I'm rather new to this hobby, and to be honest, I don't have the slightest idea what I'm looking at. I understand intake/outake, but that's... So much. =O
Let me help you out. There are three different filtration categories on this tank.
1)The primary filter are the two green canisters you see in the stand. They are connected together with the big one pushing water through the small one and back into the tank. Intake is behind the sponge on the right. Outflow is a glass lily on the upper left hand corner.
2)There is also an air pump driving the Undergravel Filter (UGF) and the sponge Filter. The black tube on the left with the bubbles coming out and the black sponge on the right is what you're looking for.
3)The breeder box has it's own ZooMed 501 filter that draws water from the main tank and puts clean water into the breeder box. The box overflows back into the main tank. That's the little tiny canister by the electrical outlet picture. The ZooMed 501 is not by the electrical outlet anymore....was just there for testing purposes.
There are also some extra tubes at the moment, because I'm running CO2 to kick start the plants. The CO2 will be removed later. You can also see the paintball CO2 next to the two green Eheim filters.
What you see in the pic is pretty much it. There's Amazonia II Powder in there that I had lying around. I connected a Zoo Med 501 filter to the box. These breeder boxes were originally designed to run by an air pump. There are two disadvantages to running it with an air pump.
1) super noisy because of the bubbles and gurgling sound because the outflow is above the water...constant gurgling and water dripping sound.....
2) not enough flow into the box
The Zoo Med 501 fits perfectly where the air line normally goes and there is a ridiculous amount of water being pumped into the box now. I had to put the tube and moss mesh right under where the water goes in so the soil doesn't get blown around. The intake for the 501 is right next to the UGF....it has a stainless steel prefilter cover...
Here's a pic from the last time I set it up that way. You can see the outflow connected to the box. The intake goes in the main tank.
You can also see this thread about people modding their breeder boxes.
Of course there will be shrimps!:flick: This is a clean start so I won't put any in for 6-8 weeks. Probably around Valentines day is when the shrimps will go in. The only bacteria in this tank is the Bacter 100 and BT-9 I layered into the soil. I'll let this tank break in nice and slow. This way I can keep the CO2 on for a couple of months and let my HC grow in nice! No rush for me.
I'll put the PBL colony in here when the time comes...they're outgrowing the 30c....then use the 30c for culls and I'll throw in some TB in there with them to make some hybrids...so that's the plan.
I split the Anubias white with someone. I have an Echinodorus Aflame aka "Purple Knight" in the orb. Same plant as the middle, but a baby. The Anubias white is finally growing some new leaves tho....
This is an intense setup. I count atleast 4 different filters not including the purigen in the breeder box. The water must be crystal clear.
on a side note I've regenerated my purigen and did a dechlor and added some acid before to it but I noticed it still raises my PH a bit. Have you had the same issues?
Sorry, maybe I missed it, but why'd you choose to use CO2 in a shrimp tank? I thought it was against your shrimptech philosophy :hihi:. Presumably for the Erios?
This is an intense setup. I count atleast 4 different filters not including the purigen in the breeder box. The water must be crystal clear.
on a side note I've regenerated my purigen and did a dechlor and added some acid before to it but I noticed it still raises my PH a bit. Have you had the same issues?
There's a scout shrimp in there for two weeks now still doing alright. Will move colony over in a week or so.
Water Parameters:
Ammonia - Close to Zero (Can't really tell with the stupid drop tester)
Nitrate - Still testing Nitrates. I'm not adding any ferts which means soil is still leaching. There's enough beneficial bacteria to convert the Ammonia to Nitrite then Nitrate.
Will need to keep up the WC until soil stops leaching Ammonia.
White Anubias finally showing some growth. New leaves are pure white.
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