Startign project need advice.

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nfored

nfored

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 4, 2008
2,597
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Missouri
I want to create a BB breeding tank.

This is what I am thinking.

1 50 Gallon rubermaid.
4 dual output air pumps.
8 100 Gallon Sponge Filters.
1 bottle of pure Ammonia
1 one gallon bottle with IV drip kit.

The setup would be simple. Fill the tub and start a normal fishless cycle, once this fishless cycle has completed, start a consent drip of dechlorinated water that has Xppm of ammonia.

This is what I need help with, any ideas of how much ppm ammonia I should be dripping. I want to have enough food to feed all 8 sponge filters. I was thinking 4 ppm ammonia in the drip bottle with a drip rate of .25 gallons a day.


This setup would be be the best emergence setup I can find. If I have a tank completely crash I can add one or two filters from here and keep moving. If i setup a new tank add a couple filters. Power outage, you got it add a couple filters. I can go on for ever.
 
Mods please correct Title "Starting Project Need Advice"
 
Just a thought, you could always just stick acouple extra filters into you other tanks and swap them around as necessary.
 
I am doing this currently, I have a sponge filter in the sump and a small bag of bio balls.

However this is my thinking, when the power goes out I have 5 tanks, that will need filtering, I don't have enough room to store 5 sponge filters. Also when I go on vacation I would take all the bio media in my tanks an place them in this drip system so they stay active. I would then put the sponge filters in the tanks while on vacation on battery back up air pumps. Doing this does 2 things one provides filtration in event of power outage, and 2 prevents my media in my power filters from dying while on vacations if the power where to go out.
 
Well if no one knows about the ammonia level can you tell me a good strong pump?
 
nfored;2163902; said:
I am doing this currently, I have a sponge filter in the sump and a small bag of bio balls.

However this is my thinking, when the power goes out I have 5 tanks, that will need filtering, I don't have enough room to store 5 sponge filters. Also when I go on vacation I would take all the bio media in my tanks an place them in this drip system so they stay active. I would then put the sponge filters in the tanks while on vacation on battery back up air pumps. Doing this does 2 things one provides filtration in event of power outage, and 2 prevents my media in my power filters from dying while on vacations if the power where to go out.
Click to expand...

The battery operated pumps are only good for 36 hours. The chances of the power going out are slim so it would be better to have your "fish sitter" know what to do if there is an outage. Btw, you did consider a fish sitter, right?

(There are tons of fish sitter horror stories, so that isn't a perfect solution either.)
 
Instead of using the normal battery operated pumps, you could buy on of the backup systems. This would allow yourpump to only run if the power goes out.

I would worry that the bacteria would die once you put the sponge filters into the other tanks as there would not be enough amonia to support the BB.
 
THe battery pumps I looked at, Ran off of AC then switched to battery power if the AC dropped off. I never thought about the filters dying due to lower levels of ammonia in fish tanks.

So do you guys think this is just a waste of time? It wouldn't hurt my feelings I would rather hear that it is a waste of time, then waste my time on a project doomed to fail.
 
It's not doomed to fail; it is quite a good idea actually. Instead of running it 365 days a year, just run it for a month prior to going on vacation. During the set up, clean all of your other filters in the sponge filter tank and put your gravel wash water in there too. Basically you want the cruddiest water that you can get (highest concentration of BB). Then by running the sponge filters in that, you will be seeding them (cycling them) the fastest possible way.

When you leave on vacation, leave the normal filters in operation and add the sponge filters to the tanks as the backup. You can feed the fish heavily before you go since the extra filtration will handle the load. It will also prevent an ammonia peak when the sponge filter is taken out. A peak shouldn't be a problem any way if you feed lightly when you return.
 
i agree with chompers.. and to see if it works you could test it before you go on vacation...
 
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