Fishboy42 Grow out systems.

[Adrian]

Ok I told Matt I would start this thread for him and he will answer any questions you guy's might have on his setup. Here are a few pics.

[Adrian]

[Adrian]

[cschweitzer]

Yeah, my biggest question is when are you coming to FL to help me set up mine? J/K. That setup is quite unreal. Absolutely amazing.

[Lance One]

Beautiful! Very nice setup! I wish I had that kind of room.

What size are those tanks? 20T's?

What size lines do use a feed lines for the tanks? 3/4, 1/2 ? It looks like it works very good with the valves and semi rigid tubing.

Are the glass tops custom?

[Fishboy42]

RK--thanks for putting these up. I also hope that anyone with suggestions or tips on system design will chime in so all can benefit.

Thanks for the kind words cschweitzer (and thanks too for the pics in your thread from the ORA packing facility tour!).

Lance One, thanks also, I really don't have that much room, which is why I don't have any nice full-system photos to share. One of the systems is in a closet (only ~3 people can fit in there to look at it!). The others are in a workshop which is also cramped with tanks now.

The tanks in the pics are standard 10g tanks, but my new systems are using 15L tanks instead for more room. Putting them on the stand front-to-back saves room of course.

The feed lines are 3/4" tubing. It works well, but my only complaint is that those valves (two little fishies makes them) don't completely shut off, allowing a slow drip of water to come through. I might use different valves in the future, I just haven't sourced any suitable ones yet.

One of the pics shows the overflow plumbing through the bottom of the tank (that one is a 15L. Doing the semi-flexible tubing and not gluing the bottom fittings (the bulkhead just sits in the 2" sweeping "T" as you can see from the pic) allows the tank to simply be lifted off the stand and taken to a sink for scrubbing/cleaning. Since the valves leak a bit even when closed, I have to put the tube in a nearby tank or leave a pitcher underneath--well, it was nice in theory anyway...

The glass lids were made by a local glass shop. I bought the handles and hinges online (can't remember, either petsolutions or thatpetplace) and assembled them myself. The glass shop did a great job and was very curious about what I was doing, so I gave them these pictures as well!

[Lance One]

Thats to bad about the valves leaking. I like the flexability of the semi rigid tubing. I have 3/4" line also but it's PVC with ball valves. The valves don't leak put they are pain to adjust.

I was wondering how you had that bulk head connected. Very nice.

How big of a UV bulb are you running?

[Fishboy42]

I might try to find some compromise between pvc and bad valves in the future. Maybe using PVC ball valves with a nipple attached to flexible tubing that goes to the tank? That way I have a dependable valve (a pain to adjust though), but a flexible pipe that I can move if I want to remove the tank?

Both of the systems above are using 40W UV sterilizers. GEN-X PCX-40 pumps pump all of the return water through the sterilizers before it goes back to the tanks.

[Mark]

Very nice setup, what's the totl cost per month to run your system? Food, salt, light etc.

[Fishboy42]

I haven't done the additive calculations for everything, but each system uses about 1300W power (assuming lights and heaters running), 60 gallons of SW per month, and enough food to feed 2-3K fish 2-3x daily. Costs will vary depending on your utilities, brand/type of food and salt, and equipment choices. LABOR is the #1 cost.

We have cheap utilities here due to a TVA dam (live on a lake (Cherokee) and the dam is actually 3m away within view of the house). The utilities here pump water from the lake as source-water too.