River Manifold Breeding Rack
- Thread starter cockroach
- Start date
Hi. My life has done a back flip and my wife and I are at a point we never even foresaw.
But I needed a timeout and worked on the tanks. After two days of tinkering with a leaky PVC connection and bulkheads, I got that under control. The system has been running two days with zero issues.
I went out and collected enough materials for two of the tanks scaping needs. Yeah.........turns out it was enough for one with about 1kg of gravel and small pebbles left.
I like the look after 4 or 5 revisions. Will post a pic or some soon. I seeded the tank with bio-media from an established tank, about 50g and some fresh river gravel about 1~1.2kg in addition to about 5 ladle sized rocks covered in filament algae and aufwuchs.
Testing water everyday. Once parameters settle, I will introduce panda loaches. I expect this to be about a week or so.
I was worried about weight, not only for the tank but when there are earthquakes, which is more often than I care for, a top heavy tank that long and thin is not great at balancing.
To overcome this, I built a structure on which to place the gravel and rocks that is hollow. I used black egg crate, cable ties and a plastic screen netting. To further remove weight, I added 5mm bioballs behind the structure to fill it in. In front of the structure I added a plastic modular floor or shelf covering which again took a lot of weight off through not needing as much gravel or rock.
I am happy with the result. Even though it looks heavy and filled with rock and gravel, there is in fact only about 1.5cm laying against the front glass and none at the back.
The structure and bioballs used to fill in behind it. Structure is 2/3 of tank length and 1/2/ of tank width.
Only about 1.5cm depth of gravel was needed to make it look filled. Saving tons of weight.
The rocks I chose were flat to give nice surface area for light exposure, algae growth and grazing area.
To overcome this, I built a structure on which to place the gravel and rocks that is hollow. I used black egg crate, cable ties and a plastic screen netting. To further remove weight, I added 5mm bioballs behind the structure to fill it in. In front of the structure I added a plastic modular floor or shelf covering which again took a lot of weight off through not needing as much gravel or rock.
I am happy with the result. Even though it looks heavy and filled with rock and gravel, there is in fact only about 1.5cm laying against the front glass and none at the back.
The structure and bioballs used to fill in behind it. Structure is 2/3 of tank length and 1/2/ of tank width.
Only about 1.5cm depth of gravel was needed to make it look filled. Saving tons of weight.
The rocks I chose were flat to give nice surface area for light exposure, algae growth and grazing area.
For some reason I dove into the panda loach tank first. It was done in about an hour.
These are the five that were left over from the first ten. I lost at least 2 or 3 to the impeller on the hang on back. I didn't see they could get in through the overflow before it was too late. And think tapeworm took one or two.
I suspect tapeworm as one of the 5 added to the rack had to be quarantined due to weight loss despite the others having a permanent bulging belly. I lost one within 48hrs of adding them to tank and suspect it may have gone into a cave that collapse or a stone moved trapping it.
A ruler for size.
The guy one
The tank immediately after setting it up
A side view a few days after set up
Since adding the panda loaches they really seem to be thriving. Well four at least. I have read how outgoing these fish can be but first hand they are great. While catching the one to quarantine, I had to keep moving the others out the way as they came to check what was in the net.
Considering how many hiding spots they have that I could never get to, it only took me about 45 seconds to catch the skinny one because he just didn't swim away.
These are the five that were left over from the first ten. I lost at least 2 or 3 to the impeller on the hang on back. I didn't see they could get in through the overflow before it was too late. And think tapeworm took one or two.
I suspect tapeworm as one of the 5 added to the rack had to be quarantined due to weight loss despite the others having a permanent bulging belly. I lost one within 48hrs of adding them to tank and suspect it may have gone into a cave that collapse or a stone moved trapping it.
A ruler for size.
The guy one
The tank immediately after setting it up
A side view a few days after set up
Since adding the panda loaches they really seem to be thriving. Well four at least. I have read how outgoing these fish can be but first hand they are great. While catching the one to quarantine, I had to keep moving the others out the way as they came to check what was in the net.
Considering how many hiding spots they have that I could never get to, it only took me about 45 seconds to catch the skinny one because he just didn't swim away.
The rapids tank was done next. I had a grand plan for a stepped layout with "white water". but realised this setup would not suit that as the requirements were too high and specialized. For now. I ended up going with a more sloping gradient that I am happy with at the moment.
The stiphies were added to the this tank and I am looking to add hillstream loaches later.
Here are some closer shots of the riffle tank:
This is the inlet. It has since had a gauze covering put on to prevent the panda loaches for swimming upstream and into another tank.
The inlet was also angled down with a 45° PVC elbow as the flow was going across the surface to the outlet without really affecting the stream bed.
This algal growth did wonders for the panda loaches and to date I barely feed them. They constantly have fat bellies and are growing well as there is so much biofilm growth with critters living in the grass like algae that they feed all day long without depleting it. For the time being.
Two to three times a week I drop a veg or carnivore pellet in and observe them all together. These three are growing so well and I am enjoying watching the color change.
The start of the rapids tank.
Once the tank was setup and testing was going on. I must get an updated pic of the rack as the lights have been attached above each tank and give a much better lighting effect.
The large rock on the left at the outlet was to help create some surface agitation to give the effect of water over rocks and the shimmering effect from the LED lights.
A shot from the right side of the tank looking "upstream"
I tried to create a patchwork of flattish rocks sloping down. The gaps between stones I filled as naturally as I could to make the stream bed as flat and bedrock like as I could while leaving gaps for the fish to hideout in and feel at home.
The largest, I am assuming female, loves this hideout. She occasionally enters one of the subterranean caves I made and praire dogs.
The stiphies were a blast watching them argue creating a new pecking order. I thought they would love the strong current area on the left but the all hangout in the lowlands of the tank.
The stiphies were added to the this tank and I am looking to add hillstream loaches later.
Here are some closer shots of the riffle tank:
This is the inlet. It has since had a gauze covering put on to prevent the panda loaches for swimming upstream and into another tank.
The inlet was also angled down with a 45° PVC elbow as the flow was going across the surface to the outlet without really affecting the stream bed.
This algal growth did wonders for the panda loaches and to date I barely feed them. They constantly have fat bellies and are growing well as there is so much biofilm growth with critters living in the grass like algae that they feed all day long without depleting it. For the time being.
Two to three times a week I drop a veg or carnivore pellet in and observe them all together. These three are growing so well and I am enjoying watching the color change.
The start of the rapids tank.
Once the tank was setup and testing was going on. I must get an updated pic of the rack as the lights have been attached above each tank and give a much better lighting effect.
The large rock on the left at the outlet was to help create some surface agitation to give the effect of water over rocks and the shimmering effect from the LED lights.
A shot from the right side of the tank looking "upstream"
I tried to create a patchwork of flattish rocks sloping down. The gaps between stones I filled as naturally as I could to make the stream bed as flat and bedrock like as I could while leaving gaps for the fish to hideout in and feel at home.
The largest, I am assuming female, loves this hideout. She occasionally enters one of the subterranean caves I made and praire dogs.
The stiphies were a blast watching them argue creating a new pecking order. I thought they would love the strong current area on the left but the all hangout in the lowlands of the tank.
