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Fish room

Rabbit229

Member
Joined
18 Feb 2015
Messages
263
Hi all I've got a spare room in my basement so why the devil not convert it to a fish room!

It already hads a stand for a row of fish tanks. The walls just needs plaster boarding and then plastering.

Thinking of having a row of 4 tanks 3ft x 15" x 15" with drill holes feeding in to a large sump.

Any of you guys got any idea or photo of how I can run all 4 tanks to one sump

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Depends how u set ur tanks up ....but that's gonna be one big sump ....ur main problem is gonna be flow through the sump , unless you use floating media ? , some nice plumbing work would do the trick

If I had the room and was going to do a good setup , I'd have the tanks flowing into each other with a pre filter between each tank , then into a sump to be fully filtered and pumped back to the start of the system , ideally gravity fed so I'd only need 1 pump
 
I like it" but the problem I have with this is that the tanks will have to be full at all times.

The fish I'm thinking of breeding is L26 and I'm understanding that the tanks are kept half full and to trigger breeding you need to increase water lever with softer water. I may be wrong!
Using this method how would a sump system work? Can't get my head around it
 
One sump for many tanks can work. I have been at many breeders who do this. Basicallly you pump from the filter in the tank, and gravity takes the surplus back to the filter. You can use a hole in one side to feed the overflow or use a pipe standing on a hole in the bottom. The last method will give you a way to adjustt waterheigt. In all cases i would "protect"the overflow with filterfoam, to avoid fry getting in the filter. Just beware of two things: 1) all the tanks will have the same water, 2) infections can spread to all tanks. If you want to breed I would go with airdriven filters (like Hamburger matten filters) in each tank, far more control. though you'll have to do more waterchanges, so make sure you figure out a way to do those fast and easy.
 
Ideal setup is 4 tanks 4 sumps , each tank is separate to do as u wish ....but you would need 4 pumps , 4 heaters ect .....all depends on cost , and what it is you want to do ?
As to your water level .....u could always use a similar system to ur toilet ...(I forget what it's called) u set the water lvl and it shuts the in flow to that tank , would need some creative plumbing but its doable
 
One sump for many tanks can work. I have been at many breeders who do this. Basicallly you pump from the filter in the tank, and gravity takes the surplus back to the filter. You can use a hole in one side to feed the overflow or use a pipe standing on a hole in the bottom. The last method will give you a way to adjustt waterheigt. In all cases i would "protect"the overflow with filterfoam, to avoid fry getting in the filter. Just beware of two things: 1) all the tanks will have the same water, 2) infections can spread to all tanks. If you want to breed I would go with airdriven filters (like Hamburger matten filters) in each tank, far more control. though you'll have to do more waterchanges, so make sure you figure out a way to do those fast and easy.
I like the idea with the air driven sponge filters. With a hole drilled in the front of the tank at the 50% water change mark! With a tap fitted leading in to a gutter system then a water butt,

My problem is getting the water out of the basement
 
Separate filters/sumps for seperate tanks.

1. If something goes wrong you can't quarantine a single tank
2. You're not future proofed if you can't run the tanks with different parameters
3. If you pump water into tank 1 then 2-3-4, 4 is never going to see clean water

Etc etc
 
you pump "fresh water"in each tank seperately;)

Ah!

I'd still go separate everything.

Hamburg matter filter with heater behind the foam = tidy, efficient, clean lines and cheap :clap:
 
You need to convert it to a water processing room for your 800 litre tank above to reprocess the 400litre per week from your water change. I once read a blog of a guy who had a 3200l tank and did something similar to lower his water bill.

Currently (using my Southern water prices of £3.20 per m3) it costs you £1.28 per week for 400l.

So you remove 400l of water from your tank, preferably through an easy to clean filter floss, into a storage tank. Allow to cool as RO units are more efficient with colder water.

Then using an RO booster pump (RO units are much much more efficient at higher pressure) through a HMA prefilter (and why not) and through an RO unit followed by a secondary RO membrane.

So if you have 400l waste and an RO unit operating at 4:1 you will get 80 litres of RO water. Pass the 320litres water through another membrane and you will get another 64l RO water.

So you will need to dump 256l (£0.80 worth) water and get 144l RO water to mix up to 400 litre with tap water (and add dechlorinator).

You gain the advantage of saving water cost (OK 40p) and using RO water to have much more control over water parameters.

And have fun building and running such a system....:) (without flooding....).
 
Why RO it, build a large reedfilter and proces it through that.
final-presentation-spain-quattro-35-638.jpg
 
I have an hma fitter from my old discus set up. I'll be running my tap water through this. form what I remember r.o systems are quite pricey, I'm not on a water meter so that's not really an issue for me,
I've managed to buy 6, 150ltr vats for breeding the pearscale goldfish ( the zebra plec will be a slow proses will take years to build up so I'm staring small with these )
I'm thinking of connecting the 6 vats together ( 900 ltr ) each with an over flow leading to a sump and a return to each tank regulated with taps, sump in mind is a big blue barrel. With an over flow to another large container that I can run water changers from and grow plants in. What medium is cheapest to use? I know it can get expencive. I'll need a few rubble sacks. I was thinking crushed house bricks? Will this change the p.h, I need some thing really cheep for this. Also looking for a water plant to grow in my over flow that grow really fast. Any suggestions ?
Was thinking Canadian pond week?
 
pieces of lava from the gardencenter, cheap, large surface. For a investment but good filtering google : "floating media" These are very functional filters (good in a barrel). the original media are pricey, but there are chinese knockoff's.
 
It's quite pricey tho I'm going to need to fill a barrel so I'll need about 8 sacks
They must be a cheaper alternative
 
How about a fluid bed?

From about 10 min -

You can get k1 for about 100l for £100 on eBay or there are DIY alternatives...
 
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The video did not load until after I made the last post, thanks for shearing
 
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896AD584-B7AB-4666-A67A-0B16367F1D60_zps6cqtezvm.jpg

Managed to get the room plasterboarded and plastered, also fitted a vent and have a large dehumidifier.

Still unsure what system I'd want to use. May be them hamburger filters. Can any one recommend any good ones?
 
HamburgMatten filters are good - simple to set up, run, maintain and pretty cheap
 
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