this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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Aquariums and Fish Keeping

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's gorgeous! I love the plants growing out the top.

Sorry for my ignorance, but what are all of the terra cotta colored pipe like things toward the back?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Thanks! Those are sewage pipes that I have made into filters. Half of them are intakes filled with sponges for mechanical filtration that then pur the water into the remaining pipes that are filled with bio filter media (ceramic rings) for biological filtration (breaking ammonia down to nitrite and nitrite down to nitrate). Works really well bit is too messy to clean. Must evolve this in future designs for easier maintainance.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah! That's really cool. They blend right in and make a nice background, so superior to most factory filter systems in that respect. Even many of the factory filter systems are really hard to clean.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

My issue is that whenever I take them out to be cleaned, the water flushes backwards and releases too much debris. I can put a bucket in and lift it out, but it gets really heave and awkward to work with

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Ah! That's really cool. They blend right in and make a nice background, so superior to most factory filter systems in that respect. Even many of the factory filter systems are really hard to clean.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's beautiful. I had a 20 gallon setup for a while but my water is too hard and I got tired of battling with it. Yours looks amazing though.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

My water is basically liquid rock. Very few plants make it and PH is above 8. In my experience it's better to go with it and adjust to what you can keep in it, rather than try to change the parameters. Rough plants, goldfish or some African chiclids work really well with hard wster

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Looks like some huge, happy and healthy fish in there!

Awesome setup :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks! The fish are still mostly pretty small. Some of them are rescues that I don't expect will grow much. But they do seem happy!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wow that is gorgeous tank 😍

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago