Chain of connected fish tanks
- Thread starter NeedlsslyComplx
- Start date
RTR, that fish room is something else!!!
Do the tubes connect the tanks from the top or are the tanks custom made with tunnels built in?
Do the tubes connect the tanks from the top or are the tanks custom made with tunnels built in?
All connections are over the sides or ends. I gave away all my drilled tanks long ago. Some of the rat's nest of wiring and PVC/CPVC tubing is visible in the back of the Wall views. BTW, that 8x14' room has five separate circuits, all GFCI. All the outlets are chest height or ceiling. Plug strips mounted on the framework are all splash/drip/spray protected. There is also a dedicated laundry sink with a Python hose rack above it.
Sumthin fishy - it used to be better diversity. I used a daphnia/later cyclops tank w/24/7 lighting as #8, with Singapore shrimp in #9 downstream to eat the washed-down babies. Best filter feeding shrimp I've kept.
Sumthin fishy - it used to be better diversity. I used a daphnia/later cyclops tank w/24/7 lighting as #8, with Singapore shrimp in #9 downstream to eat the washed-down babies. Best filter feeding shrimp I've kept.
This is not a good idea. Fish like what you are looking for produce a lot of ammonia, which by itself is not enough for plants and will most likely only fertilize algae. Planted setups tend to have low bioloads with low ammonia production. Plants are fertilized by adding nitrate (instead of ammonia as source of N), potassium, phosphate and micronutrients. You will not get all of this just by having a predator fish.NeedlsslyComplx said:
In addition, studies have shown that prey-type fish can chemically sense predator-type fish. In this type of setup all of your fish would be able to sense that there was a predator nearby and would be in a constant state of stress. That would not contribute to fish health or behavior.
You can not assume that sick fish will just die off leaving the healthy fish behind. In any closed system disease can spread very quickly, even to "healthy" or "strong" fish. You would need to quarantine religiously as rtr does before adding anything to his system. Which touches on these:
It should not be fully expected. If you do any research at all and quarantine like any ethical fishkeeper would do there should be no fishkill.NeedlsslyComplx said:
I am so disgusted I don't even know what to say. It almost seems like you want one.NeedlsslyComplx said:
I've had planted systems before, that thrived. I am fortunate with regards to the composition of the well water I use.
This stems from a different attitude. I'm looking at the system as a whole, not just the fish. I add fish *slowly*. I do not intend to quarantine the "first wave" of fish. This will comprise, most likely, *feeder guppies*, in a quantity that is by no means excessive for the system. It will probably end up with less than 1/10th the amount of fish as other people would be tempted to add.
The life and death of feeder guppies do not concern me. They die by the hundreds in the jaws of other fish. If the entire population dies, I will be concerned. (or, concerned if I see it happening) - I will take steps to correct it, though they may not be the steps you would take.
I can accept that in a system that I am building, something could go wrong and cause a system crash. In my experience, what I am attempting will not suffer a system crash. This is because I do not stock many fish .
I intend to have a nested component that is fish free .
The predator will not necessarily be large. I would prefer to keep it on the smaller side, the more that I think about it.
A predator produces more "waste" and leaves more excess food in the water than a small school of guppies.
On a final note, anyone attempting to build a system needs to reconcile the concept of the system crash. I *will* do research. This thread *is* research. I am getting and incorporating input from a community of experienced individuals. But what I am not trying to do is name every single feeder guppy and make sure it has a liscenced vet to see to its individual health needs. I am responsible for building a system that will address those needs.
EcoPit said:
This stems from a different attitude. I'm looking at the system as a whole, not just the fish. I add fish *slowly*. I do not intend to quarantine the "first wave" of fish. This will comprise, most likely, *feeder guppies*, in a quantity that is by no means excessive for the system. It will probably end up with less than 1/10th the amount of fish as other people would be tempted to add.
The life and death of feeder guppies do not concern me. They die by the hundreds in the jaws of other fish. If the entire population dies, I will be concerned. (or, concerned if I see it happening) - I will take steps to correct it, though they may not be the steps you would take.
I can accept that in a system that I am building, something could go wrong and cause a system crash. In my experience, what I am attempting will not suffer a system crash. This is because I do not stock many fish .
I intend to have a nested component that is fish free .
The predator will not necessarily be large. I would prefer to keep it on the smaller side, the more that I think about it.
A predator produces more "waste" and leaves more excess food in the water than a small school of guppies.
On a final note, anyone attempting to build a system needs to reconcile the concept of the system crash. I *will* do research. This thread *is* research. I am getting and incorporating input from a community of experienced individuals. But what I am not trying to do is name every single feeder guppy and make sure it has a liscenced vet to see to its individual health needs. I am responsible for building a system that will address those needs.
Another small fish you might try besides guppies are danios. Zebras, leopards, whatever. They are small and have a small bioload, plus they are super cheap. Less than a dollar apeice at most LFS's around here.
The "veggie" filter looks interesting - I was considering running some of the fish water through an hydroponic tray - is that essentially the same thing?
And if I had a nested system for cyclops et al, what would you suggest for that system? (size wise for the tank, and plants to keep with it)
And if I had a nested system for cyclops et al, what would you suggest for that system? (size wise for the tank, and plants to keep with it)
NeedlsslyComplx said:
It really doesn't matter how many fish you stock. A lightly stocked tank can crash just as easily as a heavily stocked tank can. All you need to do is get one bad fish and the whole sytem can be wiped out. Actually it doesn't even have to be a sick fish, I had a discus tank crash because of bad blackworms.
I believe that we are speaking of different meanings of "crash" and those terms need clarification. When I speak of a system crash, most often I mean chemically by pH crash from KH exhaustion or OTS, and which can incorporate a biological crash simultaneouslly if the chemical crash is not attended to shortly. When I speak of biological crashes, I do tend to specify whether biofilter crash or disease wipe-out is involved.
I have not in >30 years of experience with circulating ranges ever had a crash whether chemical, biological (filter), or disease. But then I have not had such crashes in my stand-alone display tanks or my sump/refugium tanks either. Basic tank care is basic tank care. If all living things are QT'd, and good practices are observed, tanks do not crash capriciously - there is always a reason or cause and almost all of those are avoidable.
IMHO & IME a "lightly" stocked tank (I would say a properly stocked tank, but that is personal preference) does not crash if given basic care. Some folks through lack of both information and experience may have crashes which with more info they could have avoided, but this why we are here, isn't it?
Also IME, larger and more biologically complex systems are not more labile, but rather are more stable, especially in situations of multiple linked volumes of water (perhaps call them serial refugia or multi-sump systems?) which are set slightly to significantly differently biologically.
I have not in >30 years of experience with circulating ranges ever had a crash whether chemical, biological (filter), or disease. But then I have not had such crashes in my stand-alone display tanks or my sump/refugium tanks either. Basic tank care is basic tank care. If all living things are QT'd, and good practices are observed, tanks do not crash capriciously - there is always a reason or cause and almost all of those are avoidable.
IMHO & IME a "lightly" stocked tank (I would say a properly stocked tank, but that is personal preference) does not crash if given basic care. Some folks through lack of both information and experience may have crashes which with more info they could have avoided, but this why we are here, isn't it?
Also IME, larger and more biologically complex systems are not more labile, but rather are more stable, especially in situations of multiple linked volumes of water (perhaps call them serial refugia or multi-sump systems?) which are set slightly to significantly differently biologically.
