DIY
Thu Oct 05, 2006, 05:05 AM
I'm looking at running a couple of 4x18x18 tanks in a 2 tier rack and a couple of 3x18x18's also in a 2 tier rack that I'm getting secondhand for a fair price.
I plan to insulate back & sides of each tank with styrofoam to keep in heat. With styrofoam on the bottom as well, this will also create a white bottom, Background & sides. I'll also silicon in a piece of "u" channel plastic across the centre of the tank so I can slide in an acrylic divider for breeding pairs. I'll have white and clear divider's to see which works best. I prefer removable dividers at this stage to keep my options open.
I'm thinking in advance I "may" try to breed some lighter colour strains like albino, rgd, snow white etc. I understand these can be troublesome with fry attaching and anything dark in the tank will attract fry instead of the parents. Since heater ends & sponge filters are dark and use up space I'm considering something a little out of the ordinary for the setup.
I'm thinking of an overflow arrangement, the overflow pipe can have a net or filter wool placed over it when (if?) I get fry. This would run into a small sump that holds the heater & some wet/dry bio material for filtration. I could also run a "traditional" sponge filter in the tank but remove it if necessary. with the sponge removed the tank would only have 1 white pvc overflow pipe, one small white pvc return pipe and maybe a larger pvc pipe on an angle as a medium for the eggs to be laid on.
Obviously the overflow/sump filtration would need to be very gentle/low turnover to avoid problems with the milt not reaching the eggs. I'm thinking it could be turned off and rely on the sponge during actual spawning, although this requires me to be there at the right time to turn it off.
I could run 2 overflows per tank (1 per divided side) and 2 returns OR 1 of each and a divider with holes covered with fine netting material for flow-through.
Being a bit of a DIY'r and a having a garage of tool's makes the building of this reasonably simple for me, just a little time consuming.
Am I making it too complicated? love to hear any other idea's for setups that would be good for the lighter colour strains..
I plan to insulate back & sides of each tank with styrofoam to keep in heat. With styrofoam on the bottom as well, this will also create a white bottom, Background & sides. I'll also silicon in a piece of "u" channel plastic across the centre of the tank so I can slide in an acrylic divider for breeding pairs. I'll have white and clear divider's to see which works best. I prefer removable dividers at this stage to keep my options open.
I'm thinking in advance I "may" try to breed some lighter colour strains like albino, rgd, snow white etc. I understand these can be troublesome with fry attaching and anything dark in the tank will attract fry instead of the parents. Since heater ends & sponge filters are dark and use up space I'm considering something a little out of the ordinary for the setup.
I'm thinking of an overflow arrangement, the overflow pipe can have a net or filter wool placed over it when (if?) I get fry. This would run into a small sump that holds the heater & some wet/dry bio material for filtration. I could also run a "traditional" sponge filter in the tank but remove it if necessary. with the sponge removed the tank would only have 1 white pvc overflow pipe, one small white pvc return pipe and maybe a larger pvc pipe on an angle as a medium for the eggs to be laid on.
Obviously the overflow/sump filtration would need to be very gentle/low turnover to avoid problems with the milt not reaching the eggs. I'm thinking it could be turned off and rely on the sponge during actual spawning, although this requires me to be there at the right time to turn it off.
I could run 2 overflows per tank (1 per divided side) and 2 returns OR 1 of each and a divider with holes covered with fine netting material for flow-through.
Being a bit of a DIY'r and a having a garage of tool's makes the building of this reasonably simple for me, just a little time consuming.
Am I making it too complicated? love to hear any other idea's for setups that would be good for the lighter colour strains..