# New tank rack and my planted tank.



## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

well I finished a new rack as of yesterday and transferred some of my tanks to it.
and I figured it would be about time to add some photos of what i am doing hehe.
the rack is designed to hold 3 10s per level and 2 20s on the floor between the verticals perfectly.
the entire rack once completely setup will be driven by the ecoplus commercial 1 that I bought from kensfish.com in a group order along with hydor #2 sponge filters rated for 20g.
still working on finding a nice hanging pendant for holding 150w equiv CFLs above each tank.
anyways here is the rack. the white arrow is showing where my ecoplus pump is located, I need to find a better mounting location yet for it.









my Locale-otapa swordtail pair minus the female that jumped, there is 6 juvies along with those 2.








and there 20g currently on a dresser till I move it to the floor so that I can get a 33g in its spot.








and some photos of my favorite little american flagfish and there tank which I need to clean now that its in a more workable location haha.
they love to hide when the camera is nearby...








prior to the move to the rack.








and post moves.
























the flagfish tank is 10g with a trio 1m/2f. plants are anubias nana, corkscrew val, riccia, miniature leaf java fern, duckweed. oh and a crap ton of pesky snails I need to get rid of  . Some vals are floating others planted testing to see which sends runners off the fastest.
the tank has 2x 23w 6500k 100w equiv CFLs screwed into the canopy. not currently dosing any ferts or co2. gravel is standard flourite. Which I must add is a PITA to rinse my goodness.
looking to order some dry ferts and start a diy co2 on it as the current plant growth is amazing, 1-2 new leaves on the nana every week, the vals are shooting off runners like mad, and well riccia/duckweed we all know how that goes -_-. I have halved that stuff twice now and its still blocking to much light.
researching into doing a pressurized unit to run a couple tanks as I have co2 tanks back home for carbonating pop.
the other tank on the top shelf has about 15ish random sized endlers that i am currently breeding. and the 2nd shelves tank has a nice pair of green swordtails and 2 platinum silver molly juvies.
just waiting on the rest of my tanks from back home to show up so I can get it filled finally.
also not shown is a 10g in a roomates room currently holding 6 Xiphophorus alvarezi fry at 1/2".


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

you call that a tank rack......that ain't no tank rack.(sound familiar)

now this is a tank rack...........lol

















nice job nate..beautiful plants and fishes..
i am thinking of doing 1 of my 125's as a planted tank.i have 400 pounds of BBB (baylees better bottom)..i will be building my own light fixture with 3 4 ft and 3 2 ft T5 HO tubes..might use ferts;not sure yet..but no co2..


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

you know that when you get your own home ;you are going to just as sick as me...


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## daniel89 (Nov 28, 2009)

not a bad job nate :O


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

lohachata said:


> you know that when you get your own home ;you are going to just as sick as me...


thats the worst part about it is I have been thinking about that lately with getting a better job haha. figure should start putting aside a bit of money for later.
and then I was thinking about how much it would cost to build an external building with an attached walkway from the house that would hold all my tanks.
you could overbuild it and insulate it to the max and use a space heater to keep the tanks all the same temp with minimal loss to the lack of insulation. and then install a high end dehumidifier along with floor drains and tap systems, quite possibly a fully automated water change system.
it would limit any cold water species but then again what is the houses basement for anyways 

I AM SO SCREWED -_-


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

ROFLMAO..........yes you are...


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Dont feel bad guppy I have had the same thoughts and have planned it out too. You would want no windows because the windows will give you air leakage. You would want a solid door, or a very insulated door. You can get those electric heaters that go where the floor and wall meet. You can set up a plumbing system to each tank with a faucet above each to make water changes easy. You take an old water heater or two and dont give it any sort of heat source (and take off insulation it has wrapped around it), but put it in the same room with the fish. That way you have water at the same temp as the fish ready to be put into the tanks. You could even set up large carbon filters to remove the chlorine. 

When you have it all set up, make a path to the front sidewalk and charge $2 for people to walk through and look at your fish. Its like a mini public aquarium.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Sky lights. Natural light for you and the plants.


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

this is what a house should be built like.. http://www.tedsfishroom.com/wp/visits/fishroom-tours/rusty-wessels-fish-house

I personally wouldn't use windows along the sides like that in my temperature range but skylights would make sense or better yet sun tubes for any tanks someone wanted as planted.


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## pinetree (Nov 29, 2009)

Wow that house is cool and I like the idea of skylights for natural light.

I love your flag fish. I wish I could find some!


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