bta prop tanks

[sick_bubblegum]

i'm planning a bta tank build and would love to see other people's designs. i'm mainly interested in those of you who have tanks for the sole purpose of propagation. the biggest obsticle i can think of is substrate and live rock or no live rock. i would imagine it is difficult to get the nems off of rock at times. would love to hear from some of the expert 'farmers' out there. thanks.

 

[Jawbone flats]

try those Ceramic biomedia plates. your bta can attach and you have a smother surface for easy detachment

 

[gmneil]

i use larger rubble with a crushed coral substrate, but i actually like it better when the nems attach to the glass its so much easier to get them off. even with the rubble i get multiple nems attaching to the same rocks

 

[ssgtgonzo]

+1 on rubble. The true biggest obstacle is providing adequate flow without using powerheads. Or minimizing the rish with some sort of foam guard. I built a spray bar and us a tunze nano wavemaker in mineq

 

[sick_bubblegum]

try those Ceramic biomedia plates. your bta can attach and you have a smother surface for easy detachment

woah, those are expensive!

 

[sick_bubblegum]

+1 on rubble. The true biggest obstacle is providing adequate flow without using powerheads. Or minimizing the rish with some sort of foam guard. I built a spray bar and us a tunze nano wavemaker in mineq

do you have photos of this? or can you describe how you did it?

 

[sick_bubblegum]

i noticed that a lot of online fish retailers will keep them in plastic baskets with holes in them. i'm not sure what the entire setups look like though.

 

[sick_bubblegum]

right now i have an inch and a half of sand and live rock. i'm thinking about one of two scenarios:

1. take out live rock and leave a very small amount of sand
2. take out live rock and all sand.

my only issue is that i do have a couple clowns, snails, shrimp. not sure how the other inverts would do on bare acrylic?

 

[seamonkey84]

If you can find some rocks that don't have holes or caves I would make a few islands, so you can easily peel them off. Aragacrete type of man made rock is actually ideal for this. At the Petco I work at, we have a bunch of aqua-cultured rock that are porous but don't have holes or caves, all the anemones that attach to those I can easily remove. Otherwise medium sized rubble works well as you can practically just pick up the nem.

 

[PepperHeaded]

I was reading up on this situation recently on MD's forums and Calflo recommends using AstroTurf as substrate (or indoor outdoor carpet, the plastic faux grass one) for easy removal and cleaning of tank.

Also, re: power heads in a prop tank: it's recommended that you don't use them, instead look up air lifts. The search feature will do great for this subject matter. As a farmer it's best to use the KISS method to keep costs down and profits up. Keep this in mind if that is the route you're going.

Hope this helps.

 

[ssgtgonzo]

do you have photos of this? or can you describe how you did it?

I literally took a piece of pvc about the length of the aquarium, drilled holes in it, put 3 90 degree elbows om each end (so it can hang over the edge) and put a barbed hose adaptor at one end so i could plumb it to a pump (1000 gph on a 3' tank). This delivers even flow across my whole tank.

I eventually wanted more water movement so i put a nano wavebox in as well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ssgtgonzo]

That pump is placed in the sump by the way...

(when i first set it up)

Keep in mind my idea of prop tank is to make then grow and split enough to cover all the rock...THEN trade the extras. If i were just keeping a few and trading all the clones my setup would be much different.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

 

[sick_bubblegum]

I was reading up on this situation recently on MD's forums and Calflo recommends using AstroTurf as substrate (or indoor outdoor carpet, the plastic faux grass one) for easy removal and cleaning of tank.

Also, re: power heads in a prop tank: it's recommended that you don't use them, instead look up air lifts. The search feature will do great for this subject matter. As a farmer it's best to use the KISS method to keep costs down and profits up. Keep this in mind if that is the route you're going.

Hope this helps.

what is the 'KISS' method? i searched the md site, but all of the bta prop threads are very old. i haven't found any mention of what air lift pumps are good.

 

[sick_bubblegum]

I literally took a piece of pvc about the length of the aquarium, drilled holes in it, put 3 90 degree elbows om each end (so it can hang over the edge) and put a barbed hose adaptor at one end so i could plumb it to a pump (1000 gph on a 3' tank). This delivers even flow across my whole tank.

I eventually wanted more water movement so i put a nano wavebox in as well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

right now i have two smaller spray bars, the kind that are mainly used in fw setups. they are hooked up to my return pump, but i can only get so much flow out of them before the tank starts to fill up too much. i am going to need more flow but i have had bad luck with powerheads with my nems. i'm looking into an airlift option set up to the spray bars. this way i would not be effecting my water level in my display.

 

[PepperHeaded]

what is the 'KISS' method? i searched the md site, but all of the bta prop threads are very old. i haven't found any mention of what air lift pumps are good.

Keep It Simple Stupid.

Most of the posts are pretty old, but I think they're still relevant. The threads I was referring to were from the archived section, if you want a link or recommended readings pm me. Anthony mentioned tetratec as a good brand of air pump for the lifts but I found that even a cheap one (or two) will work and just using a sponge filter should maintain water quality you're after if you keep up with weekly water changes.

 

[reeferman1128]

you can use power heads. You can have a fine sand bottom and use it as a "mote" around the edge of the tank with a center island if rubble or several rubble island. They rarely travel across sand so they will not make it to the glass where the power head will be mounted.