Rays on a budget- My (somewhat long) story w/pics
- Thread starter Clearwater guy
- Start date
Considering that the 150gal tank is still stocked pretty heavily, and the fact that this filter replaced an xp3...It is doing awesome.
I like the large diameter of the media trays, makes it so they won't clog as easily. The xp3 and xp4 both have a smaller diameter trays and they needed cleaning almost weekly in that tank. Eheim is about the same.
Considering that the UV light is on the inlet side of the water, I would bet that it is just enough to maybe coagulate some algae and such. It certainly isn't going to kill any parasites or anything like that with that high of a flow rate, but for the cost of it, I won't mind replacing it a couple times per year.
Mike
I like the large diameter of the media trays, makes it so they won't clog as easily. The xp3 and xp4 both have a smaller diameter trays and they needed cleaning almost weekly in that tank. Eheim is about the same.
Considering that the UV light is on the inlet side of the water, I would bet that it is just enough to maybe coagulate some algae and such. It certainly isn't going to kill any parasites or anything like that with that high of a flow rate, but for the cost of it, I won't mind replacing it a couple times per year.
Mike
Today, out of curiousity, I went and visited a fella who I was told raises Tilapia. He's been doing it in an old barn, and got tired of heating it all the time, so I checked it out, and bought all his fish. Now I just gotta figure out where to put them. Not sure exactly how many there are there, but I'm guessing maybe 100, and a lot of them are a foot long...
Headed outside now to fill the swimming pool. I think if I get a bunch of black tube to pump the water through, I can get it up over 70 by next week or so... Then I'll have more time to set up breeding tanks to sort them into.
He isn't in a huge hurry to have me get them out of there, and I payed nearly nothing for them. His only stipulation was that if he wants to get back into them, I need to give some back...What a lucky find!
This moves me ahead quite a bit. These are great looking fish from what I saw, and I can't wait to sort through them.
Mike
Headed outside now to fill the swimming pool. I think if I get a bunch of black tube to pump the water through, I can get it up over 70 by next week or so... Then I'll have more time to set up breeding tanks to sort them into.
He isn't in a huge hurry to have me get them out of there, and I payed nearly nothing for them. His only stipulation was that if he wants to get back into them, I need to give some back...What a lucky find!
This moves me ahead quite a bit. These are great looking fish from what I saw, and I can't wait to sort through them.
Mike
LOL...yeah. We have like a 3000gal cheapo pool that never got stored properly...so I'm seeing if it will still hold water. As long as it does, it will work. I can set up a filter later, but really I just need it to hold all these new fish while I sort them and get more breeding colonies set up inside.
I did want to grow out a crop in the pool this summer to harvest, but that is the last of my concerns right now...but maybe there will be some left in there this fall to harvest anyhow.
Mike
I did want to grow out a crop in the pool this summer to harvest, but that is the last of my concerns right now...but maybe there will be some left in there this fall to harvest anyhow.
Mike
once you get the new guys sorted out and out of the pool you could use it as a grow out. once your fry reach oh say between 1-2in throw them in there to grow. didnt you say you were going to not only use them as feeders, but going to cut them for strips and people food? should reach a nice size in there. I thought i heard somewhere that on the real big tilapia farms the fish just eat eachothers poo
So far the swimming pool is holding up. Gonna have to replace some tubing and such, but it appears to be holding water at least.
I got another awesome deal set up today...Can anyone guess what it is?
Mike
I got another awesome deal set up today...Can anyone guess what it is?
Mike
Yes, they do eat each others poo to a certain extent due to the lack of clean water.
Tilapia have a unique ability to filter algae right out of the water, so I'm going to go ahead and let the algae grow in the pool as it is a very good supplement. It has nutrients that they need, but no-where near enough to support rapid growth. The growth comes from Premium brand feeds...
Mike
Tilapia have a unique ability to filter algae right out of the water, so I'm going to go ahead and let the algae grow in the pool as it is a very good supplement. It has nutrients that they need, but no-where near enough to support rapid growth. The growth comes from Premium brand feeds...
Mike
