Jump to content

need help with breeding system


Donny Brasco

Recommended Posts

Hi all, i have successfully been breeding my fish for the past 6 months or so but i find my set up quite inefficient and im planing on moving things around into a larger room in one of my factories so now is the best time to set it all up a bit more efficient.

Currently i have 6 x4ft breeding tanks, all individually isolated with there own heaters and sponge filters running off one big air pump.
Now that ill have more room im going to expand it to another 8 x 3ft tanks as well.
Now rather than changing each tanks water every week i want to simplify the system and run a large "sump" that feeds and drains each tank so that water changes are simply draining the sump set up and refilling.

Now i know its not a good idea to put fresh water straight onto seeded filter media so im thinking about having 2 separate 200lt drums, one as a filter and the other as the holding drum which then gets pumped into the tanks.
the tanks will have drains and come back to the filter drum, the water will travel between the 2 drums via a bridge/hose between the two drums at the top.

My theory is that i can put a valve on to change the flow of the pump out to the "sink", drain the 200lt of water out of the holding drum, turn the pump off and change the flow back, then fill it back up add in the prime and water conditioner, then turn the pump back on and it will start cycling through.

now considering 200lt water change for a potential of around 2000lt of water is only 10% i may consider doing a 200lt water change maybe 2 times a week but it wont be hard to do.
and i will also still be running a single sponge filter in each tank and each tank only has around 6-8 fish in each so waste is minimal

My questions are.
1. water type of filter set up should i do in the first drum?
2. What sort of heater can i get to really heat up the water in the holding tank to try and maintain a descent temperature through out all the other tanks, I dont think a bunch of your typical 300w sticks is going to do the job....
3. do you think this will be equate enough for the fishes needs


I have attached a pic of roughly what im thinking about doing

new%20breeder%20set%20up_zpsfdk8hyhb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first thing you need to think about is disease, if one tank has it so do all the others.

Sounds like the system should work perfectly, I would have the water constantly draining 50ml per hour or something like that and have a drip system that drips 50ml per hour this small amount of chlorine shouldn't effect the bacteria or any natural organisms.

Calculate the total volume of all the tanks and make the system change 25% weekly by using the drip system. It's a bit more complicated but if someone helps you out it will be worth it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hmm interesting so technically always draining and always refilling technically meaning wont need to do water changes how ever would need almost daily dosing to get the parameters correct, which would be just as much maintenance.
I have separate isolated tanks for hospital tanks so first signs of disease i can isolate (i check my fish atleast 3 times a day, morning, lunch and afternoon before i go home)
not to mention i have never had a sick fish before, in the last 12 months i have been breeding cichlids.
I also will have separate isolated tanks for fry and grow outs which wont be apart of the cycling system, just a couple of sponge filters in each.

My main concern was what sort of filter system should i use in the filter drum....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hmm interesting so technically always draining and always refilling technically meaning wont need to do water changes how ever would need almost daily dosing to get the parameters correct, which would be just as much maintenance.

I have separate isolated tanks for hospital tanks so first signs of disease i can isolate (i check my fish atleast 3 times a day, morning, lunch and afternoon before i go home)

not to mention i have never had a sick fish before, in the last 12 months i have been breeding cichlids.

I also will have separate isolated tanks for fry and grow outs which wont be apart of the cycling system, just a couple of sponge filters in each.

My main concern was what sort of filter system should i use in the filter drum....

You can still have the buffer dripping in as well, try to source a liquid buffer, once it is set up should work like a God.

If that doesn't tickle your fancy that's fine.

Just saying I know you might keep you're water pristine, BUT (this is a big but!) disease can always destroy a system so don't be too sure!

I have no idea what you mean by what system do you use for the drum! Do you mean what filter?

You are better off setting up a sump to do all of this, it's much easier and works a treat you just need two pond filters one inlet and one outlet!

6c8cb6f2a5285fd5c005b25cccc43390.jpg

Someone else can jump on and help I'm not the Einstein when it comes to sumps!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

what i mean is there are different ways of setting up a filter and i was thinking maybe a moving fluid bed or possible just putting some sort of a divider in there and filling it with marine purse and bio balls or something.

To be honest i could put valves on each tank that way i can isolate each one and just use the drum and piping as a means for draining and refilling the tanks once a week, but im really trying to get away with needing 12 individual heaters. the idea of having a central water supply means i can put a big beefy heater in the drum and it should do the job of keeping everything warm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just had another idea, there is a balcony above this set up, im thinking what about sticking say 2 x 200lt drums up abovewith drains at the bottom which flow into each tank with valves to adjust the flow into each tank.
then have the drains on each tank flow into the sink/drain

and then once a week all i do is fill up the 2 x 200lt drums, poor in the conditioner powder and prime, leave a couple of air stones in the drums to "mix it all about"
and then with a bit of mucking around i could set the flow rates on each valve so essentially the water change is done non stop with a trickle of fresh water to continually top it up....
and ill just continue with 2 sponge filters in each tank as the only form of filtration, but atleast this way each tank is isolated and the "auto" water change is sorted all i have to do is fill up the drums once a week which should only take a 30 mins or so, basically letting gravity take care of the water distribution.

I still have the issue of heating the water though....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The ideal system is to do a permanent drip where you dont have to do any water changes. It really needs a specific setup and design. I'd use this system if I were to ever set up another fish room. Utilizing a couple of 200 litre drums probably doesn't suit that sort of system.

Heating is often an issue and sometimes its easier just to heat a room rather than the tanks. If you have the space for the tanks in a workshop environment then it doesn't take much to build a false wall around the lot. I've used 2by1's and liquid nails to make framework and sheets of styro for the walls...works really well.

For 200 litre drums, imo your better off if you can use them as gravity fed sumps. It might be easier to pump the water up on a spinner bar and use gravity as your friend.

edit - how are your tanks joined together in the system

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the factory has a room at the back which has all proper walls and glass how ever it is quite a high roof, but where im wanting to put the 12 breeder tanks all together is actually under a balcony so technically its in a small cornered off section that i guess with a false wall i could maybe have a heater in that area that heats the "room"
But how do i go about controlling the temperature of the water during different times of the year, does it need constant adjusting or do you use an external thermostat in the water and have it turn the heater on and off when needed?


Do you think ill need 2 of your typical size sponges per 4ft tank with only 8 fish in each or will 1 do the job if im doing weekly 30% water changes.

I guess the idea i had for all the piping is mainly for a maintenance point of few to make water changes easy instead of individually draining 12 + tanks.
as for how they will be connected technically they wont, the inlet for fresh water will be just above the tanks and drop in and the outlets ill either end up drilling bulk heads or use a pipe system to drain like joey from the king of DIY has made on his youtube channel

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey mate,

Check out the probe thermostat second from the bottom of the link below. You could use the probe in a tank or the sump and have the heating source plugged into it. It's mainly used for reptile rooms but will do e same job in a fish room I'd say.

http://www.herpshop.com.au/Thermostats.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...