The 'Fish Cave'

[severum mama]

Looking great!!! Congrats on the new pickups.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Ok, so yesterday I got 6 sponge filters and a linear air pump. I'm going to work on plumbing it in tomorrow. Today I finished up on my 40b/20l stand and got my old 40b back up and running. Not quite sure I like the design yet, but I guess we'll see. Anyhoo, here are some pics of the new stand and scape.

 

[roydooms]

Very nice Jonathan! I like that some of the tanks are in the middle of the room. Also the tank with moss(?) on the DW looks awesome.

 

[rich311k]

Looking good, you just need a recliner and a fridge.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Thanks

Rich... both are in my plans. Gotta have something to keep the mountain dew and frozen bloodworms cold

 

[daileene]

Looking good, you just need a recliner and a fridge.

ditto on that one....you have a very cool man/fish cave..

 

[mr.waffles1842]

Been out of the loop for a bit. beatiful room.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Got my plumbing done today (at least, for now). I left it expandable, so that I can add to it easily if I end up running air to more tanks. I have some ball valves for regulating pressure, since I'm running considerably less tanks than this pump can handle. I guess it's a good thing I'm not a plumber... it took me quite some time to think about how everything went together since I did it outside (didn't want glue/acetone smell in the room).

Here's the plumbing:

Now, this is what you call surface agitation

 

[bsdryder7]

holy crap john i have been real busy and not been following this amazing thread lol.....congrats on this adventure man it already looks awesome

are you going to start selling fish ??

 

[fouldsy]

Hopefully my wife doesn't catch me reading through this thread...

Looks like an awesome setup you've been piecing together. The stands look solid, and the plumbing should make life a little easier! What are you doing for waste water though?

 

[roundar]

Didn't realize you were close personal friends with joe the plumber. Looks great.

 

[logansmomma1228]

It's threads like this that make me want to revamp my tank and set up the empty ones I have laying around... very cool thread and room! I just love planted tanks, one of these days I will try again.

What's funny is I have all the fake counterparts of the ones I saw on here. Lol

 

[mfdrookie516]

Hopefully my wife doesn't catch me reading through this thread...

Looks like an awesome setup you've been piecing together. The stands look solid, and the plumbing should make life a little easier! What are you doing for waste water though?

Well, I'm just pumping it outside right now. I'm working on getting a barrel that I can use to hold it, then pump it out to a sprinkler to water the grass. I'm just using an old water hose that had to be shortened due to a leak, hooked in to the pump to pump the water from the trash cans to the tanks.

And yeah, the plumbing definitely makes life easier. It cost me about $15 in PVC and fittings/valves, but it's still going to be way cheaper than running multiple air pumps. The way I figured it, I would have needed 6 air pumps. Each pump is like $12-15. I'm sure that this pump is more efficient than 6 smaller pumps in terms of electrical consumption.

 

[DrConnie]

Forgive my ignorance...I was just wondering about your tanks with the bare bottoms. I heard that the fish can be disoriented if there isn't something on the bottom of the tank. Has this been a problem for you at all?

 

[mfdrookie516]

No, hasn't been a problem. I have seen that when the lights first come on, some of them will swim a bit sideways. But, since the primary purpose of the barebottom tanks will be to grow out, breed, and/or qt fish, they need to be barebottom.

 

[cejones94]

Can u post another video. I would love 2 see it more complete.. that is what I want 2 do someday.. my friends/family keep saying I need an intervention and I only have 2 tanks. Thanks love ur thread

 

[mfdrookie516]

Not much of a fish cave anymore. I decided to tear a lot of it down. I'm now running my 150, two 40b's, 29, two 20 longs, and a 10. Took out the air system. Sold some equipment, etc etc. Here's what I've got now. Definitely nothing to brag about.

29g. Notice the algae. That's fresh potting soil for ya. It's been running for about 2.5 months with no fish or filter media, just water changes here and there. Gonna stock it in the next week or two probably. Also take note of the wads of hair algae surrounding the DHG... no idea where that came from.

150g. Nothing special, no rhyme or reason to any plant placement. Definitely needs some trimming here and there... and a water change to get the tinge out of the water.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Here's my first 40b. Was my pride and joy. Looks like 4x39w T5HO with no ferts or co2 is taking its toll on the plants. No algae though, knock on wood.

And, my first 20 long... absolutely a wreck. Just had plants, haven't done a water change (that's all evap)... and found a mystery fry. Looks to be a kerri tetra.

And, my BB 40b with my 'plant eaters' in it...

 

[mfdrookie516]

My 20 long... weird attempt at growing some plants out of the water... I got bored.

This is bacopa growing out...

The stand...

And my 10g holding the 4 remaining apisto fry... they're certainly tough...

 

[severum mama]

LOL! Looks like a kerri to me!