Catching ray poo without media??? Yup.

[DB junkie]

I vote for a video of the dungeon. wish I had more of a basement to use or I would be all over this. my laundry room is turning into my fish room slowly but all I have room for is tanks and I don't think I could keep a metal shed warm enough to place a filter room beside it but that would be ideal if I could to avoid adding on to the house.

Jeffers, I'll make you a walk through video. Probably won't be till later in the weekend though as I'm still cleaning up from a massive flood....

Keep in mind Jeffers, you don't NEED 55 gallon drums. I scaled mine up from the original 5 gallon bucket video I watched on you tube. The original video was done by a guy who uses this design for one thing and one thing only - to harvest fish emulsion for his Cannibus crop.......

There's no reason someone can't scale this down to fit under a tank stand.

I used 55 gallon drums cause I have access to them......

 

[DB junkie]

Ok. The pics and reading the discription cleared it up for me. Thank you. How far from the bottom would you say the water softner barrell sits. I would think that this could be adjusted to impact filtration. Have you played with the height at all?

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I believe it's just barely above the PVC. I'd guess 6"? Agree with you 100% on this being a key tuning factor. No, I have not changed anything in these things since I built them last summer and installed last fall. I'd guess the diameter of this tube (water softener barrel) could be a factor as well.

Another thing that my crappy prototype lacks is even flow to the drains. Ideally you'd want some sort of trough all the way around the top of the barrel before leaving the drains. I'll explain it like this......

Say you're looking down on the drum from the top. Say the 2 drains leaving are at 1 and 4 o'clock. The water is going to travel directly to those drains all the time. IF you had some sort of trough or even several drains spaced evenly all the way around the drum then there would be no shortest route and THEN it works ideally. This COULD be accomplished by adding a second larger drum inside that sat on the bottom of the 55 gallon drum, then the top of it lined with overflow teeth so water would run down this THEN out the drains. That would allow same distance for the water to travel all the way around the "clock" if you follow...

Like I've been saying, all I've accomplished so far is verifying the idea works...... This by no means a "Hey you guys should build this" thread, cause this design is plagued with flaws. All I'm saying is the idea is solid, and it works, and I honestly think the stringy nature of ray poo just adds to the efficiency of this concept instead of plaguing most typical mechanical filtration means. So all we need to do is collectively get together and figure out how to build real thought out flaw free designs for cheaper then the professionally built RFSs that cost several thousand dollars.

 

[Blkpiranha]

Maybe you're still within "practical" but after moving a 750 gallon tank into my basement and planning on filling it with rays and some of the most predatory fresh water fish on the planet I pretty much tossed practicality out the window.....

I thought most people serious about fish kept filter rooms? I see no need for any TVs in my filter room. I have a living room for the big screen TV and entertaining guests, but honestly if my guests want to be entertained they prefer the "dungeon basement" (see I caught your dig? )

IF you don't have the room for big filters now how are you going to manage in the event you get a big tank?

I manage quite fine with filtering my big tanks with just my sump,UV and powerheads. No floods on this end!! Keeping it simple is sometimes the best way. At least it is for me! You should be putting these threads in the DIY.

 

[corn fed]

I manage quite fine with my big tanks. If you do it right it doesn't need to be big and unsightly and take up the whole basement. Like I said you have a good concept for people that setup tanks in unfurnished areas(garage, concrete basement,warehouse,empty furnace room) but not practical for most individuals that live in fully furnished houses.

Yeah, but those people need to go monster and remove all their furniture except one couch and replace it all with monster tanks and filtration!!! Lol.

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[Blkpiranha]

Yeah, but those people need to go monster and remove all their furniture except one couch and replace it all with monster tanks and filtration!!! Lol.

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You can still go monster but still keep it neat and clean for a furnished area.

 

[DB junkie]

I manage quite fine with my big tanks. If you do it right it doesn't need to be big and unsightly and take up the whole basement. Like I said you have a good concept for people that setup tanks in unfurnished areas(garage, concrete basement,warehouse,empty furnace room) but not practical for most individuals that live in fully furnished houses.

Is this Monster Fish Keepers? Or is this Practical Fish Keepers?

I guess you and I have different concepts of "big" and "practical"

I consider my 750 a moderately sized grow out tank, nowhere near "big" as I'd hope some of the fish when full grown should almost touch the front and back of the tank when turning around. I'm stuck with this sized tank only cause I live in a rental house and can't pull out all the stops till I own a house of my own. Only then will I be able to have a "big" tank.

And the original RFS design I scaled mine off of was a 5 gallon bucket. Which easily fits under the stand of most tanks. Making it practical to even the most anal people in their elegant lavished super nice designer homes......

Are they for everyone? Nope. But to the crafty build it rather then buy it people, it can be a fun and very rewarding project.......

 

[DB junkie]

Yeah, but those people need to go monster and remove all their furniture except one couch and replace it all with monster tanks and filtration!!! Lol.

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We are definitely on the same page......

I actually had to remove my couch from the basement as it took up too much room. I replaced the couch with a couple chairs so I could set up more grow outs. Besides with a nice fish collection, all you should need is the edge of your seat......

 

[DB junkie]

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Here's vid from a quick youtube search......

 

[cjfrontlovr]

nice job alan..yours looks to be working better than mine..i blame mine on laziness though

 

[stingray keeper]

We are definitely on the same page......

I actually had to remove my couch from the basement as it took up too much room. I replaced the couch with a couple chairs so I could set up more grow outs. Besides with a nice fish collection, all you should need is the edge of your seat......

Lol edge of your seat. Good one. Im with you DB. Thanks for sharing. This should be in DIY filtration. But i too would like a full up close video to better comprehend the concept.