on top of phosphates and increased algae growth that resulted.

We will try and figure out how to post some pictures to give you more of an idea of our children with gills. Any tips?

Have recently setup second tank to try and encourage breeding. Of course pairing and spawning took place in the community tank but no interest in the second tank for two pairs that have previously spawned.

I guess that is what makes this so interesting for us apart from their incredible beauty.

[Merrilyn]

I am really the wrong one to ask about tips on posting pics :oops:

Fish I know - computers baffle me :lol:

So pleased to hear that you managed to get on top of the problems. That one had me stumped.

Yeah, pairs can take a long time to settle in to the breeding tank after being in the community tank. Just give it some more time. The urge to breed is pretty strong, and you will be successful eventually.

And hey, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. That's the challenge with discus.

[chrissyoscar]

Very impressive Ben

That really is a nice setup your got there. I'll have to come over and have a look.

Oscar

[flukes]

Posting pics...

Ok if you have the pic on a website, ie. you uploaded it too your website or someone elses. Write out the URL (Web address)
eg. www.flukes.com.au/examplepic.jpg

Then highlight the whole thing and click the Img tag just about the text box.

If you havent uploaded the pic and the file is on your hard drive then you have too scroll down the bottom of the post section. It has a bit add Attachment.. Click Browse. Find the file on your hard drive. Once you have found the file clike open. Then click Add Attachment..

** For multiple files just click browse again and add attachment again**

Once you have added all your pics just click submit..

HTH..

[benanddebbie]

Ok we will give it a go. Hopefully it works

[kalebjarrod]

very nice work ben

i am of the opion that the 1000 tanks are nice and all but not nessecary

a. if you want to refill it you have to wait 24 hours to use the water (without chemicals etc etc)

b. you would alos be heating 1000ltrs, i would just be heating the next drum in line.

i have axcess to these drums but colud not see a huge advantage when i looked at the overall benifits

as for gravity, i am happy with the water pruseure gavity gives if you get your drums high enoughand use big enough piping

my tank takes 10 mins to syphon out and two mintues to fill up on 25mm pvc piping (if you use garden hose this is 13mm)

alll in all well done, well done, well done

[Ben]

Cheers Ryan,

I guess there is another advantage of using 200 litre drums. Until my recent disaster with the babies i had one drum heated to 32.c and the other drums heated at 26-28.c.
So when doing a water change on the fries there is no temp shock.
It does take a while to fill the drums though.
I am in the process of making some pvc U shapes so it can hang onto the side of the drum/tanks when filling up with water.


Cheeers,
Ben

[Ben]

Saw this on ebay!
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20755&item=4376783126&rd=1

[ctvu]

Hi Ben

It is very well done job. I wish I could have some space.
The tank from Ebay I saw one of them at the Trash & Treasure not long ago and can not remember exactly how much they asked for I think about $50 or so.

ctvu

[kalebjarrod]

u shaped pvc is good

but you can get a float valve for the same dollar that hook idrectly to your hose

no more messy overfills :wink:

[Bronx19]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=301&item=4377324023&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

These seem very cheap, 15$ for a 220L drum.

And 165$ for 1000L drum.

[kalebjarrod]

$8 for HALF a drum

this is still cheap

[Ben]

Ryan, Those drums on ebay are very cheap indeed!

Ben

[lesxda]

Ben

how did you
go with the PVC u were going to use for filling up the drum

I have to organise something for my new drum aging drum

les
I just aquired another 4ft tank to add to my collection.
6ft 2x4ft 2x3ft 6X2.5ft lots of water to change and heat.......

[Ben]

Hi Les,
I decided just to keep them as 3 seperate drums and not connected, it would have been more hassle than its worth for me.
The new bench i had made up could fit 4 drums, but i put 3 drums and a new tank on it! lol


I dont have a camera ATM but i will post some pics in a week or 2,

If i can help in any way Les let me know,
Cheers,
Ben