Spare tank for collected fish

I’m thinking about setting up a spare “tank” for my collected fish. It would be a 50L plastic container with an external filter attached. Does anyone think it can work? What sort of filter would be the best? Does anyone have any hint about it?

That’s the way to go rabucazz,two separate bio areas if you can, one for shop bought stuff to quarantine it and keep some cupramine and anti fungal active at all times at low levels.

The one you are talking about, a collected species environment, that’s cool, but never put shop bought in there, you can have one tub or two tubes with an over flow from one to the other and a return pump in the second one with pre filtering before the pump, that one goes to the bio filter!

Use all plastic mate that has no UV protection, its toxic in salt water as it comes out in it.

You get either one or two tubs from Kmart-Woolies or the best range is at Bunnings and masters, they have all the sizes.

You can than make your bio area out of what ever is the cheapest; I would use a plastic jerry can or an office plastic bin for this use.

If you like I will draw up a plan of a simple one at the next club meeting that will remove nitrite-nitrates and kill off most white spot before it touches the fish.

For the bio area,it needs a pipe with ninety degree at the top to connect a poly pipe from the pump.

The pipe has to go down into the bin-bio area and have a ninety degree bend there to have pipe go along the floor of the bin.

Along it where it makes contact with the floor of the bin, put angle grinder cuts all along it and seal the end, this makes sure the water comes out over all the floor of the bin and spreads out before going up through your calcium media!

Next get some egg crate that fits the base of the bin,I cut it with an angle grinder or soldering iron.

Put some sections of plastic conduit, the same size as the pipes thickness, this supports the egg crate floor.

Lay some mesh like onion bag mesh or netting, (not mosquito mesh its to small of hole) this will have your calcium media on it to near the top of where the water will come to before over flowing into the tub!

Make sure the returning water pipes are above the water level in the tub, it has to splash to keep PH stable at all times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Each two to three months you take off the pipe to the ninety degree at the top of your bio area bin and blow hard through the pipe, that cleans the rubbish out that got past the pre filter and you have a very stable environment for all corals and moving inverts and all fish with near no risk of ever getting white spot!!

The nitrate is oxidised by a slightly finer calcium media, shell grit each side and the slightly larger particles of coral rubble in the centre oxidisers nitrite and the protists in there eat their relatives, white spot!!!

You put in something like a glass devider between each media size and once full lift them out and its all good!

When you get it ready I will give you a hand full from my 14 year matured media in mine to get your protist community mature very quickly.

Thanks liquidg,

Can you show me a picture of your system? It would be easier to visualize it. I'm looking for the next club meeting, so we can organize a sketch.

Mate I have some details of parts of the system that would suit you.

From coles the tubs that are a good size as a plastic aquarium are $10 ezy storage brand of 55 litres in size, you would be okay with one but two would be better if you have room.

The first one you can put in orals before your display tank or permanently and I made light fittings for LD tubes out of storm down pipe cut in half, cheap and very functional, you see LED tubes have positive in negative out,no ballsat,or fuse,just a male plug and some wires, nothing else at all!!!.

The filter could be made with a $17 willow 25 litre swing and stay bin,it will be perfect for a chunky wet section, and that’s all you need with the media put in the right way to keep nitrites gone and nitrates at low levels to none!

It will have to have water changes to reduce phosphates and similar.

You also need a length of around 20 to 25 in diameter greyish conduit,not the orange stuff, you can get electical conduit from Bunnings,masters or ideal electrical,you need say,3 to 4 meters of it and you need maybe 4 ninety degree joiners suited to the conduit.a section of egg crate to fit the base of the bin and 2 ,40 to 50 mil ninety degree joiners of pvc,like conduit.

You will also need 5 minuet araldite and some glass acidic cure silicon,that’s pretty much it!

For the filter,get some 3 to 5 mill calcium/lime stone media, shell gritt-coral rubble-white marble, any of these will do.

The sloped centre needs to be old dead coralline rubble of 6 to 12 mill for the anaerobic community for nitrite oxidising and some extra nitrate oxidizing and white spot reduction!

If you have all this I will make it at the next meeting for you.

You will have to get straddy boy to bring his heat gun,we will need it

I will bring any other tools needed for the biuld,it should only take an hour or so.

Get there about 7.10 and we will get into it.

Could you put some photos of this up when its made please,i am very interested

liquidg

If I’m not wrong the next meeting will take place on Jan 31st (tomorrow). Unfortunately I cannot be there. 

I want to visualize the system before buying what I need, otherwise there is a chance for me to buy something wrong. I’m looking forward to the next meeting, in which I can attend, or the next collecting dive, whatever comes first, so we can draw something up.

Thank you very much!

Mate this is the clubs meetings calendar.

https://southeastqueenslandm.aforumfree.com/t1065-2012-aandtsociety-club-meetings