Here is a pic, you can see it on the right, it goes back 2 cars deep and 2 cars wide, the workshop is on the other side - my idea is to convert the back half 1 and a half garages wide.
New Ray tank arrived today
- Thread starter Just Toby
- Start date
Thanks, it has filled up though since my little girl was born! It felt big when it was just two of us.
aquaman45;4265090; said:
Thank you I am very proud of the house and all the work we have put in to it - you name it we have had to do it. I am currently converting the loft to sort out some roof issues - the house was a wreck when we bought it but we knew that. Once the loft is finished (not far now) I can get all the loft junk back up and see what room I have left for the fish room.
I am so pleased with the Rays it is untrue, just tonight the little girl has really come out of her shell and is bombing round the tank like the Pearl, she still buries quite often when I open the lid and glass to feed as she is easily spooked but she is settling more each day and eats the large Massivore as much as any other foods.
T1KARMANN;4198885; said:
First of all great set-up! Awesome rays!
Second this is great advice. Jap mat is awesome media and the poly wool will make the water sparkle. As for the ph I don't think it'll be an issue. My ph is 8.0-8.2. I have an automatic drip system that changes out 50 gallons/day. I also have chloramine in my water. I found out, quite by accident, that even if the dosing pump fails the system will absorb the the ammonia and the chlorine will dissipate. I went away for 14 days to work and came back to find the dosing chamber just as full as when I'd left.(both check valves were clogged). I have a mardel ammonia alert on the tank which reads as low 0.02ppm. It has replaceable cartridges so I thought the cartridge must be old and therfore not reading anything. I replaced it with a new one and still read 0ppm ammonia.
All of the fish were fine. The tank is a 230 gallon with a 33 gallon sump with a bio tower. Tank has 2 small pearl x motoro rays, a super red arowana, 10 5-7" clown loaches, 2 synodontis cats and 2 plecos.
Would I recommend a drip system without a dosing set-up? Not in a million years, but it can be done, obviously. If i had some cheaper fish I might try it.
As long as your media is well established and the amount of water entering the system is slowly introduced over a 24 hr period there shouldn't be any side effects.Problems could arise if you tried to do this on a once a day set-up if all of the water was changed at once. Too much chlorine and ammonia, chloramine, would certainly have toxic effects.
Your system seems pretty sound and your fish look amazing. I just thought I'd share this info so you don't have to be constantly worried about your water parameters as I used to be. There is actually more room for error than most people think when you are set-up on a drip system.
RDFISHGUY;4265294; said:First of all great set-up! Awesome rays!
Second this is great advice. Jap mat is awesome media and the poly wool will make the water sparkle. As for the ph I don't think it'll be an issue. My ph is 8.0-8.2. I have an automatic drip system that changes out 50 gallons/day. I also have chloramine in my water. I found out, quite by accident, that even if the dosing pump fails the system will absorb the the ammonia and the chlorine will dissipate. I went away for 14 days to work and came back to find the dosing chamber just as full as when I'd left.(both check valves were clogged). I have a mardel ammonia alert on the tank which reads as low 0.02ppm. It has replaceable cartridges so I thought the cartridge must be old and therfore not reading anything. I replaced it with a new one and still read 0ppm ammonia.
All of the fish were fine. The tank is a 230 gallon with a 33 gallon sump with a bio tower. Tank has 2 small pearl x motoro rays, a super red arowana, 10 5-7" clown loaches, 2 synodontis cats and 2 plecos.
Would I recommend a drip system without a dosing set-up? Not in a million years, but it can be done, obviously. If i had some cheaper fish I might try it.
Problems could arise if you tried to do this on a once a day set-up if all of the water was changed at once. Too much chlorine and ammonia, chloramine, would certainly have toxic effects.
Your system seems pretty sound and your fish look amazing. I just thought I'd share this info so you don't have to be constantly worried about your water parameters as I used to be. There is actually more room for error than most people think when you are set-up on a drip system.
Thanks, this is a really useful post, thank you for taking the time to think about it and compose it.
I am picking up a bespoke freshwater top up tank today along with Deltec auto top up system, there is a dosing pump too so it should all be up and running perfectly this weekend - this will do 3X weekly 30 gal changes (10% twice) and then I will VAC the sand at the weekend and if any Nitrate still present I will change up to 25%. There is also a Nitragon. I currently do not read more than 10ppm at any time.
I also have the same Ammonia alert.
Good point on the Ammonia absorbtion as a "dont worry" if the dosing runs out.
I prefer this to a drip or larger change.
Just Toby;4266731; said:
Well thought out. I believe consistency is the key. As long as you don't get big swings in your water parameters you are fine. The times that have troubled me in the past are when I had to do huge water changes or when equipment malfunctioned.
Always good to have spare pumps kicking around or a spare tank in case of emergency.
With auto change systems that utilize float switches its a good idea to check their operation and clean the shafts (depending on the type) periodically. Calcium build up is a problem here and its an even bigger problem when it causes a float switch to stick and you get water on the floor.
A water on the floor alarm is never a bad idea or use high level switch and a high high level switch. Redundancy is always a great defense but not always foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool such as myself.
I had my dosing jug set up on a shelf above my parastaltic dosing pump with a check valve before and after the pump. One day the pump broke and both check valves failed. I dumped enough Prime into the tank to treat it for a year. I lost my stingray and a few clown loaches and nearly lost my XB arowana.
Now I have a lift pump and the jug is on the floor. I also dilute the prime so even if a catastrophic event occurs it won't be immediately fatal.
Im looking at an auto top up for my new big tank when its built,where you getting yours from toby and are they expensive?
Steve
Steve
