new fish cave system

[mastersdiscus]

Here is my 2 month old system. All this was completed for under $1,000.00. This system is 4 70 gallon drilled tanks with the possible expansion of 4 more 70 gallon tanks as it sits right now. If I add in on more trash can bio tower I should be able to get 16 70 gallon tanks total.. I will up the heat and the uv as I grow it. It is working amazingly well.. I can do a morning water change and vacuum in 15 minutes. I do a mid day water change only 5 minutes. The evening is the same as the morning. My plumbing allows me to flush the water into the garden in the back yard.. I am on a good well and am able to bring in as much 85 degree water as I need without aging it. All this is done without lifting a bucket or carrying water. I just flip switches and turn a valve. When i vacuum the bare bottom tanks I put a mesh sock over a drain tube above the sump and avoid solids in the sump as the pump will not pick it all up to purge it. Its been a great project and well worth the effort. I like to mess with my tanks all the time. With this I really run out of stuff to do. The gargage is being finished out and this system will go there soon along with about 30+ other 70 gallon tanks.

[Skip]

nice dude!

[Vee]

How do you do a vaccuum so quickly?

[mastersdiscus]

How do you do a vaccuum so quickly?

Do you see the almost horizontal pvc tube below the lower tank? it is at a downward angle to the sump. I use a regular siphon system with a primer bulb. As I move from tank to tank the hose is able to slide in and out of that tube to give me more or less length as needed. when I move to another tank I give it a squeeze and roll on. I never pay attention to the draining end, just the vacuum end. At the end of that tube above the sump I hang a tightyly woven nylon sock to catch solids. the water just falls into the sump When I am done with all the tanks I remove and rinse the sock and flip a valve and let the pump move the water to the garden. Sweet fish and sweet tomatoes.. When its all done I haven't splilled but maybe 20 drops of water. Most of that is becaues the hose to my siphon bulb leaks. Imagine that. I can figure out that whole sytem but havnt stopped that little leak yet. Isn't that how it alwas seems to go.

[mastersdiscus]

here is a little more information on the system and some photos of the vacuum process. it it quite simple and lets me move rather quickly. Here are also some shots of the bio tower. It is packed full of $30 worth of pot scrubbers versus $400 worth of bio balls. In disecting a scrubber and from other posts there may be more surace area in the scrubber. The tower is a 20 gallon trash can. Not sure what the service schedule will be on the tower. Years maybe. If I do need to rinse dead bio out, I can pop of the ends of the drain and lift the whole tash can out. because I am on a well I can dump all the scrubbers in to a large tub with 85 dergree water, give them a squeeze and back in the tower. estimated time 15 minutes. The drip tray is made from a round patio table turned upside down with the legs cut off. Under the drip tray above the grating I lay thin bonded floss pads cut from quilting material I get at Walmart. Cheap!! I may rinse that prefilter once a day and ususally replace it once a week. Ever have a hose pop out on you and dump water everywhere? notice the hose holder. Take a pvc pip larger than the hose cut it down leaving a long tab heat the tab and bend it over what ever shape you are trying to hold the hose into. I didnt figure this out beause I'm smart. I left the system durng a filling and the hose flippe out and ran 20 gallons into my basement.

[bronzie8]

What a great post, thanks for sharing. I am in the process of building a fish room and have been trying to decide how I want to set up the filter, water in/water out system. I am setting up a room just about like yours for breeding Discus. Right now I have 5, 55 gallon tanks in my living room. It's time to set up the "fish cave".

[mastersdiscus]

I am no expert, but will give you any pointers you think may help.

[Northwoods Discus]

Nice setup. It is kinda fun to build a system and see it work. I noticed your tanks are pretty close together as far as head room. Is it difficult to get fish in and out and work in the tanks? The other thing is if you set up your siphon to go to a drain instead of back to the sump you can use it as part of your water change amount and not have small particles passing back into your system even though you have a filter sock.

[mastersdiscus]

My head room is tight. I have about 4 inches. That was set so close because my basement is not 8 ft tall. It has not been a poblem pulling fish as most of them will lay in my hand. My basment is below the drain level of the the upper levels in my house. I have to pump water to get it out of my basement. Many times I vacuum the tank without a water change durring the day. Even with the sock I get very few particulates. The pump in the sump is then diverted to the garden. I do a 5 gallon rinse in the sump and kick the pump back to the garden one more time then refill the sump for the system.

[Northwoods Discus]

Thanks for showing us your system. I get a lot of good ideas from seeing other peoples set ups.

[Keith Perkins]

Nice looking set up. I guess I should have copyright protected the term fish cave. :D

[discuz]

How much is your water and electric bills per month?
Just curious for those who breed fish at home.

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

Simple and effective. Nice work!

-Ryan

[DISCUS PLANETARIUM]

looks good mate well done

[gravjack]

Good looking system, well thought out. However, I have a silly question. Water comes out of your well at 85 degrees? Must be really warm where you live. My municipal supply starts around 45 degrees.

[mastersdiscus]

How much is your water and electric bills per month?
Just curious for those who breed fish at home.

for this system my estimation is 25 bucks maybe less. The pump is a beckett 3500 that runs under 300 watts. The heat is 1000 watts and cycles every 15 minutes for about 5 minutes. Air pumps in the sump almost nothing. I thinks very efficient over all and I planned it with energy consumption in mind. Oh lights are 4 each 18 watt T8 from walmart at 9 bucks for the whole fixture and bulb. Water is almost free due to well. Just the juice to pump it and heat what is coming out of the house water heater.

[mastersdiscus]

Good looking system, well thought out. However, I have a silly question. Water comes out of your well at 85 degrees? Must be really warm where you live. My municipal supply starts around 45 degrees.

Sorry if i was unclear.. I am mixing water from the house water heater and a cold water supply line. It is right at the sump. I can cut the hot for general cleaning or rinsing to save a few bucks.

[christian1971]

I have a long garage. Thinking of maybe converting part of it in to a fish room. Possibilities are endless!!!

[Justice]

looks nice best of luck !

[ockyra215]

I like it only thing I see that will be a pian in the *** is going to be cleaning those lower tanks you dont have much room to wipe them down. Other than that its a kick *** system well done!

[mastersdiscus]

I like it only thing I see that will be a pian in the *** is going to be cleaning those lower tanks you dont have much room to wipe them down. Other than that its a kick *** system well done!

Cleaning is a breeze. There is 4 inches of clearance to service the tank. I am slender so it is no problem for me. Even people with lareger arm are able to help. the vaccuum has a rigid tube and the scrubber has a long handle so that is no problem. I use a magnet scrubber for the fronts. netting fish has been no problem Another reason I am trying to minimisze the total height is becaus I am enclosing a garage with 11 foot ceilings and am kicking aroung the idea of going 3 high with the tanks. As you said, "Too many Strains not enough tanks!!".

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Very nice setup!! You are the fishroom master thats for sure. I may looking to do a similar setup myself in the future. I like the idea of no more damn buckets, Lol.

Are you using 100% well water or are you filtering in RO?

Either way, the fish will get use to whatever you have and I must say, very impressive.

BUT - You shoulkd of done a DIY video as you went along, Lol.

Awesome!!

[mastersdiscus]

Very nice setup!! You are the fishroom master thats for sure. I may looking to do a similar setup myself in the future. I like the idea of no more damn buckets, Lol.

Are you using 100% well water or are you filtering in RO?

Either way, the fish will get use to whatever you have and I must say, very impressive.

BUT - You shoulkd of done a DIY video as you went along, Lol.

Awesome!!



I use 100% well water direct with no aging. 7 ph 3 GH 3 KH. I raise eggs in ph adjusted aged water. after they are fertilized I do many partial water changes with regular aged well water. Fry free swim into almost the same water the grow outs use.

[ericatdallas]

I have a long garage. Thinking of maybe converting part of it in to a fish room. Possibilities are endless!!!

I've been thinking of the same thing ... the problem with the garage for me is the winter. Temps don't go too low, the record low in the area is only 17F but the average low for the year is like 30F. This means I need to be prepared to heat it 70F... I think I would need something like 4-5KW heaters (for 2-3 tanks) and the temperature stability goes to hell when the garage door is opened.

I think people have suggested insulation around the tanks... which might help.

[Menime]

Cheers for the awesome post and pictures.

Can't wait to get started on my fish room.

[mastersdiscus]

Very nice setup!! You are the fishroom master thats for sure. I may looking to do a similar setup myself in the future. I like the idea of no more damn buckets, Lol.

Are you using 100% well water or are you filtering in RO?

Either way, the fish will get use to whatever you have and I must say, very impressive.

BUT - You shoulkd of done a DIY video as you went along, Lol.

Awesome!!

I use 100% well water at 85 degrees. I dont even have a sediment or charcoal filter inline. I have fisht breeding in 7 ph water all the time now. some of the eggs harden but I dont know if that is a water issue or a slackin' male.