monicaswizzle
Premium Member
Well, ok, only under $40 because I had most of the equipment on hand and I am "buddies" with the guys who own the local auto body paint shop.
But, since you are here, check it out.
I decided to go the route recommended in the Breeder's Guide to Marine Aquarium Fishes by Matthew Wittenrich. He recommends using a plastic laundry tub (rounded corners help with water circulation and easy access for feeding and monitoring) painted black (so the larvae aren't attracted to the sides and so they can more easily see food items against the dark background).
Here is a shot of the whole setup:
Here is a close up of the sink and standpipe in action:
Here is a shot of the standpipe extensions:
Here is how it works (I hope)--
The 20 gallon fish tank on the top shelf has a light on 24/7 and some fern caulerpa to help filter the water. Water enters this tank from a return pump in the 10 gallon tank all the way down on the floor. Water leaves this tank via a standpipe which drains down to the laundry tub.
The 21 gallon laundry tub ($26 bucks at Ace Hardware--the only item I actually had to buy except for some miscellaneous hose and clamps--the rest is from my store of torn down tanks) is where the larvae will actually be reared. The standpipe in the middle can be adjusted by adding or subtracting bits of 1" pvc pipe and fittings (shown in the extensions photo). For a small number of larvae, or when they are really young, I can run the sink with as little as 8 gallons in it. As the larvae grow in size or number I can increase capacity to the full 21 gallons as needed.
Circulation in the laundry tub is very gentle upwelling created by the force of the water that is coming down from the 20 gallon fish tank above. The hose outlet is attached to the base of the standpipe so that the water reflects off the bottom of the laundry tub and spreads across the tub, comes up the sides of the tubs and then flows to the center of the tub and down the tub's adjustable standpipe. The standpipe exits the traditional laundry tub drain and flows into the 10 gallon tank on the bottom level.
The 10 gallon tank on the bottom contains three items: 1) A return pump fitted with a union valve so I can adjust the flow that reaches the top 20 gallon fish tank. The goal is to have a pretty low flow rate, especially while the larvae are young and I want to keep turbulence in the tub to a minimum. As they grow I can increase the flow rate to achieve better filtration. 2) A cannister filter that filters the entire 50 gallons of circulating water (50 gallons when the laundry tub is set up for full capacity) and 3) a float valve that is attached to the 5 gallon "kerosene" plastic container that I use as a fresh water reservoir. The open top system design may cause a fair amount of evaporation, so I definitely wanted to automate water top up so it isn't a twice daily chore.
I HOPE that I can keep the larvae and most of their food in the laundry tub and use the other two fish tanks to filter the water and add more capacity. To do this I plan to fit the top of the laundry tub standpipe with a 100 micron filter (made by cutting up a 100 micron bag that is made of a single layer of nylon mesh). Since the rotifers I am rearing for food are all larger than 100 microns, as will be the larvae, I am hoping that the system will work and I can run a filter 24/7 without worrying about filtering out food or larvae. I am a little worried that the filter may tend to clog with food and larvae collecting on top (another reason why the flow rate for the whole system needs to be gentle). If I can't keep the larvae isolated in the tub I may have to do without the filter and hope I don't loose too many to the return pump. I could add a bunch of live rock to the two fish tanks if I need better biological filtration.
Other items:
1) Laundry tub was painted for me by said buddies at the local auto body shop. They used an epoxy based paint that they are 100% certain will hold up to salt water and about 80% certain won't leach nasty chemicals back into the water and kill the larvae. They did a much nicer job than I ever could have with a brush and didn't charge me anything. (I did drop off a couple cases of beer as a "thank you", but that is a "grocery" expense in my house).
2) Wittenrich recommends fairly low light for the larval tank. He says just ambient room light is likely enough for them to see and consume food and avoids their bunching up under direct lighting. I installed the florescent light above the laundry tub so I can have direct light if and when I need it to see what I am doing. The rest of the time I will just leave the closest ceiling light on and see if that is enough. The macro algae light will stay on 24/7.
3) Now all I need is for some fish to spawn (black cap basslets is the current goal--but my clowns might beat them to it).
Thanks for reading the tour!
But, since you are here, check it out.
I decided to go the route recommended in the Breeder's Guide to Marine Aquarium Fishes by Matthew Wittenrich. He recommends using a plastic laundry tub (rounded corners help with water circulation and easy access for feeding and monitoring) painted black (so the larvae aren't attracted to the sides and so they can more easily see food items against the dark background).
Here is a shot of the whole setup:
Here is a close up of the sink and standpipe in action:
Here is a shot of the standpipe extensions:
Here is how it works (I hope)--
The 20 gallon fish tank on the top shelf has a light on 24/7 and some fern caulerpa to help filter the water. Water enters this tank from a return pump in the 10 gallon tank all the way down on the floor. Water leaves this tank via a standpipe which drains down to the laundry tub.
The 21 gallon laundry tub ($26 bucks at Ace Hardware--the only item I actually had to buy except for some miscellaneous hose and clamps--the rest is from my store of torn down tanks) is where the larvae will actually be reared. The standpipe in the middle can be adjusted by adding or subtracting bits of 1" pvc pipe and fittings (shown in the extensions photo). For a small number of larvae, or when they are really young, I can run the sink with as little as 8 gallons in it. As the larvae grow in size or number I can increase capacity to the full 21 gallons as needed.
Circulation in the laundry tub is very gentle upwelling created by the force of the water that is coming down from the 20 gallon fish tank above. The hose outlet is attached to the base of the standpipe so that the water reflects off the bottom of the laundry tub and spreads across the tub, comes up the sides of the tubs and then flows to the center of the tub and down the tub's adjustable standpipe. The standpipe exits the traditional laundry tub drain and flows into the 10 gallon tank on the bottom level.
The 10 gallon tank on the bottom contains three items: 1) A return pump fitted with a union valve so I can adjust the flow that reaches the top 20 gallon fish tank. The goal is to have a pretty low flow rate, especially while the larvae are young and I want to keep turbulence in the tub to a minimum. As they grow I can increase the flow rate to achieve better filtration. 2) A cannister filter that filters the entire 50 gallons of circulating water (50 gallons when the laundry tub is set up for full capacity) and 3) a float valve that is attached to the 5 gallon "kerosene" plastic container that I use as a fresh water reservoir. The open top system design may cause a fair amount of evaporation, so I definitely wanted to automate water top up so it isn't a twice daily chore.
I HOPE that I can keep the larvae and most of their food in the laundry tub and use the other two fish tanks to filter the water and add more capacity. To do this I plan to fit the top of the laundry tub standpipe with a 100 micron filter (made by cutting up a 100 micron bag that is made of a single layer of nylon mesh). Since the rotifers I am rearing for food are all larger than 100 microns, as will be the larvae, I am hoping that the system will work and I can run a filter 24/7 without worrying about filtering out food or larvae. I am a little worried that the filter may tend to clog with food and larvae collecting on top (another reason why the flow rate for the whole system needs to be gentle). If I can't keep the larvae isolated in the tub I may have to do without the filter and hope I don't loose too many to the return pump. I could add a bunch of live rock to the two fish tanks if I need better biological filtration.
Other items:
1) Laundry tub was painted for me by said buddies at the local auto body shop. They used an epoxy based paint that they are 100% certain will hold up to salt water and about 80% certain won't leach nasty chemicals back into the water and kill the larvae. They did a much nicer job than I ever could have with a brush and didn't charge me anything. (I did drop off a couple cases of beer as a "thank you", but that is a "grocery" expense in my house).
2) Wittenrich recommends fairly low light for the larval tank. He says just ambient room light is likely enough for them to see and consume food and avoids their bunching up under direct lighting. I installed the florescent light above the laundry tub so I can have direct light if and when I need it to see what I am doing. The rest of the time I will just leave the closest ceiling light on and see if that is enough. The macro algae light will stay on 24/7.
3) Now all I need is for some fish to spawn (black cap basslets is the current goal--but my clowns might beat them to it).
Thanks for reading the tour!
