divy Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 hi all, im considering a new tank set-up something like the glass tanks that ive seen that are divided/barracks and have a filter in them and one heater that the water flows threw all the sections if you have one of these tanks can you please show me your pics or give me a link to see it because my net is pretty slow at the moment and it will take me too long to do a big search also any info on these tanks would be great and if you know any sites or anyone that makes glass fish tanks in melbourne can you please tell me and ill make or if i can get some one to make a a nice cabnet for it cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brettc777 Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Here is mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 And this is the one that Kitz has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Forgot to say that I think TVS Aquatics also make some betta barracks. I think I saw an ad in one of the Australian fish mags. Don't know how much they are. If you find out let us know. It would save you the trouble the hassle of making it yourself, unless that's your thing. TVS Aquatics Shop 1 / 1182 Burwood Hwy, Ferntree Gully - Phone:(03) 9756 0209 If you got to their shop let us know what it's like. I haven't been there. Ferntree Gully is a bit of a hike for me. Maybe if there are a few Melbournians interested we could organise an LFS crawl and include them as one of the stops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divy Posted January 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 thanks for that guys, after looking at them i came up with this idea as you can see in the pics the back piece of glass dosnt go all the way to the sides so the back water can flow to the front and the dividers at the front dont go all the way to the back to let the ater flow threw all the tanks the pic shows three tanks but im not sure how many i want but it will be around 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 I don't think an air-driven filter will produce sufficient water flow. You'll get stagnant areas and cold spots in the compartments. I think you need some kind of powerhead or power filter. And then direct the output from the power filter into each compartment using sprinkler system fittings. The water doesn't have to flow from one compartment to other compartments. It just has to flow from the compartment to the filter at the back and return to the compartment. With your design I would have all the dividers going completely to the edges. If you're intending on keeping the tank bare then raise the back divider by a few millimeters so water can flow out. Drill one or two holes near the top of the back divider for each compartment and this is where your power filter output needs to come through. So you've got a tube attached to the powerhead and from this tube you attach pieces of airline which feed water through those holes. So water comes in from above and goes back out to the filter section from below. If you want to plant out the compartments you can have gravel in there with plants, just drill some holes above the gravel line for water to flow out to the filter section. So in your filter compartment you'll have a heater, some kind of filter (air driven sponge filter is fine) and the powerhead returning water back to the compartments. Here is a picture of a powerhead with tube attached. You can also see where I've attached a piece of airline. This particular picture is from a different system to yours but the principles are the same. In my system, the airline goes into a beanie box. In yours it will go into one of the compartments. You can also see a real live working example at St Kilda Aquarium. Their betta tanks are setup in a similar way to what you're intending to do. Their system is much bigger, it's multi-tiered and uses a pond pump but the principles are the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divy Posted January 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 thanks for the info bettarazzi, after reading what you said i came up with this idea i think its what your saying yeah? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted January 24, 2008 Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 Exactly! If I was adept at drawing things as you are I could have saved myself a lot of typing. :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divy Posted January 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 lol ok so if you think thats ok then i know that i have a good design and will do it that way now that i know what i want it to be now im looking for prices and equipment so i know what it will cost me and i have more questions so i hope your ready for them LOL i want to have 6 barracks and each im thinking will be 15cm wide 20cm long and 25cm high (7.5litres each) and im not sure how big the powerhead filters are but the back will be 90cm wide 10cm depth an 25cm high total 67.5litres will a powerhead filter fit? are they less the 10cm wide? are the powerhead filters with the sponge enough to filter the water or do i need another sponge filter in there? which one should i use as in litres per hour,300,800,1200 more? does the spray bar and hoses that spray the water into the compartments have to be higher then the water level? how much watts should the heater be? and last question what do you think about the size of each compartment? which is 7.5 litres, i was going to go abit smaller to save some room in my room which is where the tank will be sorry again for all the questions but i just really need to know so i can get prices for every think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bren MacFish Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 I had a 4 ft long tank with six compartments and one sump in one end that pumped out via a spray bar. Sold it last year, tho. I still have just the 2ft tanks divided into 4 by the slide in dividers. I put a sponge filter in one of the center cells and a little heater at each end and they work fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divy Posted January 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 i like that 4foot one you sold if you still had it i probably would of bought it off you why did you decide to get rid of it? is there any flaws to look out for with this type of set up? oh also how does the water flow back into the pump? is there a gap under the dividers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 will a powerhead filter fit? are they less the 10cm wide? There are all sorts of powerheads, power filters and pumps. I'm sure you'll find one that fits. Just make sure it has a suitable nozzle to attach your tubing to. Some of them have square nozzles. Or the nozzle is set in such away that you can't attach a hose to it. are the powerhead filters with the sponge enough to filter the water or do i need another sponge filter in there? You need to check the instructions on the filter to see how much volume it's designed to filter. At 7.5 litres per betta, you're not particularly overstocked so your filter won't have to work all that hard. which one should i use as in litres per hour,300,800,1200 more? Not entirely sure but I would have thought that if the water in the system was turning over about 10 times per hour then that would be ample. does the spray bar and hoses that spray the water into the compartments have to be higher then the water level? Nope. how much watts should the heater be? About 1 watt per litre. what do you think about the size of each compartment? which is 7.5 litres, i was going to go abit smaller I would have thought that 5 liters per fish in a filtered system would be enough if you're still planning to do weekly partial water changes. But bigger is of course better. The old school of betta keeping suggested males be kept in an unfiltered gallon jar (3.7 ltrs). sorry again for all the questions Stop apologising! This is what the forum is for. I'm certainly interested in seeing how you resolve the design, equipment and aethetic issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
su888 Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Divy, Sorry about the delay been bit slack, but here is the imgs as requested. If they didn't have the tacky black/white frame i would of bought 4 of them. As you can see there is a side filteration, i'm actually thinking instead of putting a internal or sponge wack on a eheim 2211 it would work a treat and increase the water volume quite considerably. SU*888 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divy Posted January 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 thanks su888 they look good, ive asked a place that makes fish tanks to give me a quote on how much mine will be to make if its a really high price or they cant make it ill end up buy 2-3 of those ones thannks again bettarazzi for the answers they help alot the tank will be 67.5 litres so you said if it turns over about 10 times per hour that would be good so i would need a 700l/h something like this with a sponge filter yeah and ill get 100w heater since its almost 70litres so far im really excited about this tank im hoping that with a normal aquarium heater i will get a seady temp instead of the temp going up an down that my heating cord use to do and with a filter i wont have to do alot of water changes and my bettas will be healthy and happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bren MacFish Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 i like that 4foot one you sold if you still had it i probably would of bought it off you why did you decide to get rid of it? is there any flaws to look out for with this type of set up? oh also how does the water flow back into the pump? is there a gap under the dividers? It took about two months of advertising to sell it, if you'd been around you'd have seen it. I set up a natural planted tank and liked the idea of no regular water changes or maintenance (spoiled by NPT) and I just ran out of time to maintain a tank that couldn't be planted out. The water flowed back under the dividers through the gravel, occasionally a fish wiggled through to attack its brother. One of the problems was the noise of the trickling water, and then if it was too full, the bettas often jumped through the gap at the top to attack their brothers. I was able to get it down to twice monthly water changes with lots of plants in jars and duckweed etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 That filter looks like it might work. You might have to modify the holes in the spray bar a bit. Or replace it with another tube. If it's possible you should find out how tall it is to make sure it will fit in your tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divy Posted January 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 oh yeah i forgot to say that i will change the spray bar with a long piece of tube and then have smaller tubes connected to it that pops into the front tanks i plan on putting gravel and some java fern or something in each so that will be ok yeah? i plan to have the water flow tubes that come from thw powerhead and into the tanks under the water level so the sound of trickling water doesnt annoy me at night and make me wet the the bed LOL how loud are these powerhead filters? how would you compare them to a air pump? and can you get silent ones that make no noise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bren MacFish Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 If it is completely underwater it is much quieter than an air pump. You may only need a 600 lphr... they always seem to be overrecommend on the packaging. However if anyone wants a 1200lphr with spray bar, I have one that I've used for all of 3 minutes going cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divy Posted January 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 oh also im not sure if i want the dividers to be clear glass or blue perspex, i would rather them glass because this tank will be in my room and with glass if i look at it from an angle i will still be able to see them clearly but with the coloured perspex it will block my view of them since there pretty big (7.5litres) will it be ok if there glass or will this stress them too much i know some people say if there siblins its ok but some will be some wont its not a big thing for them to be glass but i thought id asked what you all would do glass or coloured perspex so they cant see each other Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Can you make it so it's easily changeable if you change your mind? Maybe you could try it clear for a while to see how they fare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 I prefer to let them see each other, all mine seem quite happy, but if you want to card them but still have the option to uncard them (for photos, general health and wellbeing, exercising fins, etc) head over to K-Mart or Big W and buy some of those coloured plastic folder dividers, you can cut them to size and they are cheap as (like 12 for $3) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Yeah, I agree. If I had to permanently fix the dividers it would be better if they were clear and you can add cards when you need to. But if they were opaque you can't do anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bren MacFish Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 I never carded mine, but each had a plant in a jar and if they had enough of the fish on the other side of the glass they went and sat behind the plant and sulked about how awful the neighbours were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anasfire Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Just keep in mind also that with a tank that shares water throughout the compartments it is also brilliant at spreading disease and FAST! We lost all 7 of our fish in the space of 3 days from an undiagnosed case of fin rot. By the time we got him out all the rest got it too. If you ask me it is hell of a lot safer to just have one with completely enclosed chambers and as long as the water volume is large enough you'd only need to do a partial water change once a week and a full clean out once a month (also gravel vac weekly)..IMHO it's worth the little extra work for peace of mind. Also in my humblest of opinions only lazy people insist on having filters, (looks at misfit) I mean come on...we all know that these fish don't need them...or even like the current they produce...if you aren't willing to do the water changes required with or without the filter you shouldn't be keeping bettas as far as I'm concerned.... *Steps off soap box* Have a good one all. PS Divy...if you click the link down below my name it will take you to out home page where you can see photo's of out barracks that Misfit made. go to 4 sale...it's exactly what you have in mind...space for heater and filters down back..8 chambers all share water for even distribution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divy Posted January 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 the only thing i dont like about the inclosed barracks is heating them cause i would have to buy as many heaters as there is compartments but with the barracks that share water you only need one heater Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.