RE: [RML] Fish rooms, pump sizing, flow thru system

Julie Zeppieri (bowluvr at hotmail.com)
Sun, 26 Jun 2005 08:35:42 -0700

I don't personally have one of these systems (unfortunately) but have worked
in enough shops and such (and have enough friends with various types of
systems) to say that if you can design one such that no tanks ever share any
wayter you will be much better off than with a system where tanks share
water. This is a precaution against the spread of disease, which, face it,
we all encounter once in awhile. If the tanks share a common drain but are
filled separately with no mixing of water between them then you much less
likely to have an epidemic if fish in one tank sicken or a new animal
carries something in with it.

Yes, it does mean you will need to individually clean the filters in each
tank, and perhaps do a manual larger water change on a tank once in awhile
but, it also means if you bring a new fish into the room (and system) you
can more easily protect all your other fishes from anything it may bring in.

I have experienced too many systems where tanks share a common filtration
system and for me it is way too much risk.

Just my 2-cents. I guess it will all come down to how much risk you feel you
face and how much work you want to automate. :-)

Julie <'><

>From: <finsen at optusnet.com.au>
>Reply-To: r_m_l at yahoogroups.com
>To: <r_m_l at yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: [RML] Fish rooms, pump sizing, flow thru system
>Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2005 22:10:40 +1000
>
>Hi All,
>
>I am interested in drilling my aquariums and installing plumbing for either
>a flow through system with automatic water changing, or a single room
>filter. I was wondering if any RMLers have any experience they can share
>with me.
>
>Basically I have two fish rooms. One is a breeding room with bare tanks,
>the second leading off from the breeding room is a plant room with lighting
>and (logically) plants. The reasoning for the separation is due to snails
>in my planted tanks.
>
>My main questions are:
>How do you size a pump for the fish room combined filter? I am finding
>rather conflicting information out there about how to effectively size
>water head to determine pump size.
>What problems have people encountered?
>Is there an advantage to submersible over non-submersible?
>Is a common filtration system better/worse/same as having a flow through?
>
>I have found a couple of sites that have given me inspiration, here is one,
>www.anglesonly.com, look under breeding room. Also a neat automatic water
>changing system can be found at
>http://cichlid-forum.com/aricles/diy_auto_water_changes.php
>
>At the end of the day I ultimately would like a system that does away with
>the drudgery of water changes, hence the interest in a flow through system.
> But at the same time, if one is going to engage in the plumbing exercise
>for this, one may as well investigate a combined filtration system.
>
>Given the recent amount of info about carbon and chloramine (here in
>Brisbane/Ipswich our water is chloraminated), a system with inline carbon
>filters could be a possibility??
>
>Anyway, if anybody has any suggestions and/or comments and (importantly)
>pit-falls to avoid, I would be most appreciative of any advice.
>
>Regards
>Graeme