New remodel projects, new tanks, and Swiss Tropicals

[Ron Sower]

I picked up another all glass 8.7 gallon (12x12x14) tank a couple months ago from a person moving to Canada. It's been in dry dock since then. Last week we rearranged our guest room to give me more office/work space. It involved adding in a long counter top on top of 3 file cabinets from Ikea. I picked out white files and a bright red counter top. I love red! 

You might remember that I've been learning what I could about the HMFs through studying Stephan's website and asking you guys to offer up anything you had to offer to me (for which I'm totally grateful. I enjoy having all your experience close at hand!) So today I ordered the HMF for the corner of the little tank. It will sit on my desk and will get a lot of attention. I liked the email communication back and forth with Stephan. He's a prince. Kinda like working with the fellow at Jehmco. I mentioned my friends here on Mugwumps and he had nice things to say. Dennis, he sounds really pleased with your work!!! (Honorable Mention here!)

Next week, after our Brazillian ''granddaughter'' goes home we will begin tearing out the corner fireplace and hearth in our family room where my community show tank is and we will ''square off'' the room which will give us more usable space in that room.  Then I will check how much actual room that will give me to comfortably put in a custom-built large tank; probably about 72'' long, 15''-18'' tall and I don't know how wide yet.  This is going to be a show tank which will be built to house & propagate plants as well as house a few different fish species. There is a small company in a nearby town that is developing a good reputation for building custom tanks that I'll be talking with very soon. I will be putting HMFs in this tank as well. They will eliminate the need for me to be bending over to pull out a large canister filter and lugging it to the utility room to clean every 3 months, thereby, saving me some back pain.

The tank will be located next to an outside wall and I will be installing a plastic pipe through the wall to drain the water out to the yard or into the storm drain. This can be a fixed, rigid plastic piping/tubing fitted with a stopcock valve on the out-flow side below the bottom of the tank. The inside portion of the pipe will extend to the bottom of the tank, hidden behind the corner HMF. I'll have hardware cloth over the end of the outflow pipe going into the storm drain to keep critters out.

What I don't have worked out in my mind or on paper is how to get water to it without having to hook up a Python tube each time. It takes up too much of my minimal storage space now anyway. I guess I could use a food grade hose coming from the kitchen or utility sink water supply, and run under the house over to the tank and come up through the floor and into the tank, permanently hanging on the back with a cutoff valve on it like the siphon pipe/tube. The big issue is the inflow water temp. I don't worry about the chemicals. Our water shows no chlorine and I currently put it straight into the tank without treating it. I don't have anywhere in the house that I can put a drum to keep water at room temps or I would have done that by now, even capturing water from the rain we have here most of the year!

If I can't get an easy to operate system to refill the tank, I can continue with my current method using the Python attached to the utility faucet. It really isn't all that much of a problem, other than storage of the tubing.

By the way - I think my project here is a tad different than Liz's. Her's is an "active" water removal system for several tanks and mine is "passive" with only one tank; and filling is the biggest issue I need help with.

Does anyone have anything to offer on anything I've written here? I would appreciate your thoughts.

[BillT]

Very interesting project Ron!

I really like the idea of engineering your set-up to suit your increasing age. I have the similar problems.
The drain system and the HMFs sound great.

If I were running plumbing under a house (especially if animals might get there) I would us some kind of hard piping: PVC, CPVC, ABS, or the Polypropylene stuff (flexible but strong). Once no longer under the house you could transition to something more easily manipulated, like tubing. I worry about the flexible stuff under the house because it is more easily broken and not easily seen. It could also hang down and get snagged on things (animals, people, tools) going by.
There is also flexible PVC "pipe". It is easy to put together, but not as strong and not as easy to find (pool/spa store, or online plumbing and aquaculture suppliers). I have seen good versions of this stuff as well as some pretty flimsy stuff.
Freezing might be a concern if there will be water standing in there between uses, depending on your local conditions.

FRT the filling system.
Not sure if I understand the problem, but you are going to have to get water to your tank some how.
If you can run pipes there, then that can be done directly (to the tank) or indirectly to some kind of holding tank.
For long runs of plumbing that are always going to be in the same place, I would probably use hard plumbing like the underhouse stuff.
For temperature, you could mix together hot and cold water streams with a special mixing valve. I used to use these things (made for dark rooms). They were big and had a bimetal diagram in a diaphram valve (like an automatic sprinkler valve) which bend to one or the other side to open or close the hot and cold valves. now they are digital ones. The mechanical ones might be cheaper now. New ones were several hundred bucks 20 years ago.
Sounds a storage tank is not an option, but you could use an in-line heater on a pluming line, like one of those used for a whole house, but smaller. Might require 220 V though. There are also 110 volt in-line heaters for aquariums, but you can only have the water to go pretty slow through them if you want it to heat up much. It has a short contact time with the heater. I don't think they are intended as a single pass heater.

Depending on the planned inhabitants for the tank, and the water temperatures, I would consider just adding unheated water. Unless you are making big water changes, it might not put the temperature off to much. I kind a thing some temperature change is good for the fish since it is more like the environment in which they evolved. But the depends on lots of factors. However, many little water changes, if the heaters are working OK, will not make for big temperature changes. I automate 6 water changes a day and don't worry about the temperature of the incoming water.
My automation system is a sprinkler timer with programming that gives you the freedom to runs the schedules you want (some are made so "user mistakes" can not be made), and one or more sprinkler valves (which I tested for toxicity on baby zebrafish) which actively fills and passively drains, like yours. You could also make you automation system just you turning a valve for some period of time one or more times/day. You might also be able to use a garden hose automated valve. They work with garden hose fittings, cost maybe $40 and have a battery that lasts a couple of years, and have reasonably flexible programming.

Another way to get water to a location easily would be something like a reverse shop vac. A refillable container on wheels that you could pump water out of. Sounds like a hose would be easier though.

You might also be able to run pipes above your ceiling depending on your

[Ron Sower]

Great feedback, Bill! Thank you...I really appreciate it. I'm going to include your ideas in my thinking and planning as I move forward with this project.

I have no attic, or that would be an excellent idea. We have a manufactured home. Freezing under the house doesn't seem to be a problem so far. Varmints under the house - could be a different story! I will definitely prepare for them! I like the idea of small water changes through the day..."since it is more like the environment in which they evolved", as you wrote. The cold water influx really wouldn't make that much difference that way. And I've often thought about changing 1 or 2 gallons daily in the 55 instead or 1/3-1/2 volume changes weekly, to see how that would do. But sometimes the daily changes seem like an overwhelming effort to do regularly...you know, getting off my butt and doing it while I just want to sit and watch my fish!!!

This afternoon I'm going to go by the custom tank shop and start talking with those guys about my plans and see what they have to say.and then I will be off to GSAS meeting tonight. We have Gianne Souza as our speaker on Bettas. http://www.gsas.org/ , and our monthly auction after the talk. I'm looking forward to my afternoon and evening.