Loaches Online Forum

I think it is absolutely amazing that you are so creative, resourceful, and innovative! I have to stick to the kits at my LPS.

The 85g tank stand is modified, the tank is filled, and waterbirdge is running too. The waterbridge isn't impeding the water flow around the island much at all. I was kind of worried that it would.



What's nice about the waterbridge is that dirty water is flowing out the rivertank into this 85g tank, which I'll use to grow some Tiger Lotus. In this planted tank there is a 600 gph pump, with a micron filter, that goes to UV sterilizer, then it goes back to a spraybar in the rivertank. There is excellent flow in the waterbridge. When the 190g tank stand is modified, I'll just need to move the pump over to that.

Thanks all. This has been a very fun project for me. It's very motivating to get all these great compliments. The clowns are thanking everyone at LOL too.

I just learned that my small clowns are hiding underneath the island. I guess something had to wrong because everything was going almost perfect so far. The clowns can do this because a few days ago I propped the island up about 1" off the bottom of the tank with some acrylic shims so that I could put more water in the tank without submergerging the island completely. I thought the sand would fill in underneath the island, but apparently the current from the powerhead pump made a crevasse through the sand.

This isn't a terrible thing. There is no point in fighting them over this. I just need to make it safe for them if that 's where they want to be. I'll just have to make sure they don't get buried somehow. My current idea is to make some caves underneath the island with some pvc pipe. I'm not sure what else I can do.

Any suggestions?

Here's some pics of behind the island-

powerhead view-


You can see the crevasse slightly at the bottom of the island.

Here's a pic of a clown under the island-

Maybe up on pipes so as not to collect elpoopo or the like. Can you space it up on 2" PVC for minimal surface contact? That much loose bottom contact could be a problem if not careful. With the vortex you created the low pressure will be in the middle of the tank so tight tight tight to the bottom or up so you can visual make sure no unwanted collections Down may be better as that would be hard to siphon anything from under it ......So cool,I mean sweeeet. I am impressed.
I suppose 48" to the top leaves enough for a second level?

chefkeith wrote:I knew I'd have difficulty explaining. Actually the tanks are very low to the floor right now. It will be 48" from the floor to the top of each tank. All the tanks must be the same height from the floor or the water-bridges will overflow the lowest tank.

Oh, I see. That makes sense. So its actually pretty low for the deeper tanks.

good point tinman. I don't want to trap the fish in their own waste.

Now I'm thinking I should just lower the island back to where it was. I just need to figure out a way to make the island 1" higher. On top, I probably could use waterfall foam and rocks to get the extra height I need. I wish I would of thought of that before. It will be a pain in the butt getting all the fish out of this tank. I need to sleep on this.

Don't let this thread get buried, Chef. Keep us posted. We're all still very interested in how this grand project is going to end up.

I haven't done much of anything yet. I'm still procrastinating on what to do next. I did lift the island more and removed some sand so that the loaches wouldn't get hurt. I'll need to get all the fish and sand out, then lower the island back to the bottom before I can do anything.

Bad news. When I turned on the powerhead pump a little while ago, one of my small clown loaches was inside it and got hurt pretty bad. It is cut and wounded on the eye and gill. Poor thing. I guess it could of been worse. I won't use this pump again unless it's hooked up to the spraybars.

I need to try to quarantine this clown and treat it with antibiotics now.

The poor thing is in a q-tank now. I used a spare 5 g tank that I had on the shelf. I just threw a little sand and some water from the river tank in it. I put maracyn I & II in the water also. I'm not sure if there is anything else I can do. I have doubts that this fish will make it.

Oh CK that is bad ,don't beat yourself up. We have all made mistakes. You do much better than worse.Much better. The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few. You got him/her this far ,there is still much hope. Lots of water changes to keep the bacteria way down.....I once sucked the bettas from each end of my betta racks when the pumps shut off in a power outage as the back flow drew each end one out , so you are not alone.

Ouch, that doesn't look good.
You could try applying a topical antiseptic to the wound. My book suggests Mercurochrome or a veterinary iodine based one. Whatever one is safest for loaches I guess. Once applied it says to lightly coat with vaseline or waterproof wound dressing. That will help by limiting infection from the water and reduces osmotic problems via the exposed flesh. May need repeatting in a couple days.
Hope this helps and your clown is soon well again.