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

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.

it's all controlled by a homemade DIY controller.

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

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.

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.

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.

 

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.

 

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..