Loaches Online Forum

SWEEEETTT!!! Everything is looking so good. I wish I could afford to do something like that.

thanks for the sytematic chart of water change in regards to nitrat removal. I knew that there is a relation, but did not know details. I more or less have the drip system for time saving. In the beginning I had to add N for the plants as it would hardly measure ( I have many plants in the tanks), now as fish have grown and some additions were added, I feed much more and Nitrate is back to 10 or 12 or so (need to measure again, did not for a while). Your sytematic approach is exemplary. I currently are lacking time a bit to get further.

WOW!! I just went through 18 pages and Keith, you are the man! This whole setup is amazing from planning with great details and the execution. I like the fact that you reinforced your floor. Also, great choice of the most hardy dither fish, Rasbora borapetensis. Now, I might have missed it but I have a few questions. Is the water in the bridge turned over at all or circulated? And same question for the plants by the window as well?
Great stuff!!
Vance

Thanks janma, If11casey, Wolfram, and Vanceman.

Vance- Yes I do have the water circulating through the water bridge, but with a rather passive pump. I hooked a 1/2 inch hose to the ventura of a power head and have the hose going between the tanks. Thus the ventura pulls water from one tank to the other and it returns via the water bridge. I have used this passive system, rather than a direct pump, since I don't want any overflows if the water bridge would somehow get blocked by plant leaves or lose its siphon. The venturi moves about 15 gallons per hour. I have tested blocking the water bridge and it cannot lift enough water to overflow the tank.

For the window boxes, I have a small mini-jet 404 pump in each box to circulate the water and also one pumping water up to the large tank system through an airline hose. Since it has to lift this water, it can only pump it at a drip rate which I have measured at one gallon per hour. Then there is an overflow on the large tank that goes back to the window boxes. So far, I like the airline tubing choice. The flow is so slow that when I do water changes and it is pumping to the main tank, but not overflowing back, it is no problem since during the 15 minutes I am changing water, the window boxes only drop by a quart.

The new over head lighting with the skylights has created a problem that I did not anticipate. I am getting algae growth in the water bridge since there is light on it that was not there before. I may have to make it a covered bridge.

I would love to see an update on your setup, how is plant growth with the skylights? Also, how are your window sill growth boxes doing?
Thanks.

Thank you for your interest. I have been meaning to update and I have some photos. It has just been too busy here recently. I will try in a couple of days.

Here's what the 300 gallon tank looks like now with just the sky lights for light. In this picture the tank looks a little dark, but it is actually brighter than my other tanks with artificial light.


There have been some changes. First, the acrylic window boxes are gone. In January I heard a loud pop and one of the window boxes had sprung a slow leak. It was a very cold day and the shrinking and expanding due to the temperature changes by the window were too much for the acrylic box. I was lucky that I was in the room at the time. Thus, I used Wolfram's idea of putting a plant shelf above the aquarium at the back. I used a 6 inch diameter 8 foot long PVC pipe.


Here it is right after installation. Water from the tank is pumped into the left side and overflows back to the tank on the right side.


Here is the 75 gallon tank that is attached via the water bridge. The java moss has really taken off.


Now for some fish pictures. First Killifish.


Panda Garra. These have such personality that they are really wonderful.




Horsefaced loaches. I really like these. They are out a lot, but I often see them disappear in a cloud of sand.


An almost hidden Horsefaced loach.


Assorted loaches.



Jim P.- There's one of your guys right in the middle bottom. They are both doing really well and are quite active.





The plants that I have growing in the PVC pipe are pothos house plants, cherry tomatoes, some lilies, and some kind of fern. The lilies aren't doing much, but the others are growing quickly. Earlier I had some water hyacinth, but it all died. In my experiments, I could keep it alive and grow it, but only if I put extra T5 lights right above it.

I am very satisfied with the sky lights since I only need to turn on the T5s for a couple of hours in the evening. I also like the fact that with the lighting being natural, the tank always looks a little different depending on what kind of day it is outside.

Hey Keith,

Wonderfull tank and wonderfull pictures!

That kubotai on the "assorted Loaches" photo looks like she´s about to explode. She´s too fat!

Congrats!

Thanks Marcos. Yes, she is big and has been that way for the last 8 months or so. I have another one that is just as gravid. I have a couple of trays of medium sized stones in the back of the tank in the hope that if any eggs are ever layed, that some might survive by falling down between the stones.

Great pics!
Its good to see my boys doing so well!

Beautiful set-up Kieth! I love the natural light!! Fish obviously ove it too.

Thanks for the update!

Looking good, I seriously envy your natural sunlight tubes. So great.
Beautiful healthy fish, too.

Sorry to hear the windowsill boxes were discarded. The tube on top of the tank does the same job, I'm sure.
I was inspired by your design on the original boxes and got around to making one myself. I ended up making it of glass and big enough to fit a separate growing box in.


Thanks for the inspiration!

What an amazing set up. I think it is one of the most amazing setups I have ever seen. What a collection.

Thanks Scott and hx.

hx- I like your window box. With it made out of glass and not set all the way into the window should make it work well. Good choices. Your plants look like they are growing very well. My leaves were kind of yellow at first and I read that this might be caused by a lack of iron. I started adding a small amount of iron to the tank and it really made a difference with the leaves growing in with a nice dark green color.

I think mine doesn't look half as cool and slick as yours did. That long plastic box meant for some kind of balcony handrail flower growing is not as clean as just a transparent box.
I just didn't have the guts to try and grow herbs in plain water with no substrate.

Yours were (and are?) in just water, right? Or do you have some sort of substrate in that tube?