Fish Rack Modification

[Tony]

A while back, I put in a 40 breeder in the bottom left bank of my rack. It fit perfectly next to a 20H with 1/4" to spare between the supports.

Everything was good.

After a few months, I built the triple 40 rack along the back wall.

Realizing the true awesomeness that is the 40 breeder, I acquired another from a very kind club member (thanks again, dude) in order to swap out the three 20H tanks in the bottom right side of the rack for a 40 and a 20H (similar to the left side in the first pic).

Can guess what happened next?....

The bottom span was 3/4" too short to fit these two tanks.

I racked my brain for a week, thinking about how I could jack up the right side of the stand, remove the screws and nails from the supports and inch out the 4x4s.

The Maria had the solution..... Sawzaw.

Yes, it was a tad nerve-racking cutting on the supports for the two rows of tanks above, but came out well, I think.

Here's a few pics of the inhabitants, moved from the 20H tanks...

A. jacobfreibergi Undu Reef (male)

Females:

Nyassachromis Broadzulu:

Single, grow-out Placidochromis milomo

There's also a trio of Labiotropheus trewavasae that went in there... forgot to shoot pics of them though... here's the holding female in a nursery tank.

Gave both the tanks (20 and 40) the crushed coral and sand treatment. When I added the fish, the male Jake and the mbuna lost their color. Probably a combination of going from gravel to the light substrate as well as a water chemistry difference.

I'm headed towards throwing crushed coral and sand in all of my tanks.... it's a slow process though.

Thanks for looking.

 

[twisted fisher]

woohooo looks great

 

[Tony]

woohooo looks great

Thanks!

 

[Reel Addiction]

What would you do without Maria, Im gonna set up my 4th 40 this weekend

 

[Tony]

What would you do without Maria, Im gonna set up my 4th 40 this weekend

I tell her all the time that if it weren't for her, me and Elvis would be out on the street, dumpster diving.

Whatcha got in all them tanks, bossman?

 

[jonclark96]

Neccessity is the mother of invention. Looks good Tony.

 

[Reel Addiction]

Picked up swallowtails from Matt and I am getting some fish from Bill at the meeting ( Lethrinops Red Cap Chirwa). Ordered a fx5 for the 125 so I can start the front colony. Im in!!!!!

 

[Pat Kelly]

Nice set up

 

[bertolli]

very cool, thanks for sharing... I'm usually too lazy to share :S

 

[Jumbie]

I know I'm late bro but I really like your set up!!! I think you did a great job, or should I say Maria did a great job lol . All jokes aside great work Tony.

 

[dogofwar]

Looking good! Where's the new world part of the room?

Matt

 

[Andrewtfw]

I like the way your fish room/man cave is coming along. Are the tanks independently filtered or are you using a blower?

 

[Tony]

Thanks a tony, guys.

The tanks on the main rack are on an AV-50 pump with a PVC loop running over each row of tanks. Each tank has 1-2 sponges and the messier ones have a box filter as well.

The triple 40s on the back wall each have 2 sponges and are on their own using a medium-sized Whisper air pump. I would like to connect my manifold to stretch over to them, but I think my AV-50 is pretty much tapped out anyway. (It's currently running 27 devices and 5 additional air stones for breeder nets and BBS bottles)

I also have Aquaclear 70s on my 40 breeders and rotate around smaller Aquaclears to the other tanks for periodic general cleanup. 50% waterchanges every 7-10 days on all tanks.

You can't ever have too much filtration imo.

Eventually, I'd like to go to an auto-waterchange system, but don't think this will happen for a while.