Pegasus

WOW..... Here come the tech boys and I only said that a Sari will apparently filter out.............................. Geez.... Wonder what the Indian ladies would think of all this. We have a great scope of members on this site.... that's for sure Now about this bacteria..... I think that....... he he. Great posts everyone, thanks for the input.

Interfecus said: Nothing wrong with the type I use.... and they make a great algae remover if the Pleco's miss a bit :)

Thanks John. Must admit, with the popularity here, some posts are getting hard to follow if you don't read back a few posts or so :)

Great to see you here Annie. There's a few of the regulars from across the ditch here. Just like your home site, there's lots to view with lots of great friendly members. Look forward to your posts Bill (Pegasus)

Dianna said: I said this on another forum, and am happy to say it again here John, Mmmm... Don't most car batteries contain water ? Happy Days Bill (Pegasus)

Hi all, If the original post was read, it would be seen that the reason for using the HWC was because it was surplus to requirements, and would not be heating the room, but just a double run of pipes beneath my tanks. The actual water usage would be nil, as the water is just circulated, and in my particular cylinder (which is marked off from 50F to 180F) the settings could be adjusted to suit my needs. Because the water would be not much more than 90F, a smaller container could be used, which I may do. The small circulating pump would push the heated water through the pipes only if the temp dropped below a certain point, and although it may seem like overkill, the cylinder would hardly be on. Looking at my situation (if EVER I get around to setting all my tanks up) the 1500watts would be far less power usage than say 40 tanks with 100 or 150watt heaters On a further note, the post was asking for comments, and was really not intended to adopt this method....... until it was proven to work of course. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi John, Never seen any of this Hamburgers work, so I can't make comment, but the idea above is very simple, and with the right length plastic boxes (or a few bonded together) it could be made in around half an hour, at a cost of around six bucks..... without the diploma of course I only offer simple ideas to the forums that everyone can tackle, but I have thousands of ideas at home that you would need a diploma to understand. I will make a drawing up and post it soon. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Dianna, The "black" piping could be made of Butyl, which uses compression fittings as against the ones for the black alkathene pipe. Butyl piping is usually grey, not black, and the black pipes that your plumber used would not be of alkathene. Ira... You are quite correct. Look inside all solar panels... Black. Two water filled pipes laid in the hot sun, one white, one black. The black one would become too hot to touch in a short while, but the white one would remain relativly cool. I shall be using "Black" pipe in my project.

Static electricity is a powerful thing. Just off the subject slightly, but it's time for a laugh. Some years back I was doing some consultancy work for a curtain manufacturer. The woman on one of the machines was complaining of shocks, so I removed my tie and jacket, slipped on an overall (nylon) and checked the unit out, and even ran it for a while. I couldn't find anything wrong, but stood by the rear of the machine watching the curtaining flow off the back. I reached out to examine the stitch on the machine and grabbed the curtain. ZAP..... I was thrown a good twenty feet across the room and finished up red faced sat on my rear among a pile of squashed cartons. We ran an earth strap from the fabric to ground in the finish.... no more probs. Powerful stuff alright..... now if only we could harness it :) Comb or brush your hair and the comb or brush will pick up bits of paper.

Cool is the word :) You gotta admit.... It's pretty "cool" seeing those eggs in the bottom of the tank, and pretty "cool" when you see the fry swimming around. Never fails to excite me.... and I've bred a lotta fish over the years. Plants it is then.... or perhaps a nice breeding pair of........ (who knows)

Good one people... interesting feedback. Many thanks to all. Don't wonder WE are confused... the PTB (Powers to be) don't REALLY understand it either.

Thoughts About Filtration..... #2 Been kicking a lot of thoughts around, and here are some more. A filter relies on the amount of water passing through it, and the greater the surface area, the more efficiant the filter becomes, over time that is. There are hundreds of designs for filters, both fully submersed, and open types like the hang on the back type. The internal box filter has its uses, but invariably these tyes of filter have a low medium capacity, and the actual surface area in often not more than a few square inches, and they take up tank space and look very unsightly at the best of times. The internal box filter is just one of the types I am concerned with, for when it comes to cleaning time they are messy and smelly, with bits of carbon falling everywhere, or in some of my situations gravel, as I find it works pretty good at storing the bacteria. Imagine the box filter, but it is no longer a clumsy triangular or square shape, but a long rectangular box that is the full length of the tank, and around 50mm thick and 100mm deep. This rectangular box has two sections, the front area, which is the depth by the length, by three quarters of the thickness. The three quarters portion will hold the medium, while the remaining quarter will be clear, with only clean water passing through it. The two sections would be seperated by a perforated plate. Now consider this rectangular box laid flat on a table. The box would have a snap shut lid which is fully perforated, and the filter medium could be packed into the deep portion of the box. With the lid open a filter matt could be placed in so that it covers the perforated plate. This "matt" could be of the same material as the green scouring pads that could be bought from any supermarket, or it can be bought in big sheets from industrial cleaning supply companies, or it could be just a simple sponge that fits neatly inside. If just the scouring pads are used, carbon or whatever could be added next, followed by another layer of scouring pad or filter wool. The lid is then snapped shut. At each end of this box is a tube fitting that will enable either an uplift tube to go onto it, or a flexible tube from a powerhead. These fittings extend from the rear portion of the box only, that is the clear quarter portion. The box is fitted into the tank with the narrow edge down and the perforated lid facing forward. Imagine now that we have the tubes connected, and we are sucking from both ends of the filer box. The water is drawn in through the perforated lid, through the filter medium, and into the unrestricted quarter portion of the box where the clean water is forced out and up to the surface via the tubes. A month... two months... or six months down the track and the filter needs cleaning. No mess, just lift the unit out, open the lid, rinse off and replace... a two minute job. The benefit here with a filter of this type, is that it would have multiple times the capacity of a standard box filter, and would remain almost unseen sitting at the rear base of the tank. One of 24 inch long would give a filter area of 96 square inches. Semi clear green plastic boxes can be purchased for a few dollars, and with a little alteration could become a very efficiant filter, but the ideal way would be to make the unit from thin rigid plastic to suit the size of tank. Thin plastic sheet can be obtained from model and craft shops, and even some stationers carry a varied supply. A similar type of unit could be slipped under the gravel, or partially buried at the rear of the tank. With a bit of thought, these rectangular boxes could be made in various sizes so that they can be snapped together to extend to fit any size of tank. Questions... Opinions... Improvements... All Welcome. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Ha ha.... One thing is for certain, and that is that you will never get rich breeding fish unless you go into it in a big way, or breed top quality hard to breed strains. You've got to look at it this way.... Any money you make will assist in paying for the food, or helping with the power bills, and every fish you breed is a personal acheivement that you should be proud of.... even if it were just common guppies. Most shops are fair with what the pay you, and if the fish are of good standard and healthy, then you will have no probs getting rid of your surplus fish. Other shops prefer to take your fish in trade against goods, but either way, you will gain some benefit from your efforts. You watch half a dozen guppies get swallowed, by your bigger fish.... an expensive meal, but at the time it seems insignificant, but those six fish could be worth twelve bucks, or a lot more depending on quality.... the price of a couple of tubs of food. Money in the bank if you do it right..... not a lot... but still money Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

As we hang here dangling in suspense awaiting the next instalment, all I can say is, "as a tank builder myself I am looking forward to seeing your project." Great to have you here Frank. Our last "BIG TANK" posts were from Warren.... (see this section) All my efforts were all glass, with 5 and 6 footers being the biggest, plus a 4x4x4 out of wood, so you may inspire a few of us quite soon. Keep on posting.... we can never get enough DIY Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

If the adults are out of the way, then top the tank up.... no probs Remove the fungused eggs using a piece of air tubing. Just block the end off, drop the other end in the tank, release the blocked end, then seal again. The fungused egg will be sucked up. A two foot should provide enough space for the whole batch. Grow as many on as you can, as the LFS shops will always buy them as they are one of the "bread and butter" lines, meaning they sell a lot of them. Great stuff Kriber...... What's next on the books

Real interesting Dianna.... So I wasn't going potty after all.... I must remember to cancel my appointment with my psychologist, if I could only remember where his office is. Mmmm... perhaps I could use the phone once I've read all the new posts.

Hi Kriber, Most egg layer fry will survive for a while on their egg sac... usually a day or so. The Daphnia and Cylops will be too big for the fry, but green water is always good as it will contain some infusuria, and the liquid fry food in the tubes is a good substitute. If you are careful (not to polute the water) a hard boiled egg yolk is ok to feed. Just mush a very small bit up very finely and swish it in the tank to create a milky feed. Only use a VERY small amount. The suction from a powerhead, or a good pump may be strong enough to "lift" the marbles out individually without too much disturbance. Keep us informed

Read the BOLD print above Ira. It was just a news item that I was passing on to others.

No excuses he he. You could extend the rim using acrylic, or a good strong plastic strip Amazing what you can do with acrylic and a hot wire... or the oven grill if the missus is out Someone has just got me thinking about an automatic baby brine shrimp feeder..... mmmm.... wonder who that was

Maybe I got it wrong Ira... I've been doing some real late nights/mornings lately.

Hi Dianna,... you said : Plumbers would only use the black piping (Alkathene) for low pressure "cold" water syatems, and would never connect them directly to the HW cylinder... even for the cold side. However, on saying that, it was my intention to use the black alkathene piping for the multiple tank heating idea, mainly because the heat factor would be very low, and the heat tranfer would be more than adequate... plus of course the cost of copper pipe is more than I would like to pay . The piping could be routed through the tanks via bends, elbow, tee, etc, but these fittings are not cheap, so laying the pipes in sand seemed like a good option, despite the fact that I have hundreds of metres and heaps of fittings laying around the farm. In the HWCyl they are seperate items. This was my main reason for opting for this method in preference to heating the fishroom. I haven't even had time to set a trial run of this design up yet, but all the materials are there in the fishroom just waiting for some action AS another post I made mentioned... (might be above this somewhere) but I read a book recently on underfloor heating which went into great detail about tranferance of heat, and next to concrete, which was rated very high, sand seemed a good option. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

The difference here of course.... according to the report... was that the results were instant, unlike the filter wool that takes time to become established to be effective.

HI all... another news item. Saw a news article the other day regarding polution in water... namely the drinking water that some people in India have to use in their everyday lives. The bacteria levels in this water were very high, which was a great concern to everyone as it was a major cause of dysentery among other things. The powers to be had tried various means to bring the waters from the local rivers up to a suitable standard, but of course this technology was not available to all that were affected, which amounts to many millions. The people themselves came up with the answer by filtering the water through silk.... namely in the form of their "Sari's" which the women (who are made to collect the water) wore as their everyday normal dress. It was found that the polution and harmful bacteria was reduced by over 50% using this method, and the after effects of illness were also reduced. Nothing technical was involved, they just poured the water from their containers straight into another container via the silk Sari filter, that was only one or two layers thick. Perhaps we should be looking down another "avenue" for the best methods of filtering our water for our fishy mates Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

He he.... Watch out for any soap residue... give it a REAL good wash in clean warm water ... either way. Let's know the results

How's that Dianna.... It's called "Moderator Magic" Just highlight the text you want to quote, then click on "Quote" at the head of the submitting box. The Plasics Shop (over here) seem to have a range of 30ltr bins pretty cheap, but it seems an expensive way to go, as you said. You could of course add a 40mm rim made out of glass to the top of your tank There would be little pressure at this point, as the original tank would remain intact. Regards, BIll (Pegasus)