Pictures of your breeding setup?

[David M]

From the end showing window:

[David M]

Partial shot of other side of room (9 X 19') :

[ediaz]

Nice, David, very neat

Whats the blue stuff in the tanks, the system you told me about?

Hey what do you think about using one of those air crompressors they sell at the hardware store, as an air supply for airstones?

Edgar

[David M]

Neat??? You gotta be kiddin', it's a mess. Actually Edward Ramirez was here a few years ago when I was getting started with seahorses, I had a hodge-podge rig of a dozen tanks or so, mostly connected with "U" tubes. I thouth it was a joke. Ed looked at it and said it was very impressive, "You should see some of the rinky-dink systems people use" he said. Made me wonder what kind of mousetrap configurations are really out there

The blue stuff is bio-balls, tank is divided with a 55um screen. Heater and p-head in back, airline, rots & larvae in front. Passive flow through the screen. Seems to work quite well, no detectable ammonia for a month until I move them out & clean the tank for the next batch. Have not had any really large numbers though, mostly in the 80-120 range.

I have thought about the air compressor too but the noise would drive me nuts. I think if you had a larger auxilliary pressure tank and prevented any leakage it might work out, but the little portable units are probably not the answer. Plus I'd want to filter the output pretty well. Personally I have not bit the bullet and spent $ on a decent blower, I get by just fine on a few Lufts and a Schego M2K3. The Schego now costs less than the Luft and kicks it's butt so it is my pump of choice for small/med systems.

[David M]

Just a quick thought on the compressor idea, I happen to have one so I may try it anyway. The only reason I would do this is that I also have an O2 tank for shipping, have been thinking it would be smart to have the system "plumbed" and ready in case of power failure, the O2 tank could probably run the whole system for several hours, maybe even a day or more. Actually with a big enough pressure tank you could probably get through a brief outage without any disruption at all just on the stored air.

Rsman is the "go to" design guy around here, I'll run it by him If you really wanted to get fancy you could have a solenoid valve to cotrol the source so if power failed it would automatically swith to the O2. Or better yet a pnuematic switch that would change over when the pressure from the compressed air tank ran out. Cool, eh? Now you got me all fired up - gotta do it

[ediaz]

The one I saw has the tank, plus wheels to move it around.I think it is used for painting, why filter the output? It sold for around 150, a blower goes for around 400, and it sounds like a plane landing. I was just guessing, at work, the machinists use them ans it has a lot of pressure, even more than a blower.

JMHO, but have you though of making the bio filters smaller? Like a corner of the tank a 2"x2" area and have more free space. You basically have half your gallonage in bio media.

Edgar

[David M]

You basically have half your gallonage in bio media.

True, but I still have 7-8 gallons of bulk water no matter how you divide it up. This way the larvae and rots are concentrated into a smaller area and bottom siphoning is half the work of a bare ten gallon tank. I will certainly be experimenting but so far this is working very well. After 30 days or so I move them to a bare ten connected to the central system for grow out. Remember I am new at this and the design is constantly changing, I plan to drill those divided tens and hook them to the system soon. At first I tried to raise clownfish like seahorses - NOT. So this is "shoot from the hip" design.

The portablel compressors like you are talking about ( I have one for air driven tools) are VERY loud and the tank is so small they run constantly. I think you should listen to one for a while before blowing $150 Also when they kick on there will probably be a surge(drain) on your electrical system, lights will dim and pumps will suffer. Not saying I don't like the idea, just that it will need some fine tuning. I will play around and let you know how it goes. Maybe start a thread in a DIY forum to get thoughts from some of the engineering types.

[Morgman]

You also may want to look into a very good prefilter for any compressors. Oils and fumes may get pumped into your tanks if you don't. I would think looking to SCUBA airstations might be a good idea if you are serious about using compressors.

[David M]

These compressors are electric, no fumes or oils involved. It may be crude but I think it was Moe who made air filters out a section of PVC, caps at both ends drilled for the airhose in and out. Just fill it with carbon and your done.

[Morgman]

That would probably be fine. I know that at dive shops with electric compressors they have a series of at least 3 filters that help eliminate any contaiments moisture etc. If you smell your compressor when it is running its not the greatest smell. So some fumes may get pumped into a system if they are't filtered.

It would be a bad day if some fumes got sucked up into a compressor and killed your babies

It always safe to use murphy's law.

I am not arguing just bringing up the point.

[melsteve]

David M just a thought on your bio towers for your new system on my holding system space was an issue so I went vertical using 3x7ft lenghts on 18inch pvc pipes with caps on the ends made up some small round drip plates filled with bio balls coral rubble etc holds a heck of a lot and put bulhead fitting on the top end cap and water pumped up goes thru 3 way divider and into top has always worked well was cheap and gives a lot of surface area the system is around 2000 lire and holds from a couple fish to well over a hunderd some times and always worked well.
Regards Steve

[rsman]

ive considered the compressor idea fairly heavily ive purchased the plumbing, set it up, but i dont use it.

I did a DIY filter post compressor, even though the one i have is electric it does take oil, and does have a tendancy to pick things up, so i used some filterfloss and carbon and in testing it works great, but it would probibly be better if I used a larger tank, so it wouldnt have to cycle as often, possibly one or more of those cheapo portable tire fixer dudads that you fill with a seperate compressor. also a controller that turned on when it needed it then filled it full, as we could work with a 75psi swing we dont need the constant pressure before a regulator.

I do have an O2 tank with outputs into my cultures, and growout and as of recently i have it pluged into my broadstock also, the output rate is fairly low, i know it does nice things to my cultures and growout but i dont see any advantage to the broadstock tanks, Ill probibly leave it as its more work to disconnect it than anything else.

another note about the paint style compressors VS blowers. even the cheapest blower (they do go down to the $150's ) are rated for continous duty, almost no paint style compressor is rated at even close.

[damer]

davidm,

the Schego M2K3 air pumps you use, how many outlets/sponge filters would they run. i am having trouble finding information on the products that i can buy in australia, and have tracked down a couple of suppliers for these pumps.

thanks

damien

[David M]

damer - A lot I just run open air releases (no airstones) and the pump will push about 20 of them no problem. Of course I'm talking a fairly low flow like in 10 gallon tanks. One Schego M2K3 is like 1-1/2 or 2 Lufts and they are less expensive. The one thing I do not know is which lasts longer, I have not yet had either fail in 3-4 years.

[Dman]

Whew, Glad to see I'm not the only person who'd considered a compressor to run his room.
I eventually passed on the idea as they're pretty loud (even though I could plumb it in the garage)actually really loud, prefiltering them is a PITA and contaminating the air in them is too easy (especially for the likes of me). IR makes some nice continuous run compressors, but they are industrial sized and cost about the same as my house, pass.
I did have a blower, THIS ONE ACTUALLY but it was over kill even for the 60 odd tank I had running and literally sound just like a jet firing up. (worth the price of admission just to have something that sounded so cool) Also, the effeciency in terms of hydro usage didn't warrant it's use. SO for now I'm using three Hagen Optima's and the occiasional orphan pump for smaller projects.
Dman

[keefsama2003]

hey rich any luck with those b/w occellaris? if so pm me im interested :-)

[ediaz]

even the cheapest blower (they do go down to the $150's

Hey rsman

Where can i find it for that price??

I brough it up because of the prices I have seen around, not less than 369.

Edgar

[damer]

dman,

does your system use a pump to deliver to all those tanks or is it gravity fed?

also do you mix different species of fish/broodstock/juveniles in the system?


damien

[Dman]

damer,
Right now that system has been taken apart for maintainence and we're looking at a possible gravity fed system as it is relatively low flow and a pressure pump wouldn't be necessary. I'll keep you updated as we get closer to re-assembly.
Dman

[Tommyc]

What is everyone's thoughts on incorporating UV or a calcium reactor on breeding setups?

Do you? Any recommendations on a UV unit?

tom

[rsman]

kalk reactor is better than calc reactor


the UV is a solid go for it, it doesnt have the disadvantages on a breeding tank that it does have on a reef. its advantages are a little questionable, but generally its worth the investment

[Dman]

I run UV on all of my systems, period. And I change the bulbs regularily as well. Don't know if it helps, but it sure can't hurt.
Dman

[Chinese DNA]

you-all are very strong!
you use crude seawater or false seawater(sea salt), when breed marine fish

[ediaz]

Calcium reactor? Never heard of it when breeding marine fish.

UV helps a lot, the hatcheries I know all use them constantly. I use Rainbow Lifeguard, any unit will work.

I used to use natural seawater (crude) but now I use synthetic(false). I still sterilize though.

Edgar

[Tommyc]

Thanks for the inputs. I'd always looked at a UV as a required addition...just haven't actually done it. I'll check out the Rainbow line.

Was only asking about a calcium reactor because I thought it might help with buffering and any pH swings.

tom