Fishtal's Breeding Room

I started working on this back in March of 2008. You can view the entire thread here: http://www.masm.org/mForums/tm.aspx?&m=18311&mpage=1 
 
Here is what I ended up with:
 

 




 
Here is the general design of the room: 
 

 
I'm working on a BRT(Black Round Tub) Station this weekend for raising dottybacks and eventually seahorses.
 
Here is the design concept:
 

 
And the base pieces being painted:
 

 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

The seahorse tank isn't shown in the pic above but it is in the design and can be seen here when it was being filled: 
 

 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Cool, we've got a breeding room section now and it's even better that Tal got the first post! 
 
It looks like you've finally started on your BRT stand.  What type of filtration are you going to use?
 

I thought you'd like that. I'll have a central 20G sump for the two tubs. Guess I need to start working on that too. 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Ok, so I got the stand in but I'm going to have to move it to the right a bit. As you can see there is a heat vent that I don't want to cover but that may solve any heating issues for that system.
 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Looking good Tal!

Preliminary design for BRT station filtration.
 

I'm considering a algae scrubber on the drain line... From what I've been reading I could do one that would work for the 40 gallons pretty easily.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

An ATS would be sweet to have. Where did you get the tubs around here?

Rook

I got the tubs at Meijer. Really cheap in the spring, they make them down if they have any left over from the previous year... if they have any left. Check  HD and Lowe's too. They are used as whiskey barrel liners. Also called "Plantainers".

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Tal, I don't know if you have planned for this or not but I would put a coupling (not glued in your BRT) so that you can have a couple of different water levels.  I wish I would have done that when I had mine set up.  You could have one level for larval rearing and one level for growout.

Here is an example

pipe ---> coupling --> pipe

If you mean the stand pipes inside the BRT, I thought about that that the other day. In my other systems I can tilt them a bit to do that but if I have the drain in the bottom I won't have that option. Thanks for bringing that up.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Sorry if I wasn't clear Tal, I was referring to the drains inside the BRT

Looks great Tal.  Very nice use of space!

This is what I have in mind using pipe and couplings: 

 
 
So, this is what I came up with today:  

















Pipe on the left is the return line, the one in the middle is the drain line from the tub on the right. I don't have the second tub yet. I think the UV will be connected directly to the pump and there will be a "T" with a relief valve for when I have low flow periods when starting a new batch. I must say that the Uni-seal worked like a charm. It was a bit tough getting the pipe through but I finally did and there were no leaks. 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Got more done today.
 

This shows the return line with the "T" back to the sump if I'm doing low flow in the tubs.
 

 
And the drain line, not completed yet. The white pipe is only a "stand-in" for the moment.

 
Still deciding on adding an ATS...

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Looks good Tal!

Looks good Tal!

Great work!
make sure you install a valve after the T but before the outlet back into the sump. That way you will be able to adjust the recirculating & tank flow.

Doni Marie~

Not quite sure what you mean... I thought the T on the return line, after the UV would allow me to regulate flow... LMK if I'm mistaken.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

You might already have a shut off valve but I don't see it in the photos.
If you find that too much water is going back down into the sump and not enough is flowing into the tubs, you will need a valve to reduce the water going back down into the sump so more will get pushed up into the tubs.
Make sense?
 
A valve somewhere along the pipe/hose where the red circle is.

Doni Marie~

That's what the blue ball valve below the "T" is for. The clear tube is the return line... I got it hooked up today, maybe the pic will help. I haven't filled the tub yet but I did try it out and it seems like I'll be able to regulate the flow as needed.
 
 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Got around to installing the 2nd BRT today.

 



 



 

The first one in action.

 



 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

While cleaning out filter socks this afternoon I started thinking about how often I've been doing this and how much food is ending up in the socks and not in the bellies of my fish.

 

When I visited Edgar Diaz's place in the past he had a creative solution to this problem but his drain pipes were configured differently than mine so I couldn't do the same thing. After a bit of thinking I came up with this solution... I'm calling it a food barrier. Not sure what Edgar calls his.

 

The idea is to prevent food from being drawn into the drain pipe before the fish can eat it. I use a plastic mesh around my drain pipes to keep the fish out but it's too big to do the same for food. All you need is an empty 2L soda bottle, a few zip ties, scissors and a razor blade.

 

First, cut off the top and bottom of the bottle using the razor blade, or utility knife, leaving you with a cylinder. Using the scissors, cut the bottle length-wise. Next, cut out horizontal strips around the bottle. I made mine about 1.25". You should end up with these:

 



 

Determine what diameter you require and punch a small hole in each end as shown above.

 

Now you can attach the clear plastic ring to the plastic mesh guard and have something like this:

 





 

Replace the mesh guard on the pipe:

 



 



 

This little device will allow water to flow freely but food will stay on the surface until it's eaten. 

 

 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Nice idea Tal.  Thanks for sharing.

I can't take full credit. I adapted the concept from what Edgar had done.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

thats a pretty neat trick. 

Cool idea. I guess I need to steal that, too.

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

I think the ring needs to be a bit wider. Some of the food is still getting sucked under.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Do you remove it after feeding? I would worry that you lose surface skimming if it is left on permanently.

Wow... great idea... good point Alex, but the true point of surface skimming is so there is good air/water circulation with oxygen exchange. But if you have a good skimmer, that should do the job of the O2 exchange, but the tanks might get a little gunky'er faster.

Hmm... I'll have to keep an eye on that. Thanks for pointing it out.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

ATS Build

I mentioned a while back that I was considering installing an Algae Turf Scrubber(ATS) to the BRT system. One of my main concerns was excess evaporation but I stumbled on something that should help that. While in my garage I literally tripped over an old DIY refugium that I was no longer using, and had no plans to use again so I started thinking... I could remove the baffles and put the ATS screen inside! I carefully removed the baffles and cut a few drain holes in the bottom. I ended up cutting a large hole because the smaller ones didn't drain fast enough.

 

I had already cut slits into a piece of PVC and had the screen roughed up so all I needed was a few things from HD. Mainly a bushing to connect the 3/4" drain line to the 1" ATS pipe and another light. All in all, it cost me under $10 and about an hour of messing around. Here is what I came up with. 

 











 

I'll update in a week or so when the algae starts growing. I may add another light to the back at some point.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Sweet, how about you make me one now

Rook

Light needs to be blocked from reaching the PVC pipe that the screen is attached to so that algae doesn't build up in that area and block flow. Most people use tape, foil or other things. I wanted something more practical and easy to remove when cleaning so I made a simple "shroud" using corrugated plastic that I painted black and pieced together using electrical tape. This should effectively block the light and be simple to remove during cleaning.

 





 

Installed:





 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

How much water are you running thru the ATS Tal?
 
Dave

I don't know the exact GPH but it's connected to the relief pipe on the return so the majority of the water is passing though since the flow into the BRTs isn't that strong at any given time.
I can make it faster but it starts to "spray". I could take a vid if you want...

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

No just curious as if my mind remembers correctly the flow is like 30-35gph per inch of width.  The one I made is like 22 inches wide and I run a gen-x 4100 to feed it.

I hate math but I think I have it covered in my case... we'll see.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Here it is in action:

 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Nicely set up Tal!