Problem in LFS

[captkrill]

Hi there,

I have been stuck on this for a while.

I have about 8 OLD stacks of fish tanks that are for freshwater that I cannot figure out how to heat the water short of dropping a heater in each tank. They are carrying Af., NA., and SA. cichilids and community fish minus those that are very sensitive to water temp, like discus or angels etc. The OLD saltwater stacks were replaced with brand new DAS stacks straight off the assembly line. Originally there was a large sump/fuge in the back of the store filtering 2 rows of 4 stacks per row saltwater. The tanks are now being converted to fresh and we are trying to figure out how to heat the water to 76-78 during the day when the store is kept at high 60s (ridiculously cold).

As far as I know we are getting new fixtures for the freshwater tanks that will be T-5. Will the new bulbs be able to heat the water significantly?

The store is under new ownership and needs some help to keep it afloat. So any advice?

-Tony

 

[kallmond]

Why not continue to use the sump and put the heater(s) in the sump? I would want a valve to section off any specific tank in case of disease outbreak, and in that case you could toss a sponge filter that you kept soaking in the sump and a heater in that specific tank, but have the rest/majority heated/filtered off the sump. That gives you the added benefit of a much larger water column to help with the typical LFS tank overcrowding.

How many are there, and how big are these tanks? LFS tanks are usually 10 - 15 gallons right? We're not talking about expensive heaters, even if you had to put one in each tank. The hardest part of that becomes getting power to each heater.

 

[captkrill]

there are some stacks with 6 tanks. 4 on top or bottom and 2 on the opposite sides.

so they range from 15-30ish give or take.

we have sponge filters, but they get very dirty very fast depending on the fish. For instance red belly pacu, oscars, dempseys etc.

Just trying to create a more efficient way of filtering, heating and servicing 2 rows of 8 stacks of freshwater fish ranging from cichlids to guppies.

The reason i say nay to the unified sump is the fact that Af cichlids pH requirements.

 

[kallmond]

PH requirements are silly unless you're selling wild caught fish. Tank raised fish are used to the PH of the water around them.

If a sump is out of the question, you could use a water heater to circulate water through pipes that run into and out of each tank and then back to the water heater, simular to what Nolapete is doing with his huge tank.

I still think a central sump or central sumps by PH level/Fish type are the best bet.

 

[captkrill]

I will definitely run it by them.