Born out of bordom

It's amazing what you will do when you have to much time on your hands.

I got rid of a tank recently leaving me some space. I decided to put a grow out tank together for young fish.
I wanted one that i could add dividers where and when i wanted.
I also wanted minimalist, easy to clean with plenty of filtration (not necessarily flow).

So this is what i came up with:
I made a 120 litre tank and added 6 algarde air uplift sponge filters to the back wall.
I added some tubing to extend the outlet.
The suction cup at the base of these were removed and the hole filled with silicone.


I added a small airline valve to each one so i could control the flow of each separately.


On front of these i added some 5omm thick foam (made by JBL). This will be the back of the tank.


Where the outlet tube comes over the foam left the top open. This led to to much evaporation and the possibility of fish jumping from the tank.
So i cut the foam to lower the outlets down in to the tank allowing me to put a cover glass on.
Little blocks of foam were added to go over the outlets just for appearance.


With the foam backround this allows me to add dividers anywhere along the tank. The dividers are a little bit longer than the distance from the front glass to the foam.
The pressure of the foam holds them in place so no permanent silicone dividers and no foam on the front glass to keep them in place.
There is a small gap underneath the glass dividers i used so i have to add some foam on the bottom to stop fry/small fish escaping in to other sections.

Here is the finished tank up and running:


More dividers added:

I tried to upload a video but photobucket wont let me.

I am hoping the backround will become biologically active and take care of the small particle food (fro fry) that normally quickly block sponge filters.
Also each of the sponges in the back are easily accessible. So when i want to replace one in another tank i just take one of these and replace with a new one.

The heater is placed in the back and a cover glass was added. This just goes as far as the foam leaving access to the back if needed. The gap at the back is roughly 40mm. So not much evaporation there.
I also added an airstone in the back. Just in case the water at the top of the back becomes slightly stagnant. It probably wouldn't but just in case. It is also near the heater to help circulate the heat.

Darren.

EDIT:
I did a test run of floating a fry tub in the tank and this is what i came up with.

I got a tub and cut a small piece out so i could put some sponge in. This will be the out flow of the tub.


I then got some air tubing a little shorter than the distance around the tub. This was joined with a straight connector.


This was placed high up on the tub to act as a float. It is placed higher at the front of the tub so the sponge is submersed.


When this is placed in the water i needed to manipulate one of the out flows in the tank. For this i used a T piece placed over the tubing.
To control the flow between the main tank and the tub (less flow for the fry) i simply tilt the T slightly untill the desired flow is going through the fry tub.


You can see the different flow between the tub and the main tank.
I will replace the T piece when i find a decent one.

Darren.

Yeah it is amazing what you can do with free time, and by the look of it a great knowledge and good crafting skills.


Cracking tank Darren, great work there indeed.


Mark

Cheers Mark, I'm sure you have a few ideas yourself with the new fish room.

superb idea and well presented, might try this myself

A thinking mans aquarist,
That has got to be one of the best posts I've seen in a while Darren. Simple but very very effective.
I have a similar sized tank myself which I know at some point I was going to have to divide and I was genuinely wondering about filtration (Killifish) Power filtration would be not much good (too strong and no good for a split aquarium situation) and seeing as I already have an air ring main, this type of thing would be perfect.
Initially I had a few concerns equally a few questions but you have managed to cover all the angles of possible problemic occurrences. Fairplay to you mate, excellent thread and one I will, in some shape or form be utilising in the near future.
Maybe just one question then..do you think I could make those filters (algarde) in one Section of pipe similar to Eheim's rigid, with endcaps, drill multi holes where the sponges would go and incorp uplifts.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to share this with us. Great Thread Darren.
Regards
Colin

platty252 wrote:

Cheers Mark, I'm sure you have a few ideas yourself with the new fish room.

Its all very well having good ideas Darren, but that is quality work right there above. I would be more than pround to put a tank together like that, but feel I would end up with a leaky badly made piece of gear, until I got it down that is, I am sure there is a fair bit of trial and error when cutting your teeth on such projects.


You do inspire I tell thee though:)

Right, on to your next project, wonderin what you'd build when you got a purpose and not just at a loose end.


mark

That is really nicely done!

I was thinking about different setups for fry rearing and this must beat them all, thank you for the inspiration.

Melander

The thing about people like Darren is his patience, something I envy, everything about his setups is lack of complexity, simplicity in fact runs thru everything he does.

Nice project Darren.

Kev.

stretnik wrote:

The thing about people like Darren is his patience, something I envy, everything about his setups is lack of complexity, simplicity in fact runs thru everything he does.

Nice project Darren.

Kev.

Agreed on the patience, none here:angry: . Certainly the work of a craftsman no doubt.



Mark

Nice one Darren would love to see when u really put yer mind to a project as u say this was to pass the time eh. What fry will be goin into this tank. Keep us posted man.

Mick........

this is fantasic, i can use this idea to cut off my tank for my glowies

cheers Darren

Darren

Cheers for the comments.

@ Mark, there will be 100-150 Galaxy's going in here to start with. Then young plecos.

@ Colin, i originally made up piping across the back with uplifts but changed for the algard's. Just so i have spare sponges.
Just (as you describe) a pipe across the back with lots of holes drilled with T pieces were you want the uplifts.
You probably wont need sponges on this. Just let the large foam on the back of the tank act as the filter.

This is what i was going to make up originally.

The piece across the bottom would have loads of holes drilled in it to pull the water through.
The blue elbow would be put in to a pre drilled hole roughly were it is positioned in the photo.
With the air bubbled going up the tube it will pull the water with it.

Cheers mate,
Nice one
Regards
Colin

That looks brilliant Darren!
You should get bored more often

Brilliant post mate,and a very practical tank,well thought out and executed.
Can I add one to my shopping cart please:)

Quality Darren...Thats a seriously good tank,so simple and effective,yet so well done that it just works.Fab. Looking forward to when all those fry get bigger and you start offloading them!!!!
Cheers for sharing.

Gavin

Brilliant post Darren.

Fair play for sharing mate.

darren next time your bored drop up and ill put you to work:)
great idea
john

simply brilliant. now how about some DIY filter systems

Cheers for the comments and laughs.
No John i'm not coming up to paint your house when i'm bored:laugh:

This tank will hopefully be very practical and end up as a work horse.I think it has a lot of potential.

The outlets swivel so i can direct the flow. I can increase the flow enough to blow young loaches across the base of the tank. The water can be dropped down to about 20L and the airlifts still work.
I did a test run of floating a fry tub under one of the outflows. I will need to do a little more work there. I will add it to the tread once i get it right.
It should also give me a bit of flexibility when i need to move fish around.

EDIT:
I have edited the original post to include the addition of floating fry tubs in the tank.

Hello Darren
Could you tell me, Where did you get the 50mm thick foam (made by JBL)from?

Thanks, Fin

I got mine in seahorse aquariums. But any of the shops that sell jbl should be able to get it. Seahorse had it in stock when i was looking for it.
Here is a list of shops, click on the name to show details like address phone No. etc..
www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...p/Itemid,61/mapId,4/

I got foam (24"x16"x1") foam in Aquapaws in Galway