journal the shawshrimp rackdemption

[Disciple]

 Looking great!

Looking good. Cycling a tank requires so much patient. I would be so tempted to have some cherries in there... haha.

Nice look mini pellia too. I'll have to source out some when my tank is up and running.

I got some of bucks mini pelia. Its really nice you would not regret getting some.

[buck]

Looking good. Cycling a tank requires so much patient. I would be so tempted to have some cherries in there... haha.

Nice look mini pellia too. I'll have to source out some when my tank is up and running.

when you need some, pm me, i have heaps!  

I’m forever trying to get the yellows out of my current "crs tank" so I have no issues using them as kamikaze shrimp. haha

[OzShrimp]

I like how you have the water return to the tanks, have you opted for this method to allow you to control the flow back in and cost ?

Will you plan to replace the tubes every now and again when they get dirty ? Presuming they do like on a canister filter.

[buck]

I like how you have the water return to the tanks, have you opted for this method to allow you to control the flow back in and cost ?

Will you plan to replace the tubes every now and again when they get dirty ? Presuming they do like on a canister filter.

honestly, I did it because it's how the tank builder recommend too, he has his clown fish breeding tanks set up like this and after looking at his system up and running i dicided I liked it enough to copy it. 

It makes for easy flow adjustment and with the stand pipes I can have the rack pushed right up against the wall saving space. All the return water is at the front of the rack and is easy to play with. the return pump it's self (aqua medic dc runner 5.0)  has an electronic hand controller to adjust the flow and even has a "feeding" function that stops the return water for a while then auto starts up again. 

 

[OzShrimp]

When you get a chance any possibility you might be able to take some more photos of the filtration setup?

I am quiet interested in learning more of how its set up :)

[buck]

When you get a chance any possibility you might be able to take some more photos of the filtration setup?

I am quiet interested in learning more of how its set up :)

yeah mate I've got a video very slowly uploading to YouTube 

[OzShrimp]

no worries look forward to it :) 

[buck]

 

ok soo here she is in all her glory!

wast flows in to the filter sock-> then up and over the marine pure spheres ->in to the k1 chamber-> tumble tumble tumble and out the other side to a currently empty chamber that I intend to use for random bags of media when I need to add them, carbon, chemipure that kid of thing. Then though to the return pump! 

I haven't put the chiller in yet because it's still cycling. 

 

[OzShrimp]

how do you clean the filter sock without risk of contamination by chemicals etc?

Can you take some photos of the plumbing lol :P

[buck]

I was just going to turn it inside out and wash it out under the tap, I’ve been told you can just " chuck them in the washing machine" but bugger that with a rack full of tb!

 

I’ll get some happy snaps tomorrow, it’s not very exciting it’s just 60mm ( I think) non pressure pipe running the length of the rack and a few bends down to a Y join to the sock. the stand pipes dump straight in to the 60 mm. the strainers look a bit crappy but they are cheap and work well for now. I’ll go in to more detail on them with the new pics 

 

[fishmosy]

We use a water pressure cleaner on the filter socks at work. Works really well. 

[buck]

you dont find it damages the socks at all? ‌@fishmosy very quick way to clean them i bet

im most likly going to get a second sock so i can just swap them out when im cleaning one

[buck]

I put  little holes in the returns to push air through, like a Venturi kind of thing.  I’ve found that after doing this I can increase the flow and it doesn’t blast the aqua soil every were, it seems to slow it down. The only issue I have had is one of them likes to spit water, so I’ve had to put a little airline tap on it. 

the little aire hole give this effect on the return water when it enters the tank

yeah thats duct tape, i didnt want to glue them so...yeahhhhh

i have the air running around the room in a loop, i was told this would cause even preasure though the system.

as you can see i have room for 2 extra tanks in this pic,the bottom is the same, i plumed them in from the start to save time later.

Edited August 23, 2015 by buck

[Disciple]

Awesome man. New contender of best rack in SKF. lol

[buck]

haha that’s a big call! it’s not very pretty, I’ve gone for easy/ functional over looks haha 

 

the last pic reminds me I need to work out how I’m going to raise the light up on the top tanks, it doesn’t disperse the light enough at the height it is  

[OzShrimp]

thanks for those pics buck, how long did it take you to work out what plumbing pieces etc you needed and was it easy?

What sort of price did it cost you to set up the plumbing aspect of the filtration?

[buck]

I did lots of drawings and measuring and then looked at what was available to use ( from Bunnings and online), I also sent my ideas to a couple of people for their ideas and chatting to my tank builder helped a lot! It was a slow process I took my time and I like to think it payed off, granted I don't have shrimp in it yet so there are still things that can go horribly wrong haha 

I got the wast water stuff and pipes from Bunnings and the rest of the fittings and taps from an online store.

I forget how much it all cost, mostly because that helps me sleep at night lol but it wasn't to much... 

 

[jc12]

I forget how much it all cost, mostly because that helps me sleep at night lol but it wasn't to much... 

Very sensible indeed. Haha.

It is surprising how everything adds up though.

I keep a running total of my rack build and to date, it is coming close to $1,000. Having said this, the tanks and bulkheads alone were almost $500, and the primer and paint were about $100. Those were the big ticket items for me.

I could still sleep at night but glad my wife is not on this forum though. She probably wouldn't sleep too well if she reads this.

[buck]

Very sensible indeed. Haha.

It is surprising how everything adds up though.

I keep a running total of my rack build and to date, it is coming close to $1,000. Having said this, the tanks and bulkheads alone were almost $500, and the primer and paint were about $100. Those were the big ticket items for me.

I could still sleep at night but glad my wife is not on this forum though. She probably wouldn't sleep too well if she reads this.

dug up an invoice, $165 for the return water stuff from the plumbing store... 

[OzShrimp]

Very sensible indeed. Haha.

It is surprising how everything adds up though.

I keep a running total of my rack build and to date, it is coming close to $1,000. Having said this, the tanks and bulkheads alone were almost $500, and the primer and paint were about $100. Those were the big ticket items for me.

I could still sleep at night but glad my wife is not on this forum though. She probably wouldn't sleep too well if she reads this.

u might sleep permanently if she did lol

[fishmosy]

you dont find it damages the socks at all? ‌@fishmosy very quick way to clean them i bet

im most likly going to get a second sock so i can just swap them out when im cleaning one

nope, no damage at all. Might be a different type of sock so worth testing with yours first. 

I could still sleep at night but glad my wife is not on this forum though. She probably wouldn't sleep too well if she reads this.

Yeah me too. 

[buck]

[buck]

The top 3 tanks are growing lots of algae, so the shrimp will be very happy when they go in. 

The test subjects look to be happy in one of the bottom tanks but it will be at least 2 weeks before I drop the higher grade testers in.

[s1l3nt]

Very nice thread :) I really like this entire set up. I would love to see a photo of the clown breeding system if you took one by any chance? I have seen some incredible salt water fish rooms in my marine days...

In regards to the algae growing, I think you are getting a lot of growth because the LED light must be directly above the glass divider (shown by the blown highlight in your photo at the top of the glass divider in the last 2 photos), I assume the glass then makes this section a high light focus point and the algae is growing from that section down (with the first point of contact of light being the thickest algae growth. You may consider putting some black bracing or something on the top of the  dividers to help reduce this algae growth?

Tagging along for this one :)

[buck]

I didn’t get any pics of his room, mostly because I’m not much of a marine person haha

 

Yeah that’s bang on, couldn’t have summed up why it was doing it better myself!

  I’m going to raise the lights at some point so there about as high as the bottom shelves light but for now it’s right on the top of the tank. So when I raise the light it should stop this “issue” but I think the shrimp will go nuts on the algae when I put them in. I pulled some off and put it in my yellow tank and it was swarmed. But it doesn’t bother me I’ve seen some breeders with top of the line prl in tanks covered with this and the shrimp are super happy, the the aim of this rack, happy shrimp