Time to 'Rack' your brains! - NEW COMPETITION

[newbreed]

As promised we have a second competition for the month of August.

This competition is designed to test your knowledge, planning, researching skills and stretch your imagination.

To enter the competition you need to provide a detailed breakdown of your ultimate rack setup.

This is to be set in the context that time and money are not an issue. What would you love to build next?

Points will be given for detail, innovation and imagination.

Be sure to list essential items, e.g. substrate, plants, stand construction, lighting, filtration, media, shrimp/fish stock. The more detail the better.

There will be three prizes awarded as follows:

1st Prize - An RO/DI unit kindly donated by FSA

2nd Prize - Breeders n Keepers Magazine & Shrimp poster pack donated by Bossaquaria.com.au

3rd Prize - New Shrimp Keepers Forum T-Shirt donated by SKF

Timeframe

All entries need to be received by *** 9pm AEST Sunday 24th August ***

Winners will be announced in the week following

Competitions are open to members with 25 posts and above.

Get your brains ticking and dream big!!! I can already think of three new racks I could set up if cash was unlimited.

Look forward to seeing your dreams appear on this thread soon.

Be sure to post you ideas in this thread. Good Luck and Enjoy!!

Edited August 9, 2014 by newbreed

[poeticwinter]

nice competition but i have no brain for racks hahaha lol

[Jenbenwren]

Great idea Newbreed! I'm going to be following this one closely. My OH has agreed to me setting up my first rack, as long as the house repairs don't cost to much, but it has to be done 'tastefully'. Guess that means a rack on a custom display type cabinet lol

Edited August 10, 2014 by Jenbenwren

[newbreed]

If you need inspiration, be sure to check out the shrimp tank journals threads. There have been some brilliant detailed threads posted about setting up a rack system.

Just dream big with this, it doesn't have to be perfect, just as much details about your ideal system as possible.

[Squiggle]

WAHOO!! Fantastic comp dude, good luck to all who enter!

[ineke]

This is one i can't get my head around but will watch with great interest. Good luck everyone!

[newbreed]

C'mon Ineke! Surely you'd have a dream setup you could detail. :) you already have a dreamy shrimp room, but what if Hubby said here's $25,000 for a rack setup? Ideas?

[ineke]

No about the only things I would like would be better lighting and a G3 filter for each tank . After seeing some disasters in threads I'm quite a believer in keeping each tank individual ( as in not using a sump) also a good room air conditioner might be nice but otherwise I'm content with the way my setup works :)

[jayc]

I'm with Ineke. 

I like my tanks separated. Separate filtration, separate lighting and separate heating/cooling.

More control over each tank that way. Disasters/issues are minimised to only one tank.

 

Even if money was no roadblock.

 

If money was no object, I'd build the better tank stand. 

I have a great idea for a high class tank stand, that's not only good looking but has better functionality than even the amano style stands.

Edited August 12, 2014 by jayc

[newbreed]

Well, though I have said this is for the ultimate rack setup, your entries can be for any type of awesome setup. Doesn't have to be sumped, doesn't need to be a vertical rack system. Any type of ideal setup welcome!!

[Jenbenwren]

Hopefully between the kids, the other half, the dog & cat, redoing our fish tank, and trying not to spend so much time shrimp watching, I can find the time to come up with something lol.

[BRISSY]

How do we enter our entries?

Thanks

[Paul Minett]

ok lets give this a go given there are no limits and no cash restrictions should be fun.

i would use 64 3ft long 1 ft high and 2ft wide tanks setup on stainless steel stand. setup in a climate control room for temperature maintenance.

tanks would be set up 4 tanks high 4 tanks wide

bottom 4 tanks would be used as sumps filled with a combination of matrix, noodles, sponge and scoria for variety of filtration and give a maximum surface area for bio growth. 

each sump would contain a pump 3000 lph each rack would also have its own air pump about 51 lpm output split over the 15 sponge filters

each block of 4 tanks vertically would be plumbed together.each of the 3 tanks for the shrimp will be divided into 5 each giving 15 divisions to stock with the various types available giving a couple spare for selective breeding

block 1 for cherry variants

block 2 MIschling and Crystals

block 3 TB all available color variations and patterns

block 4 Tibee, pinto and special projects

each tank would be setup using my current methods as it seems to be working well, rain water, gravel and  sand for substrate driftwood heaps of stem plants and mosses the only addition would be an under-gravel filter to connect the outlet for each tank to so no issues with shrimplets being sucked up, water inlet via spray bar for aeration and water movement, double sponge filter in each division for additional filtration and water movement,

the cherry block would be mineralised to ph 7.2 gh 12 kh 5 tds around 150-200 using my current regime with reefbuilder and equilibrium fertilise with excel and bio boost with stability and azoo mineral and vita plus

the rest would be mineralised to ph 6.5 gh 8 kh 3 tds 100-150 like current levels with reefbuilder and equilibrium fertilise with excel and bio boost with stability and azoo mineral and vita plus

lighting either led or t5 lights for good plant and biological growth.

to reduce the risk of disease and infection when using sumps i would quarantine for at least 2 months all new additions in separate quarantine tanks.

i have probably missed a couple of things but you get the grand idea this would make me very happy if i could set it up.

[newbreed]

Hey Brissy, just post your entry into this thread. Any images can be added as per usual.

Great entry Paul, would be nice to have that setup.

Will post my idea of a dream setup tomorrow, to be a part of the fun, not as an entry! :)

Edited August 18, 2014 by newbreed

[smicko]

Ok here goes.

I would have a room built four foot off the ground with a grated floor and a roof full of solar panels and evaporative heat tubes.

One wall would have shelving and a fridge for storage.

One wall would have a 12x3x3, divided in half. One half would be full reef tank the other half a predator tank with some snowflake eels and port Jackson sharks running an 8x3x2 sump with protein skimmers, uv, phosphate and nitrate reactors and filter socks.

Lighting for this would be a row of radions with the sunrise sunset moon light program.

One wall would be a row of lounges for viewing and probably sleeping as i would never want to leave this room lol. Now for the racks.

Two 16ft Stands in each row.

First row would be 4 tier 8x2x1tanks for fish growout.

Second and third row two teir 8x2x2 tanks for adult geos with one tank divided in half for two smaller species, room for ten species.

These three rows would be bare bottom tanks.

Next three rows would be three teir 4x18x15 divided into four.

First is Tb variants and projects, benibachi substrate, and planted

Second is cherry variants and projects with river sand substrate and planted.

Third is tiger variants and pinto projects, river sand substrate and planted.

All shrimp tanks would have a layer of mineral powder under the substrate and mineral rocks/balls on top.

All tanks would have large and small sponge filters depending on the tank, bulkheads and isolation taps for quarantine. Bulkheads would be a mix of large hole and stainless strainers depending on the tank and shrimp tank bulkheads would have sponges on them.

Plants would include crypts, banana lily, watersprite, moss variants,buce species and anything I can find that I like.

All lighting would be leds attached to the racks, with a mix of red, green, blue and white lights with controllers on each tank.

The water would flow out of the tanks, through the floor and outside into ibc holding tanks with a layer of dacron on top of egg grate for mechanical filtration then flow into aquaponic grow beds for veges and herbs running a bell siphon setup.

The plants and clay balls would provide all the biological filtration needed.

The water would then be pumped up through the evaporative heat tubes and into an ibc holding tank for each row. These ibcs would be off the ground on stands that make the bottom of the ibc slightly higher than the top row of tanks

The ibcs would have laboratory quality sensors, dosing pumps containing all the the minerals and ph balancers, and auto top up setup to make the water perfect for each row.

Top up would be via three 10 000 litre rain water tanks.

The water would flow from the holding ibcs through temp controllers and back into the tanks.

On one wall of the room (outside) would be a small BBQ with some large pots for brewing Blackwater and creating foods.

I may have missed some things but I think this gives an idea of the scale.

I just need to win the lotto lol.

Do I get extra points for my birthday this weekend? Hahahaha, only kidding.

I hope to see a few more and good luck to all that enter.

Cheers mick

Edited August 18, 2014 by smicko

[FishBeast]

Rack with 3 levels. 

* Rack would be an industrial quality, able to carry 2x the weight of the filled tanks.

* 4x 2x2x2 tanks on 2 of the levels. Total of 8 Tanks.

* Large Sump with K3, Matrix, some lava rock and different grades of sponge.

* All plumbed together 

* A large air pump which supplies all tanks with filters.

* Water would be UV sterilised.

 

I don't know much about shrimp substrate.

* A good shrimp soil and shrimp rock type stuff in there.

* Plenty of moss

 

*Sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset lighting set to imitate natural patterns.

 

*Heating and cooling would be via normal heating and chilling. The room would be climate controlled.

* I would have an aquarium controller hooked into the heating/cooling so that if a thermostat got stuck the controller would take over and alert me to it.

* For any alarms, power fail, pump fail etc. I would be alerted via phone, text or email. 

* If a pump failed it would trigger another to come on until I change out the broken one.

* The system would have an automatic start generator in the event of a power outage.

 

* All of my water changes would be automated and every 2nd day it would top the rack up with fresh 0ppm water and then every other day it would to a small water change.

 

* I would have a large heated/cooled water storage tank behind the rack for 0ppm water. I would have an in-line dosing pump which would mix the proper amount of minerals for a water change and not mix any at all for a top off. Ph would also be in-line controlled.

 

* I would have another 1000 Lt water tank to serve as additional water capacity for the rack plumbed in.

 

 

I would have 6 of these setups. One for natives, one for cherries, one for bee's, a tibee one, another for cardinal's and one for spare. I wouldn't want to be too greedy.

 

The room would have a lounge, a fridge (stocked with beer), sink and shelving for storage. It would have a water cooler with the water changed out for bourbon. An ice machine next to it. A good coffee machine as well.

 

I would have a computer nearby on a desk. A canon 5D MkIII with stupid expensive lens' and studio lighting for photos.

 

I would have a camera setup at the back of each tank rigged up to a security type deal and a 90" screen TV. The screen would be split into 6 screens (one for each rack) which would each cycle between the tanks in their rack.    For days when I am lazy I can sit back on the lounge and sip bourbon whilst watching the screen. The cameras would be infrared as well so when I can't sleep because I am thinking of shrimp too much I can come back into the room and watch them in the dark.

 

I would also be able to remotely access the security cameras so when I can't work because I am thinking of shrimp too much, I can log in and check them out at work. Also I would be able to access the aquarium controller and monitor everything too.

 

A disco ball in the room because a setup like this deserves a celebration. Or maybe not.

 

That should just about cover it. I am off to go purchase a lotto ticket.

[jayc]

Hopefully I'll have my plans and entry in by tomorrow evening.

[Ronskitz]

Good thing moneys no object fish beast LOLreally cool plan though

[BRISSY]

Is this comp for a complete fish room or a rack as some of the entrees seem to be complete fish rooms... Jus sayin lol

[jayc]

Well, though I have said this is for the ultimate rack setup, your entries can be for any type of awesome setup. Doesn't have to be sumped, doesn't need to be a vertical rack system. Any type of ideal setup welcome!!

 

@BRISSY, as newbreed mentioned above, ... any type of ideal setup. 

Doesn't have to be sumped or vertical.

 

I'm certainly running with that.

Edited August 20, 2014 by jayc

[BRISSY]

No worries, didn't see that! I'll enter later in the week most probably.

[jayc]

Ok, here is my entry.

It's not as fictitious as you might think. I have had these ideas for a very long time. But as you will see, only funds have been holding me back.

 

JayC.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

My ideal display for fish or shrimp tanks isn’t as common as the rack system. A 4 tiered, 3 tanks wide rack (and repeated) is common sight in the Local Fish Shop. This system of displaying livestock is great … on a limited budget and with space restrictions. Gone are the days where your Local Fish Shop’s display layout is considered the height of style.  C’mon, let’s admit it. The system of displaying fish, tanks, and goods in your LFS has not changed since … 1978, or even earlier?

 

The way forward for display is to start thinking about being more “showroomâ€. I am sure you know what I mean by that, too. Rather than being another room that mimics your LFS, if expenses were not an issue, then why are we replicating the fashion sense of a LFS who have not change their interior decorating habits since the 70s?

 

Let’s go out on a limb henceforth and think of the possibilities. I won’t be focussing on what is going in the tank, we can all dream up the most exotic shrimps (Sulawesi) or fish that will go in these tanks, rather where and how the tank itself will be displayed. Since a rack system is used as a display unit in the traditional LFS, so here begins the journey of the modern aquatic showroom and how it should/will be. Though I call it a showroom, it will still be my personal display but is open to anyone wanting to view and buy.

 

Let’s start with the location.

 

We are looking for a special location that … no matter what the temperature of weather is doing outside, it is going to vary by no more than 1 degree. I’m looking for a location that I can control lighting a 100%, no influences from light sources from the Sun causing unwanted algae growth.
Right now, you’re thinking … “What??!!!â€.
The answer … underground.
With that unlimited funding, we are going to look for the ideal location underground.
It could be an abandoned underground tunnel/subway. An ex-nuclear missile silo.
A secret WWII bunker. Might even be the underground car park of an old building somewhere.
Whatever it is. Ideally floor space will be around 30m x 200m.

 

Here is a picture of my ideal location for you to visualise.

 

The cavernous floor space is fitted with warm white flood lighting for a boutique ambience and a few (only a few) colourful mood lights. Lighting in an underground location will play an important role, not only will it provide the light needed to function and work in, but it will set the mood and ambience for viewing and relaxing in, as well as the occasional party.

 

The entire 6000SqM area is climate and humidity controlled. Being underground, keeping tanks to a chilly 22-23deg C is not going to be an issue. Temperatures will fluctuate very little this far underground.

 

There will be no mountainous levels of racks in this converted tunnel/warehouse, where the topmost tanks are near impossible to see unless you are a giant. And where you’d break your back trying to view the bottom most levels of tanks.

 

 

No. Instead imagine individual Opticlear crystal glass tanks between 2-4 ft in length lining the side walls of this warehouse. Each tank is its own central focal point. No competition between the tank above or the tank below. Like viewing art in an art gallery.
The wall (canvas) …

 

 

But with tanks like these along it’s breadth (the art).

 

Imagine a similar amount of tanks on the opposite wall. Maybe something like this…

 

Along the rear end wall of this sublime underground location, is going to be a massive 20m (w) x 5m (d) x 3m (h) pool, um I mean tank. I’m going to borrow an image from the old ‘scape fu himself … but imagine the tank bigger … with the dimensions above.

 

 

Plumbing:

Plumbing for all tanks will be custom made and installed along the walls, and behind the tanks. Each individual tank (except the giant tank) will have two canister filters, running to … not hoses, but stainless steel pipes and ending in glass inflow or outflows.

 

Each individual tank will also have a separate lighting system, hanging from the ceiling of this exquisite location. Each tank’s lighting system will suit the contents of the tank, from marine to freshwater. Lighting will mimic locations from Atlantic to Amazon. And the overall lighting system will be controlled by a state of the art computer system (water cooled of course).

 

Each tank is fitted with an automated water top up system, including drainage. The water changes can be performed via the plumbing running along the walls. That top up system will monitor and fill tanks from a preselected water source. Multiple storage tanks will be stored in this location with the varying parameters each tank inhabitant needs. We are not just talking about old plastic storage tanks either. Instead stainless steel, brewery grade tanks will be used.

 

Tired from all the maintenance and viewing of the tanks?
Along the left side of the tunnel walls, is a rest area. Complete with soft leather sofa equipped with a large screen TV, and a desk and computer (to check into SKF of course).

 

 

No. Your eyes are not playing tricks on you. That McLaren P1 really is parked inside. I think it adds to the quintessence of the boutique showroom. Also bought with those unlimited funds. Can’t leave the baby outside, when the shrimps and fish are toasty underground.

 

An additional artists impression of the overall floor space.

 

The display cabinet:

Another area of improvement and bringing the artistic display of the tank to the 21st century … is the display cabinet itself.

Ye ole aquarium cabinet … let’s take a look at some examples.

 

 

Takashi Amano did well to improve on the looks.

 

Nonetheless, let’s take it one step further with an improvement on the looks and the function. Let’s start with the base of the cabinet. Each unit will be 30cm, and more are joined together to form 60cm, 90cm, 120cm, etc. length cabinet bases. There will be options for 80cm base units as well for those large tanks.

 

You will note that each traditional aquarium cabinet in the pictures above has the age old cabinet doors opening to shelves inside, or in the case of the last two – no doors. Functionality of the old cabinets can be summarised as follows: Open the cabinet door and stick your arm in, in order to reach what you need. Visibility is difficult especially if that item you are reaching for is at the back. If your filter canister is in the cabinet, you have to bend, stretch and contort to work on the canister. It might be only slightly better with a stand that has no doors, but then the mess is open for all to see, detracting from the beauty of the tank itself.

My design is nothing new. I did not invent the “wheel†so the say; I’m just putting the “wheel†to better use.

 

The answer to the base cabinet is … one with drawers.

 

 

Ah it’s so simple.
I drew inspiration from my own experiences with my kitchen cabinets. We went from the traditional cupboards & shelves to ones with soft close drawers. Why the heck aren’t we using this for aquarium cabinets?! It’s not going to be cheap, but hey, someone said ‘don’t let money get in the way of this competition’.

 

Top drawer stores your accessories, fish food, water conditioners, tools, spare parts, you name it.
Bottom drawer stores your filter canister, sump tank, inline heaters, CO2 tank, etc.
Need to work on the filter to rinse old filter media? Need to pull out the CO2 tank for refill?
No worries, pull the bottom drawer right out and work on the filter or CO2 tank; out in the open. No more reaching under a cramped small hole that is your old aquarium cabinet. As it’s a drawer, the filter is now completely pulled out and you will have easy access to unclip hoses or connectors. The only caution is to allow for the extra piping length for the drawer travel distance.

 

You will have the option to customise the colour, texture, and looks of the base cabinet by selecting various designs.

 

 

You can even pick wood grain door and drawer panels if you want to go old school.

 

All drawers are fitted with soft close hinges. Mmm, soft close hinges and drawers. No longer will your fish be startled as you accidentally slam those doors close.
Number of drawers can also be customised, within reason.

 

The cabinet top can be outfitted with a choice of wood, stone, laminate or man-made stones like Caesar at the user’s taste and décor preference.

 

The height of the legs is customisable too. In fact, legs on the base cabinet is optional and only needed if height needs to be adjusted. Units that need to be portable for display in various locations can be fitted with castor wheels. Stylish castor wheels that will complement the overall look of your cabinet. Imagine being able to move your tank like the rest of your furniture.

 

 

The rear of these cabinets will have enough openings to allow for various cables and piping in/out of the bottom drawer.

 

All drawers are equipped with LED lights that light up when the doors are opened.

 

We now have the location, the [huge] room, the tanks, plumbing system, cooling system, the modernised cabinets and of course, and the car.

 

This is my ideal display showroom and “rackâ€. Welcome to 2014 and the new way of displaying tanks. We’ve come a long way from the Local Fish Shop. I end this tour with another view of the McLaren P1 … just because. And the fact that, we can draw inspiration from its form and function. It embodies the concept of the modern aquatic display room. I leave you to draw your own superlative synonyms between car and modernised aquatic showroom.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading.

[newbreed]

Great entries so far!! You only have until tomorrow night to enter your ideal setup!

Good to see many thinking outside the box!

[Jenbenwren]

Amazing, I actually managed to find the time to type up my entry.

 

Instead of doing a write up for my ultimate dream set up, I thought I’d do a write up on the 2 x 4ft divided tank shrimp rack I’d like to be able to hopefully set up soon, but with an unlimited budget. I hope that's ok.

 

The rack will be set up in our lounge room as:-

1. The only place in the house we have room for it is in a corner of the lounge room and there’s about 4.5ft x 2.5ft of space to fit one in.
2. The lounge room is where we all spend most of our time and watching the shrimp is definitely better than watching anything the kids or the other half watch on TV.
3. I’d be able to keep an eye on Mr 8 & Miss 4 when I’m shrimp watching or doing any maintenance on the tanks so I can make sure they aren’t getting into mischief.

As it’s going in our living area it would be nice for it to blend in with our furniture, not just be a couple of tanks on a basic metal or solid wood stand, or as the other half has said It has to be tastefully done and blend in with our other furniture’. Another thing to consider would be that  the top tank isn’t so high that it’s hard to maintain, the bottom tank to low for visiting toddlers can get into it, and the filters, pumps, cords, hoses, cables etc are out of sight so young kids aren’t tempted to play with them and it looks neat and tidy.

 

The stand will be around 210cm high x around 70cm wide x around 130-135cm long. Ideally the cabinet would be made of slightly distressed plantation acasia stained cedar walnut (see pic 1), but with a waterproof hardwearing clear lacquer top coat, so it matches our display and TV cabinet. The bottom section will be about 65-70cm high, have 2 cupboards in the middle to store the filters, pumps and buckets and things. An 8 point power board will fixed to the back of the stand for all the electronics to be plugged into. Two tall but narrow drawers (see pic 2) the same height as the cupboards  (see pic), with shelves in each and on the outer side of each cupboard to store all the little things like food, minerals, nets, water conditioners etc. There will also be holes drilled in the back of the cupboards for hoses and cords and things to go through, and of course the handles on the cupboards and drawers will have to match our TV and display cabinet. Childproof locks will be kept on hand for when visiting little ones come over and become a little too inquisitive about what’s hiding in the cupboards.

 

 

The first 4ft tank will sit on top of the cupboards and drawers. So we can’t see the polystyrene and very bottom of the tank there will be a piece of timber or lip running around the front and sides of the cupboard section, but the back will be solid timber for strength. There will be a frame around the tank to support the shelf for the next tank to sit on and the shelf will be around  will be around 25cm higher than the actual tank itself. This will allow enough room for a light to be attached to the bottom of the shelf above. A locking hinged decorative door type panel be attached to the bottom of that shelf to hide the top of the tank, light, any holes drilled above the tank for hoses and cords to pass through, and to allow enough room to access  the tank for maintenance, shrimp catching or to attach a breeder box. The sides will also have the same decorative panel with a locking hinge for the same reasons.

 

The second tank will sit on top of the shelf with the same lip to disguise the polystyrene and the same frame work, and lid for the top as the first tank with the locking hinges, hidden light and a lip on top just in case we decide to add a third tank on top.

 

Each tank will be 4ftlongx2ftwidex1.5fthigh, made from at least 12mm starphire glass and divided into sections. The dividers will be made of glass and siliconed in when the tanks are being made. I’d like the dividers to be topped with a brace and instead of having 1-2 large pieces of glass to use as cover glass, have the cover glass divided into 4 pieces, 1 piece for each divided section of each tank. This should hopefully stop shrimp from climbing out to visit shrimp in the other sections of the tanks. Each divider will be pre drilled with 5x5cm holes for water circulation and covered with a fine ss mesh to stop the shrimp from getting though. I guess if some tiny shrimplets do get through, I’ll be able to move them back to their tank and it won’t be too much of a problem as they’ll be way too young to breed. A 6-7cm high x 1ft Perspex partition will be siliconed into each section, about 10cm from the front, to hold back the substrate and give a substrate free area for the shrimp to be fed in.

 

A 4ft LED light will be attached to the bottom of the shelf above each tank and each light will be programmable to imitate sun or moon light and hooked up to timers so they switch on early afternoon and switch off later at night. The timers can also be switched off for those times you need to do something to one of the tanks after hours.

 

Each section will have a twin bio sponge air filter running in it and they’ll all be connected to 1 large air pump. Each 4ft tank will run its own EHEIM professional 3e 600T filter, filled with the recommended Eheim media set. The heating element in this filter negates the need for heaters in the tanks and with the EHEIM USB Interface for the professional 3e; the filter can be adjusted and checked on from my computer. A chiller will be attached to each tank in the warmer weather as well. The filter outlets will be covered with fine filter mesh to prevent shrimp and shrimplets ending up in the filter and each section will have an Indian Almond leaf or 2 in it.

 

One tank will be set up for our CRS, Mischy’s and Mr 8 would like to have some CBS at some stage too. Their tank will be divided into 3 sections. It will have a 1ft section on each side, one for our CRS and the other for our future CBS, and a 2ft section in the middle for our Mischy’s with some internal breeder boxes for selective breeding. In this tank I’d use Benibachi black soil to a depth of around 7-8cm. Before I added the soil I’d add some Borneowild Enlive and Benibachi mineral powder to the bottom of the tank, add half of the soil, add some more Borneowild Enlive and Benibachi mineral powder and then top with the rest of the soil. About a third of the substrate in the Mischy section will be topped with ADA Africana or similar so that any KK’s or panda’s will be easier to see in that area than they are on the Black soil. Benibachi bee balls will be added to their filter as well. Ideally I’d like the ph to be around 6.2, kh 0 – 1, gh 4 – 6, tds 100 – 180, and the water temperature at 23 degrees. Water added to the tank will be mineralized with Salty Shrimp Bee Shrimp Mineral GH+  to achieve the desired gh & tds and a small sprinkle of kh powder to bring the kh to >0 but <1. Each section will ideally be artfully scaped with driftwood or rock, mosses, plants and lots of bucephalandra, but with my lack of talent in that area, just to have it look nice will do.

 

The other tank will be divided into 4 1ft sections. One section will be for keeping and breeding our best Red Cherry’s, the kids would like some Yellow Cherry’s so they would go in another section and the other 2 sections will be used for trying to breed some of those stunning Royal Blue Cherry’s or Carbon Rilli’s. I’d use cal aqua black earth substrate and add Borneowild Enlive and Benibachi mineral powder the same as I would do for the other tank and have each section nicely scaped as well. Their tank will have the ph 6.4 – 7.6, kh 0 – 10, gh 4 – 14, tds 80 – 200 and the water temperature at 23 degrees. Water to be used in their tank for top ups or water changes will be mineralized with Salty Shrimp- Shrimp Mineral GH/KH+ to achieve the desired kh, gh and tds.

 

Depending on how much space is left in the cupboards, 1-3 x 20 litre buckets of aging RO water or tap water treated with prime and with air stones bubbling away in each bucket, can be stored in there ready to be used for top ups and water changes as well. Peat in a small bag made of stockings can be kept in the bucket of water to be used in the CRS/Mischy tank to lower the ph before it’s added to their tank when or if the Benibachi soil stops lowering the ph.

[FishBeast]

Good thing moneys no object fish beast LOLreally cool plan though

 

LOL, with an unlimited budget you just have to find creative ways to waste money!