AzFish Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Morning all, Thought i'd share my progress with you all on how the racks are coming along. The Racks: The first one holds a 5x2 and a 6x2, both are plumbed into the sump underneath the rack. The return pump for this will be a laguna maxflo, either a 9000 or an 11000, is the 11000 overkill? it will be pumping to a head height of around 2.5mts. The second rack holds 2 x 4x2 both again on a central sump. Return pump I am considering for this will be the laguna maxflo 7500. The original racks were 840mm deep, I changed the racks so that they are now only 620mm wide, perfect for 2ft wide tanks. I added cross beams to the racks for added spport, the 5 and 6fter sit on 19mm flooring ply, the 4fters sit on 12mm marine ply. Heating for all the tanks is done by a single jager 300w heater in each sump, they say these will heat up to 1000lts so I will find out soon enough if they do! Planned occupents: Tropheus moorii ndole colony Ophthalmotilapia boops Nkondwe (fingers crossed i can get these!) Cyprichromis leptosoma malasa Ventralis Samazi Kabogo green's Julie's Will post pics up once I get around to downloading them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkesg Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Hi Aaron, 11,000 is fine for a 5*2 and a 6*2, I have these on the exact setup and works well. Theres not much difference in price between the 9 and 11 anyway. Whats the headheight on the 2 - 4*2's? I'd consider going bigger on these as well. I have the same setup 2 - 4*2's one system with headheight of about 1 metre and 1 system with headheight 2 metres, the pump is 7500 and 9000 respectively. Again plenty of flow on each, but could probably use a bit more. If you want to pop over for a look ket me know. Regards Grant p.s....boops.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Miller Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 G'day, There's something very fishy here! How come a guy who calls himself 'Malawibloat' is planning on all Tangs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzFish Posted June 10, 2008 Author Share Posted June 10, 2008 G'day, There's something very fishy here! How come a guy who calls himself 'Malawibloat' is planning on all Tangs LOL!! When i first joined this forum I kept Malawi's and had a huge case of bloat at the time, hence my handle .. these days though, its all Tang's and no bloat for a long time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzFish Posted June 10, 2008 Author Share Posted June 10, 2008 Hi Aaron, 11,000 is fine for a 5*2 and a 6*2, I have these on the exact setup and works well. Theres not much difference in price between the 9 and 11 anyway. Whats the headheight on the 2 - 4*2's? I'd consider going bigger on these as well. I have the same setup 2 - 4*2's one system with headheight of about 1 metre and 1 system with headheight 2 metres, the pump is 7500 and 9000 respectively. Again plenty of flow on each, but could probably use a bit more. If you want to pop over for a look ket me know. Regards Grant p.s....boops.... Thanks Grant, I think another tour of your fish room is in order, have not seen it since you put the new bays in last year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philis Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Sounds really exciting mate. I look forward to some pics of the tropheus colony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzFish Posted June 10, 2008 Author Share Posted June 10, 2008 Here is a pic of the racks I have one of the 4x2's ready to go and a 5x2 as well, still waiting for another 4x2 and the 6x2x20! Will update as I set it all up. Cheers, Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbuna man Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Might be a good idea to tint that window. Looks like it will be a great setup. Where did you get those racks. Looking to setup 2* 4*2 myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzFish Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 Might be a good idea to tint that window. Looks like it will be a great setup. Where did you get those racks. Looking to setup 2* 4*2 myself The racks I got from malouf's, check their website for details. They are well priced and hold over a tonne per shelf. I will be doing something with the windows, im either going to black the windows out or just insulate the back of the tanks on the top shelf with foam. Got the pumps today, ended getting two Laguna 11,000's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicolid Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Nice looking set-up you have there. Will be good to see more photo's as it progresses. Have you thought of "second glazing" the windows ?. That way you will keep the light coming in but it will save heat loss in winter. Just fit a 2 x 2cm timber batten around the reveal of existing window. Insert a sheet of glass or perspex & fit another batten around the reveal. I did this & with a minimum of 5cm polystyrene all round & my fish house doesn't drop below 24 C all through winter, even though in WA we get down to below 10C at night. HTH Col Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzFish Posted June 12, 2008 Author Share Posted June 12, 2008 Nice looking set-up you have there. Will be good to see more photo's as it progresses. Have you thought of "second glazing" the windows ?. That way you will keep the light coming in but it will save heat loss in winter. Just fit a 2 x 2cm timber batten around the reveal of existing window. Insert a sheet of glass or perspex & fit another batten around the reveal. I did this & with a minimum of 5cm polystyrene all round & my fish house doesn't drop below 24 C all through winter, even though in WA we get down to below 10C at night. HTH Col I had not thought of double glazing the windows, will look into this for sure. Thanks for the tip! Photo's will be added as I do more to the set up, this weekend is going to be busy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzFish Posted June 15, 2008 Author Share Posted June 15, 2008 Ok, the weekend was a busy one! Managed to install and plumb the 5x2 and a 4x2 on the racks. Was supposed to pick up the other 4x2 on Saturday but it's delayed a week and the 6x2 will arrive the week after. The sumps I went for in the end was a 4x16x18 for the 5 & 6fters and a 3x16x18 for the 2 4fters, both at this stage have around 4lts of Matrix and some Japanese filter matting. I will add a couple more lts of Matrix as I go on. I kick started one of the Maxflo's, those pumps have some serious power! Didnt need to remove the cage after all, the unit sits perfectly in the sump which was a bonus as I could not figure out how to run the pump cageless without vibrating on the glass. Will post pics when I can! And thanks for reading! Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinny Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Hi The rack set up looks great. Did the cross members come with the rack or did you instal them? Also, I checked out the website and they had heaps of different systems. What is the one you have in reference to their website? Just so when I ring they know what I am talking about. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzFish Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 Hi The rack set up looks great. Did the cross members come with the rack or did you instal them? Also, I checked out the website and they had heaps of different systems. What is the one you have in reference to their website? Just so when I ring they know what I am talking about. Thanks. Hi Skinny, I welded the cross member on to the frame just as a precaution. The racks I got were 'Colby' brand, dexion is the other one worth asking for. When I spoke to them, I had no idea what brand etc to ask for, I just asked for a 2000mmx840mmx2400 bay (lxwxh) and a 1500x840x2400 bay. Cheers, Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorgy Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Interesting post Aaron, enjoying it so far. Is the room partially below ground at all, or all above ground? I would also like to see more photos , I never get tired of looking at fellow enthusiasts set-ups and tanks, so if you can take more shots that would be great! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzFish Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 Interesting post Aaron, enjoying it so far. Is the room partially below ground at all, or all above ground? I would also like to see more photos , I never get tired of looking at fellow enthusiasts set-ups and tanks, so if you can take more shots that would be great! Cheers Nope, its just a plain garage concrete floor so I guess its techincally above groud Thanks for the comments gorgy! Here is a pic from the weekend of the two tanks installed. Now all I have do is wait for the other 2 to arrive then arrange some grow out tanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbuna man Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Nice work.. Hope you got a fridge in there as well. Many hours of enjoyment in the garage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzFish Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 Nice work.. Hope you got a fridge in there as well. Many hours of enjoyment in the garage Bar fridge wil go in eventually and a nice comfy chair as well! Well, I installed the 2nd 4x2, did all the plumbing etc and here is how it looks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjmowens Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 hey mate tanks look great. what did you use for the background paint or contact? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzFish Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 hey mate tanks look great. what did you use for the background paint or contact? Thanks buddy! I used a water based low gloss paint. Used ESP prior to painting then put on 3 heavy coats of the blue! So here is a break down of what I have installed for this rack: Two 4x2x2 both with 40mm bulkheads in the rear of the tank, both are plumbed into the one drain pipe to the matrix sump. The return pipe is 25mm running off a Laguna maxflo 11,000. Both returns to the tanks have ball valves to regulate water flow. Substrate is just washed sydney sand from bunnings and rocks are lucky stones from a FlowerPower. These two tanks will house my Ventralis samazi & some malasa cyps in the bottom tank, Kabogo's and my trio of kachese cyps will go in the top tank. I checked the water parameters last night, PH8.4+, KH18, GH12, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 & Nitrate <5, I was suprised at these readings considering all i've been adding is Seachem Stability over the last two weeks and feeding the filter with some fish food, i was expecting at least a small nitrite reading. Buffers I am currently using are Seachem Lake Salt and Aqua-Pics African KH generator, I will swap over to the cyrstals when I run out of Seachem. Question: would 35 tropheus be too many for a 5x2? 12 would be adult wilds and the rest are f1 juvies? I can put them in the 6x2 eventually but i hate moving fish between tanks, espcially tropheus. Thanks for reading! Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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