Plumbing a fish "bookself"

Q&A about aquarium maintenance

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Michael Skidmore
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Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:44 pm
Location: Alameda, CA
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Plumbing a fish "bookself"

Post by Michael Skidmore »

Hi, I've seen several talks on setting up fish "rooms" but would like some pointers on setting up a bookshelf with small (10-20 gal) tanks on each shelf of a regular metro rack.

If anyone has some websites links they can point me to I would appreciate it. A google search turned up lots of rooms, all of which are way over my needs.

My interest is to get semi-automatic water changing of all tanks daily for breeding corys to be able to ampify the trios I have and then stock the offspring in my community discus tank. I don't have enough space to set up a fish room, but can put water storage tanks in my attic or outside if needed. My concern is that with each tank on a different level, that most of the designs I have seen described are way over my simple needs, but I need to account for the increased head pressure (elevation) of each tank, and a single return system would over fill the bottom most tanks .

Ideally I would like to spray the return water on top of the surface (like rainwater) instead of return via an overflow system.

Thanks in advance.
Skids
Pam Chin
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Post by Pam Chin »

Hey Skid,

There are many different ways to go, and so it is going to depend on which you are going to be most comfortable with. For only a few tanks, under 12 or so, let say. I would think keeping them as individual tanks is going to be just as easy as tying them all together.

On small set ups, where you can use sponge or box filtration and use a central air pump would seem most logical to me. You can find piston or linear air pumps that would easily provide enough air for this type of set up.

So there is no right or wrong way, it is going to boil down to what is going to work best for you. Finding good points from different systems and then applying them to your application.
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