Sonoran Desert Fish Nook - My Mini Fish Room To Advance My Fishkeeping

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Hi folks. I put a new fish room online at the end of November. It inhabits a 3x8 closet with a generous opening into my 8x11 office. (did a build thread on thePlantedTank.net that I dont' intend to duplicate on this board. here is a link: https://www.plantedtank.net/threads/sonoran-desert-fish-nook-a-build-thread.1315727/ )/

The 3x8 area I refer to as the fishnook as it contains a mini rack with 5 x (soon to be 6) 20 gallon long display aquariums on a central system. system provides the following common facilities: filtration via a dual chamber sump (made of 2 x 20 gallon long aquariums), co2 injection, nutrient dosing, heating, lighting, water changes.

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it's all controlled by a homemade DIY controller.

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The 8x11 office contains a two independent quarantine tanks (5 gallon, 10 gallon)

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A front bodega (3x8 closet too) at the front of my home off of my carport contains the RO Unit and Water Storage used by fish nook.

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All waste from the RO Unit and the Fish Nook goes to water citrus trees on my patio.

I've had to revisit flows a few times... and will do so again now that the top level of display tanks (and a healthy 6' of head) have been introduced. Some line sizes will be increased from 3/4" to 1" and a few parallel pathways and turns will be taken out. Simplification is the goal.

Yeah, lots of room for improvement on this.

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I run an Active Aqua 1000 pump that sees about 600 gph through my system with all of the turns, reductions, head, etc... I'll be tackling a new DIY CO2 reactor, that will have high flow as I just want to put in series with Sump pump, 25W UV filter, Flow meter before returning water to the 6 display tanks.

I'll probably post allot of questions about high flow CO2 reactor applications.

Happy to answer any questions about setup. Delighted to receive constructive criticism. Eager to apply advice.

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

DIsplay Tank #6 is being prepped... This is my poor man's Rimless Tank. It's a 20 gallon long. I removed the Rim, the Base and all of the Excess Silicon (razor blades and vinegar). I drilled four holes for the bulkheads (1 x influent, 2 x effluent, 1 x drain). Sweated the hydroponics tubing onto the bulkhead fitting elbows (requires a bit of softening with a heatgun, but is super watertight when done). Takes about 2 hours to do all of that (I work carefully, slowly, neatly).

I'm waiting on the substrate (supernaturals fine 2mm gravel) and cork (I use 1/4" cork underneath for leveling and absorbing minor imperfections). Like all of the existing 20 gallon longs installed in the Fishnook, this one will employ a laterite/gravel subbase placed with the 25W substrate heating cables, then an additional 3-5cm of gravel (substrate slopes rear to front) to top of that for rooting the plants. This one will go on the topmost shelf, so it will have a 6' head.

I've reworked the plumbing (increase in gauge and simplified the layout), so the additional head and display tank is no issue (Display Tank #5 is already sitting at this height). Will probably put this on-line next week. Today, I will fill it with water on the back patio to ensure it's leak free (I always do that with everything).

Valves will go on each entry/exit of the display tank for fine flow adjustments and isolation (when necessary). A low flow wave pump will be installed to promote internal flow and prevent dead spots. An Airstone will be hidden in the event that I have to shutdown filtration and provide fresh air. This is all standard course for each of the display tanks in the FishNook.

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Here's a nice photo of the simplified waterworks. Now there is sufficient space on the equipment panel for the dosing pumps (Atlas-Scientific EZO-PMPs), Macro and Micro.

I also picked up 7 (6 display tanks + 1 spare) Ecoxotic E-Series E-60s (32w x 24") 8000K LED lights on close-out. They are long discontinued lamps (~4 years ago?) and CurrentUSA was finally clearing out their spare's inventory. I purchased them for $28usd a piece. Quite affordable. I will publish photos and list more advantages about using these lamps once I install them..