Malloy Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 (edited) EDIT - the tank is not exactly DIY now, see post #3. Hi everyone - I've seen quite a few threads and worklogs for people building DIY barracks but I've got a few questions of my own that will most probably lead into my own worklog. This is roughly what I'm currently planning to build: Display tank for male bettas 4 foot long tank, 20cm deep and 25cm high with 5 dividers 6 compartments of 20cm length, 5 for bettas and 1 for filtering Compartments will probably gravity feed water into last compartment then be pumped into back tank after filtering A rear "tank" 4' long but only a few cm's deep that runs the length of the tank and feeds filtered (+heated) water back into betta compartments (would also help add to total water volume) The main questions I have at this point: What is the best location to have water entering and leaving the compartments? If I trickle water in thru the top will it mess up the bubblenests? Do the fish care about the nests that much? I'd like to have water coming in thru the bottom of the tank an then spilling over a weir of some sort, but I'd have to stop the fish jumping out of the tank. Again, will a weir stuff up the bubblenests? Edited June 7, 2009 by Malloy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I don't think it's that big a deal if they can build a bubblenest or not. However with surface area of 20 x 20cm, I reckon that there will be spots that have sufficiently slow water movement to allow for bubblenests. Planting out the compartments will slow the water movement further and also assist with maintaining water quality. If you do a drawing of your design I'm sure people here will be delighted to make suggestions. Check out Google SketchUp, free modelling software which is great for doing up barracks designs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malloy Posted June 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 (edited) OK - my DIY tank has been kickstarted by chance - I was browsing through a fish shop that I hadn't been to for a few months, and found a nice Betta display tank sitting on the floor with "$250 ono" on it. It had a custom stand for another $80. I went home and thought about, then went back the next day, realised how much dust was on it and offered him $150 for the lot - he took it. I've been looking around at doing something similar myself and this was far far cheaper. It's 4' long, 14 compartments each about 10L. There's no channels or holes between the tanks so I'm looking at grinding down a small notch in the top of each divider. Then I'll use one of the back compartments as a "nano sump" and just pump water into the first compartment and let it run through all of 'em. The main drawback with that is spreading disease, but with the right care I should be able to keep sick fish to a minimum. When I win Lotto I'll get a UV steriliser. I'm looking around for a decent cover before they start jumping out, and I'll be adding gravel (black?) and backings etc. They are now carded as well so they don't go too nuts. Edited June 7, 2009 by Malloy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malloy Posted June 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 Also some of my residents (all grown up from the thread on here of me breeding bettas for my wedding.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergus Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 I am loving that first guy! and the second.. third... well they are all lovely LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 Ahh... so the parents were both carrying the non-red gene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 :alright: What a steel! That is a great find, I'd have given the diy a miss as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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