New Tank Racking / House+Fish Move

[RobHarrison]

Well im moving into my GF`s so my fish are having a new home, and seeing as i have time to do it i thought i would set up a new rack system and get everything sorted nice and neatly, this is a process of the racking so far, will add to it at a later date.

Started off with a 4ft Rapid Racking Rack..

I then got some 120cm LED lights to light the tanks up only for tank maintainance, i got 2x4ft lenghs of 2"x1" wood and cable tied the LED Lights to it, i then stuck the 4ft lengh of wood using Gripfill a very strong adhesive...

Then i placed down 10mm Polystyreene sheeting for protection to the glass tank and also to insulate the tank...

I went and collected the new tanks i had made six 24"x15"x12" with sliding glass lids and painted the back and sides with Blackboard Paint it took three coats for me to be happy with the finish...

I fitted the tanks on to the rack it was a incredibly tight fit but all was good ....

Next i started to set the filteration up, im using a Eheim 2215 External Filter and a Eheim Aquaball 130 Internal Filter, i will also be adding Air Driven Sponge Filters at a later date...

The Externals for the bottom tanks were stood on the floor but for the middle shelf i needed to make some side shelfs for the externals to fit on, for this i used some 8mm plywood and 2 steel brackets, i screwd the brackets to the wood 17" apart so they would line up with the holes on the rack, not wanting to use screws or bolts to attach the shelf to the racking as i didnt want any protruding metal bits going near the glass i used heavy grade cable ties to hold the shelf on 4 ties per shelf...

Next i have added small aquarium gravel to the tanks, ive not used gravel for ages but after using sand for all my tanks recently seeing the sand blown around the tank and settling in half of it due to the current and also removing sand by cleaning the tank ive gone back to using gravel..

Well this is the rack at the moment, the water is cloudy due to me using household ammonia to cycle the tanks it made the water cloudy when i added it, still to do is installing the Airpump, the top shelf lighting and moving the fish/caves and bogwood over but that will be a fair few weeks off yet.
The top to tanks will be run on Sponge Filters thats why they are empty at this time as the sponge filters are in the tanks im using at the moment, i also have a 37"x18"x18" tank to set up next to the rack as a grow on tank for young plecos.

Hope you liked i will add to the thread as i go on.

Rob

 

[scatz]

looking great so far Rob, well done
one concern though, is there any gap between the middle of the 2 tanks at all? i'd just be worried that the slight bit of give in the shelves will put pressure on the glass and possibly break it:cry:

 

[FF MkII]

very nice, smart and neat, just how i like it

 

[ccole]

Excellent log of the set up so far, look forward to seeing more .

 

[RobHarrison]

looking great so far Rob, well done
one concern though, is there any gap between the middle of the 2 tanks at all? i'd just be worried that the slight bit of give in the shelves will put pressure on the glass and possibly break it:cry:

Thanks Brian, will move the tanks slightly apart tomorrow to allow for give

And thanks for your comments so far people

 

[bigbird]

My dream, well done on that set up :clap: nearly died and went to heaven :lol:, my only concern is the cable ties you used to hold up the filter. Eventually these dry out and the shelf might fall. cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[RobHarrison]

My dream, well done on that set up :clap: nearly died and went to heaven :lol:, my only concern is the cable ties you used to hold up the filter. Eventually these dry out and the shelf might fall. cheers jk :thumbup:

Thanks the Cable ties are very strong and up to the job we use them at work on gigs to hang banners they gt subjected to the eliments on festivals etc a shelf should be no problem but i will check them and replace if needed in the long term.

 

[bigbird]

ok and what Ls will you house in these ? or are there other plans ?

 

[BBruce]

Good job, nice rack!

 

[RobHarrison]

ok and what Ls will you house in these ? or are there other plans ?

Im not adding anymore fish im meerly setting up a new home for what i keep already, so L wise it will be L46, L66, L134, L144, L260, L309, L199 plus Corydoras Sp ill be having more than the six tanks shown i will be running 8 tanks in total, the tanks i use at the min are all odd sizes so a rack with all universal sizes and filters was what i was aiming for.

 

[bigbird]

ok cant wait for photos when all are in and settled cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Jamie24]

Looking good, only problem is the heater rite next to the tanks, hope its always turned off?

Other than that good job, and look forward to pics once fish all in and settled!

:thumbup:





J

 

[mikebren12]

Looks fantastic mate, :clap::clap::clap:

One only most of us will only dream about.

Mike

 

[AndyEllard]

Nice looking set up:thumbup:

The other thing I might be concerned about is the shelves look like chipboard, :dk: I know you have polystyrene sheets down but if you had a leak you could get a bit of a problem.

When I was looking for shelving that was one thing that was pointed out to me. :yes:

 

[RobHarrison]

Looking good, only problem is the heater rite next to the tanks, hope its always turned off?

Other than that good job, and look forward to pics once fish all in and settled!

:thumbup:





J

Cheers Jamie, Yes the heater is switchd off, its only a small room in the house just enough room for the fish and thats about it

 

[RobHarrison]

Nice looking set up:thumbup:

The other thing I might be concerned about is the shelves look like chipboard, :dk: I know you have polystyrene sheets down but if you had a leak you could get a bit of a problem.

When I was looking for shelving that was one thing that was pointed out to me. :yes:

Thanks, Yes the Chipboard shelfs arnt best the way they are i have taped them up with white gaffer so water wont sit on the boards and also the polystyreene on top of that too, i will just have to be careful not to spill much water and if so have a towel nearby which i do always when doing waterchanges, the boards are what ill be watching the most but should be fine for quite some time, i know people who use the same method with no issues

Cheers
Rob

 

[BENNO]

Looking good mate =]

 

[RobHarrison]

Well it took around 7-8 weeks to get the filters matured using the household ammonia, roughly 4-5 weeks for the ammonia to go and then a further few weeks for the Nitrite to go.

I have been moving fish over for the past 2 weeks signs were lookinh good withing 24hrs of moving the L144 and LG6 Whiptails spawnd hopefully the rest will follow suit, i have also now set up a HMA filter and do my daily water changes with that it has made doing water changes much much much less hassle than running back and forth with buckets of water it is now a breeze to do the tanks all be it a bit slow but means i can sit down and watch the fish as i top them up.

The only thing i need to do now is add bogwood to the tanks which im currently soaking at the moment, sort some form of lighting for the top 2 tanks and move my 37x18x20 tank over and have that sat next to the rack as my grow on tank, all being well i am quite pleased with it all and it is all working in good order a few photos to show its status at the moment water is a little cloudy as i took the photos just after a water change and gravel clean.

 

[bigbird]

wow looks like you have done everything right. Congrats on the breeding success or eggs so far. Hope the rest of the move works as well as these ones. more photos later. cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Brengun]

Very neat setup. Well done.