Sonora Desert Fish Nook (mini fishroom)

[Iminit]

I’ve never raised rams but have kept them for years. Had a pair of gold rams for over 5yrs in a community tank at 78-79 and 4 for 2 years in a 45 at 78-79 that became a discus tank and the temp went up to 82+. These rams died within a yr at that temp. Next I added 6 to my 125 discus tank. These are just about a year at the temp of 85 and 4 have passes already. So I’m thinking they burn out at the high temps. On a new group of 8. Had these for about 6 months and they look great. But they are much bigger than those that I kept at 78. Here’s a video of 6 of the new guys.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

I'm trying to maintain 27degC (which is about 80.5). Trying to find a happy medium for Panda Cories and the Rams.

Moved some stuff around, and at the moment am relying on the 200W's internal analog control to maintain temp .... all of the 25W substrate heaters I just have set full on. Temp is staying about 27.5 (about 81.5)... a little hotter than I want, but my RTD is in the Sump with the 200W heater and the pump... so I figure maybe there is just a slight drop of temp in the actual display tanks. When I'm all digital again.. I'll strive for 26.5 (about 79 degF).

At the moment, not controlling temp from my homemade aquarium controller because I just re-mounted it (yeah, it's off the floor). of course now I need to re-do all of the device and circuit hookups now that I'm trying to get everything on a nice neat equipment panel. Not doing any CO2 injection for a few days until I square all of that away.

AquariumControllerMountedInFishNook.jpg

PS.. I like this level Hydor Smart Level. It is saving my bacon while I take my time mounting my level sensors in the sump and programming my automatic controller. Doing my manual water changes at the moment by vacuuming out each tank via their drain... (turn the valve... start sucking). By the time I've done all the tanks... the level has dropped in the dual chamber sump enough to trigger the auto-top off. So easy!

[two utes]

You've done a great job with this project. Thanks for the updates. I hope you get lots of enjoyment watching it thrive

[FischAutoTechGarten]

You've done a great job with this project. Thanks for the updates. I hope you get lots of enjoyment watching it thrive

Thank you Joe. I am enjoying it.

The location was a comprimise because I wanted multiple tanks to raise multiple varities of fish (although all must be compatible in terms of water parameters due to the shared systems). I would have liked to have a very nice display tank in our living room, but the Fish Nook allows more flexiility as it's not a shared living space that always has to be kept immaculate.

My wife really enjoys it as well. Some of the fish (especially the tetras) that she thought were rather bland at the beginning have impressed her with the way they have colored up (i.e. the deep blue eyes of the emperor tetras and the bright red eyes of the lemon tetras).

[LizStreithorst]

Peter, I keep all my Rams at 82. They do fine and breed like rabbits if I let them. I've sent over 100 Dutch Blues all over the country. I finally had to put the pair in a Discus grow outs or they would have kept spawning and raising kids.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

The Rams spawn every few days (sometimes it's the Golds, sometimes it's the Rams).. and then eat the eggs straight away. Which is fine. Not setup for raising fry. More focused on getting things stablized and grown out.

I've not lost any fish besides that intial otto almost two weeks ago. Still no algae either. still waiting waiting on the new pump and a few other things so that I can boost the flow and get everything finished.

Once I have better circulation I'll start looking to add a few other fish and the 5th display tank (I have the tank, lights, heater, laterite, gravel, bulkheads, wave pump... so nothing else to buy). (If I can locate another hydor 25w hydrokable and 2 more 12.5" 6W 8000K Stunner Strips, then down the road I'll invest in a 6th display tank of the other side which will max out the FishNook.).

My ladder is very sturdy and easy to use; so I'm not put off by having tanks setup up on very top shelf. (yeah, I'll scrub the paint off it too)

FishNookLadder.jpg

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Worked a little bit last night to get a few outlets mounted on the equipment board. This is a bit of a departure for me, as originally I was going to place everything in a very nice enclosure. But the scope has outgrown the enclosure size and with mounting everything on the board, I don't have cooling concerns for anything. I may start mounting some of the boards in enclosures just to eliminate water splash hazards, but this will work for now.

Very nice to have tempreature controlled by the aquarium controller again... holds temp from 26.75 to 27.25 degC (I programmed in hysterisis, just to eliminate too much on/off cycling).
Cool that I found everything in black really cheap... just helps to hide stuff.

FishNookEquipmentPanelWithSomeControlledOutlets.jpg

Had some funny stuff with the Pump not starting up properly when the Controller was restarted.... It was a result of Comms/Relays, etc... It seems to be the someothing odd with the way that NodeRED and the Relay board communicate using the onscreen software toggle switches. So I have a routine that runs one time when the controller initially starts. It commands the Pump to stop (it's already stopped... but it's good to toggle the onscreen software toggle and the relay anyway) and then 2 seconds later it commands the pump to start.... 2 seconds later I do the same with the UV Filter. So after 5 seconds on a full system restart I have everything engaged properly with good feedback.

I wired in 4 outlets. 2 of them have .56uF capacitors installed for induction suppression so that spikes aren't making their way back through the hardware and messing up the i2c communications when devices cycle on/off. Sump Pump, Drain Valve, CO2 Valve are the concerns. It will help the relays to last longer too. Not to concerned with the UV Filter or the LED lighting as there is not allot of switching. When I enable auto water changes, I will also need to wire the R.O. Water pump too, so that will get a capacitor as well. (https://ncd.io/controlling-inductive...-interference/)

CO2 is still off line, as well as the UVFilter. The Mag pump is just failing (new pump arrives tomorrow).. and I had to bypass a few turns/devices to get sufficient flow for the tanks. Over the weekend, I'll have everything hooked up again at the increased sizes too...

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Yesterday evening, decided to finish up the final four Relay Controlled Outlets.

Of course, supplies were needed... My dog Coqueta joined me for a quick trip to True Value... she is saying "You need even more electrical pieces parts!?"

CoquetaInTheTruck.jpg

Same scheme, Top has induction suppression, bottom no. Neatening up the cables too. Will plug in final devices when the pump arrives.

FishNookAllRelayControlledOutlets.jpg

And this morning... The ActiveAqua AAPW1000 arrived. Now I can upsize some lines to 3/4" and place a few more devices back on-line (CO2, UVSterilizer, Flow Meter). Yeah blurry, sorry, obviously I don't do selfies...

ActiveAquaAAPW1000Pump.jpg

So, hopefully I finish up the year with the water flow issues addressed!

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Very productive night.

Insalled the new pump (man is it powerful, had to dial it down as I couldn't flow through my sump fast enough). Decided to remove the 45ppi poret as it just wasn't permitting the water to move fast enough through the sump (Swiss Tropicals warned me that would be case.. they were right!). I wish the pump were a little quieter. Disappointed by the noise.

All supply lines are now 3/4" right up to the individual display tank valves. The flow is incredible.

I have the UV Filter, CO2 and Flow Meter all back on line. Even Scheduled the Lights on/off in NodeRED. Equipment Panel is getting a bit more populated.. Still a few more decisons to make with neating up some of the cabling.

FishNookBitMoreOnEquipPanel.jpg

Fish are much more active with the greater water flow and oxygen in the tank. I elected not to hookup the venturi to the pump (didn't want the additonal noise).

Will tackle automated dosing next, followed by automated water changes. Will get around to doing better aquascaping as well.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Today, the Fish Nook has been up for just under 6 weeks.. However, it has been planted with fish for four weeks now. Here is a photo on Dec 6th:

FishNookInitialBasicBeginnerPlanting.jpg

Here is yesterday, Jan 1st:

DisplayTanksX4Jan12021.jpg

Decent growth for four weeks.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Got busy today this afternoon and decided to finish up that spare 20L that will make up Display Tank #5 in the Fish Nook mini-rack. This was one that broken when drilling a bulkhead without the jig.... later it received a panel from another broken aquarium.

Drilled the other bulkheads, cleaned up the silicon (getting faster at that, it's not as tedious as before), used the heatgun to fit the tubing on the barb fittings and installed everything. Tomorrow will be warm, so I will fill it with water to do a leak test on the back patio.... just a few hours... to see if the repair holds... This tank has been leak tested before (prior to drilling it and breaking it).

DisplayTank5UnderConstruction.jpg

Looks good. I have all of the kit for it, so it will get installed next weekend if all goes well.

[LizStreithorst]

My God you do good work. I wish you were mine or that I could borrow you for a month or two.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

My God you do good work. I wish you were mine or that I could borrow you for a month or two.

Liz, my wife might disagree tpday. There was a table repair project that I skipped out on this weekend. Dummy me... I could have gotten it done in 1/2 hour.... In fact.. I'm going to do it right now..... right after this update..

So, two things:

1. So, I'm using HydroFarm Black Flexible Vinyl Tubing for water supply from Sump to the Display Tanks... 3/4" (except the last 6" to the ball valves and bulkheads that are 1/2"). It's recommended for both Hydroponics and Aquaponics... It's Foodsafe and FDA approved. (https://www.hydrofarm.com/p/active-a...00-roll/hgtb75). Unfortunately, I keep seeing this weird substance being expelled from the supply line. It's not anything in my Sump (neither chamber 1, nor chamber 2). There is only a dab of silicon in the whole system (just a bit to properly seal the barb slip fitting into the bulkhead... I didn't trust he friction fit alone), so it's not silicone. Anyone seen this before?

FilmyLookingDebrisFromTubing.jpg

Fish don't seem to mind it. All water parameters are excellent. It's occuring in the tank that has the least amount of bends in the tubing. It occurs when the pump shuts off and I get a little bit of back drain to the sump... It's like I'm sucking film off of the interior walls of the tubing.... When the pump starts back up... it shoots all of that film out the path of least resistance... that last tank with the fewest bends. It was funny today.. because I did a good cleaning on that tank.... and then when I fired the pump back up.... wow... there was the filmy debris again... tank bottom instantly dirty again... almost enough to make you say bad words...

2. After that cleanup... my R.O Water Storage was near empty..

Got the last 5 gallons of clean RO Water out of it.

Last5GallonsOfROWater.jpg

I looked at my water change regimen... With the way the tanks are drilled and the substrate I'm using... They hold about 16.75 gallons of water... The bulkhead for draining is set such that it removes 6.75 gallons (actually a little less because about 1/2 gallon gets returned to sump from the Sump Feeds and Pump Return lines)... So, I'm calling it 6.5 Gallons per tank.

If I perform a waterchange on 4 tanks... I will need at least 26 gallons...

Very soon, I will have 6 tanks.. so that will require at least 39 gallons...

So, looked at my Storage Tank. It holds 65 gallons at the rim. However, I have the R.O Entry/Float at about 58 gallons. So that's all we see. Furthermore.. The final 5 gallons is below the Exit bulkhead... So, I decided to install a Level Switch at the 5gallon mark (which just clears the bottom bulkhead so that the pump won't suck air)... and then another at the 55 gallon mark. However, I needed to install two intermediate points.... I decided at the 35 gallon mark.... that would yield 30 gallons (only need 26-27) of water for water changes on 4 tanks.... and then another at the 45 gallon mark.. that would yield 40 gallons (only need 39-40) of water for water changes on 6 tanks.

The idea is my controller will want to see at least the minimum water level necessary in the ROWater Storage to allow an automated water change on the FishNook Display Tanks... Today that number is the 35 gallon mark.... in a few weeks it wil lbe the 45 gallon mark. Hey... these level switches are cheap

ROWaterStorageLevelSwitchesBeingInstalledOutside.jpg

I drilled for both locations becuase the level switches are cheap.... emptying the tank, drilling it, cleaning out the debris, and then reinstalling everything... well that takes time. Best to do it all at once. On the inside, you can see all four switches installed.

ROWaterStorageLevelSensorsInstalledInsidePhoto.jpg

I made an energy saving decision.... Most of the time.. the RO Storage will be full.... So all of those Switches are installed such that the water rising breaks the contact (they swing up)... the switch is OFF, when the water is just a tad above that level... When the water drops below the switch.. The Switch is ON. It's reverse logic, but makes sense... Why have any power running through anything when you are at a normal/steady state... I'll wire them up to a 5 conductor cable and send them down the Bodega/FishNook Raceway. The code in my controller could care less if I tell it to look at Zeros instead of Ones...

I'm doing the same type of level switches in the Sump Chamber 2... but not penetrating the glass.. I'll build some sort of mount out of lexan to mount each level switch at the correct height... but that will be later in the week in another post.

[Iminit]

Peter that stuff is built up on the inside of your outlet hose. My guess is when you stop the pump it loosens up and when you restart the pressure of the water just blows it out. On my wet/dry I put a net over the outlet on restart to catch that stuff.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Peter that stuff is built up on the inside of your outlet hose. My guess is when you stop the pump it loosens up and when you restart the pressure of the water just blows it out. On my wet/dry I put a net over the outlet on restart to catch that stuff.

I'm using an i2c connected relay board (i2c is a multi-drop serial like interface) from NCD. For some reason.. every few hours, I get a momentary drop out of the relay for the pump... it last a few seconds... then latches again. I only get this on the Pump relay, not for any of the other devices. So ultimately, I need to look at replacing the board with something that has higher rated relays (even though it was spec'd in excess of what is needed). A bit disappointing, because I didn't purchase unknown chinese merchandise on Ebay... This was an expensive, high quality i/o expansion board purchased from a USA manufacturer.

Anway, it is the momentary drop out causing the issue... and because the entire system has hoses that have a much greater interior surface area now (new 3/4" tube has more surface area than previous 1/2" tube), there is that much more debris when the cut-outs/restarts occur this week than last week. I'm actually considering a check valve to see if that will reduce the backflushing that loosens things up when the pump cuts out...

With 4 display tanks on the system, and soon to be 5, then 6... it will be unsightly to install nets on each of the fluted outlets to catch this stuff. and of course if the momentary pump cut-out continues and is random in nature... those nets will have to be permanent fixtures...

Here is the debris in the two upper tanks today:

DisplayTankDebrisTopLeftTank.jpg

DisplayTankDebrisTopRightTank.jpg

I'm wondering what it is that is actually building up inside these tubes, what is this slightly slimey white opaque stuff. I've never seen anything like this before.

It's disconcerting to have 25W of UV sterilization and a massive dual chamber sump feeding 4 small aquariums and have this much debris appearing so often.

Being the Tubing is certified for use in Hydroponics, surely it can't be that the mild 10ml of fertilizers which get diluted in the 30 gallons of water in the sump every 3 days is interacting with the material...