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Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 15 Aug 2019, 18:08
by Viktor Jarikov
Yeah, nothing beats a properly wired stand by generator. I need to save toward one, so I could travel with ease, let it be a 30 min errand, or a week long trip. The estimates on mine are rough though. By code we need a generator that would match the main breaker amperage, which in our case is 400 amps on one house and 200 on the other. So if done by code, we'd need a 55,000 watt on the one house and perhaps get away with a 22,000 watt on the other and these are around $40,000 and $15,000, respectively, installed.

Even if not up to code and installed by a more friendly electrician or self, the smallest standby generator in our area, the 22,000 watt, would cost around $10,000, so roughly $20,000 for the two (we use the circuitry from both houses to run our fish rooms, each house has its own supply and meter, so I presume we would need two standby's). Ain't got that $$ either.

As for our 7000 running watts and 11,500 starting watts generator we used after the hurricane, its gasoline tank is roughly 7-8 gallons and we ran 11 pumps off it, each pump 360 watt and 5000 GPH. As stated, the generator would spend 5 gal of gasoline every 6 hours. So that was approximately half of the max load. There were other minor things we ran off the generator - lights, fridge, freezers, fans.

After the hurricane I was scared straight and bought another gasoline generator, 12,000 running watts. In part, because I couldn't run the continuous water change on our fish tanks during the 9 day outage, nor supply the house with water. We make our own water, well + RO, it's power-costly.

Each generator cost $1000.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 15 Aug 2019, 19:25
by MarcW
Wow Viktor, those generators to meet code sound huge, and extremely costly!

My little one was under £200, ~$230, it'll just run the fish room and maybe a fridge freezer too.

We don't get extreme weather (although we are seeing more frequent hot spells in summer), so I'm not concerned about running anything in the rest of the house, just keeping the fish alive!

This is a very unusual situation for us, the power company are still running our street from a large generator. Apart from the 4 hour outage mentioned previously in this thread I don't remember ever having a power outage of more than 30 to 60 minutes before. I've lived within a couple miles of my current house for my whole life.

Although having said that I bet the infrastructure hasn't changed in that amount of time, and there are a lot more houses around here now.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 15 Aug 2019, 21:22
by MarcW
The rain water system is starting to pay off. I got 250 litres of rainwater into my IBC, mixed with RO and HMA filtered tap water earlier.

I'm re-routing some of the guttering to collect rain from a much larger roof area to improve collection rates.

Despite having mesh/foam before the water enters the container, I passed it through a 7 inch 100micron sump sock before putting it in the IBC.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 16 Aug 2019, 23:39
by kvnbyl
the theoretical standard of service here is 1 -10 minute outage every 10 years, what a joke
at least in Cambridge we would get a flyer detailing scheduled outages, that's not happening here

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 24 Aug 2019, 12:18
by MarcW
I've started off a daphnia colony in a spare tank next to my sump, hopefully I'll be able to maintain enough numbers to feed them once a week or so.

There is also some java moss in there I'm hoping to grow and use as a spawning medium in the tanks with Corys and tetras. After my success with the kogal tetras, I have now seen 4 young, hopefully moss will help me spawn other species.

I'm feeding the daphnia with yeast and spirulina powder.
IMG_20190824_121330.jpg

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 24 Aug 2019, 15:57
by Lycosid
MarcW wrote: 24 Aug 2019, 12:18 I've started off a daphnia colony in a spare tank next to my sump, hopefully I'll be able to maintain enough numbers to feed them once a week or so.
I've managed to keep Daphnia going for the last year, but I always have colony crashes. I've started splitting the colonies out, with a few 2-liter bottles as back-up colonies. I offset them, so I start them at different times and harvest the bottle cultures by dumping the entire bottle through a fine mesh net and starting it with new water, in the hopes that at least one culture will ramping up as the others crash. I've definitely needed it. Just last month I went from 10 colonies to 1 over a single weekend, and have only now gotten everything back up and running again to the point where I feel safe harvesting Daphnia to feed fish.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 24 Aug 2019, 16:12
by MarcW
Wow that's a lot of crashes! I have a couple really small tanks, 2.5 USG, so I might just stick one next to the larger tank with a handful of daphnia in as a precaution. Thanks for the tip!

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 25 Aug 2019, 00:31
by Lycosid
MarcW wrote: 24 Aug 2019, 16:12 Wow that's a lot of crashes! I have a couple really small tanks, 2.5 USG, so I might just stick one next to the larger tank with a handful of daphnia in as a precaution. Thanks for the tip!
I don't think I actually had nine separate crashes as the bottle that survived was also not very close to the other bottles (and was furthest from the window), but having small environmental variations crash nine thriving colonies was a solid warning. I'd also been a little careless about letting the colonies synchronize their boom-and-bust cycles.

I know everyone hates duckweed, but I've been in a lot of biology labs where people keep duckweed and Daphnia together for very long periods of time. Daphnia get tangled in plants with fine leaves or exposed root hairs, but I suspect the plants really help manage the nitrates. I keep meaning to set up a floating container that keeps duckweed in it so it doesn't get anywhere else but allows water to flow through.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 25 Aug 2019, 09:20
by MarcW
That's interesting, I put a couple small water lettuce in the tank, they have long fine roots, I'll keep an eye on things and maybe remove them if I see any issues.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 25 Aug 2019, 13:29
by dw1305
Hi all,
If you add some hay (or any dead dry grass) to your Daphnia colonies, and feed them less, it tends to control "boom and bust". I've stopped using yeast as well, and I also add a floating plant and a snail.

I got the hay idea from a post on Caudata.org (https://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=77665), and it definitely works.

I don't have a specific indoor culture set up at the moment, I don't have many fish and can harvest enough from the outside buckets and water butts, but when I set one up again I'm going to use very small amounts of spirulina powder, paprika and gram flour as the supplementary food.

Daphnia feed by particle size, so any particle of the right size in the water column will be ingested.

cheers Darrel

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 01 Sep 2019, 13:41
by MarcW
The first catfish spawn in the fish room happened this morning! :d

The are still at it, I noticed them looking ready to spawn this morning when feeding and they are still going after laying the first egg at about 10am (it's 1.30pm now). I got three fish as juveniles from the CSG convention in March this year, both fish involved with the spawning are 10cm SL.

I didn't do anything to trigger them, the only change recently is me mixing in more tap water with water changes after a pH crash a month or two ago.

The fertilisation of the eggs appears to be similar to Corys, the female shakes and stretches then the male positions above the female and directs the sperm apparently into the females mouth and eggs are laid 1-3 seconds after. This is repeated for every cluster of 3-6 eggs every 10-20 minutes.

There are over 40 eggs so far.



Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 01 Sep 2019, 15:44
by bekateen
Congratulations Marc on the spawn! Wonderful news for the "new" fishroom! :YMAPPLAUSE:

And those are great videos of the spawning.

Cheers, Eric

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 02 Sep 2019, 18:25
by TwoTankAmin
We have had a whole house backup generator since 2012. We have two buildings each of which has 100 amp max capacity. Out gennie is a Generac which can put out a bit less than 200amps.

It is our second machine as out first one had a major component fry the week before a blizzard was forecast. The part could not be made that quickly so we had no option but to replace it. The consideration for what capacity we would use was lower for the replacement than the one that we lost.

Bear in mind that your house will never use the maximum capacity of your circuits. Certain things will not run at the same time. For example, our heating and our air condition never run simultaneously. We never have 100% of the lights turned on at the same time. Further, one can exercise some control over what runs.

The point is, you can spend less because you actually need less than the potential max. capacity all your circuits would take if everything ran at the same time.

We have one more advantage. Our second building was added 10 years after the first. Things were built so all of the electricity enters the newer building where it then splits with 100 amps used in the first building and the second 100 amp passed on to the main house. This lets us use a single generator for both buildings.

We realized we needed a gennie because we were caring for mom who was in her 90s and had dementia and home health aides. She could not manage with a major power outage. At the same time I had started having big success with breeding zebra plecos and the value of my fish had come to exceed $20k.

If you live someplace where power outages are not uncommon, I can tell you the money you might spend for a gennie will rapidly prove worth every dollar. After installing our gennie we had a 13 day power outage in 2011 and again in 2012 from the hurricanes.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 03 Sep 2019, 21:09
by MarcW
The eggs are coming along well, the male has eaten 2 which went white, I've removed 3 fungused ones from the floating trap which contains the eggs that didn't stick to the glass. I can now see eyes, mouths and a spine inside the remaining ~40 eggs.

I need to be so careful in that tank though, the Entomocorus gameroi go crazy when I slide the glass lid back, opening the lid by about 3 inches to get the 3 fungused eggs out, one jumped into my hand, the same one then jumped back out and landed on the glass lid, then jumped out again but landed back in the water!

They were very relaxed after I first got them and in the past few months they have become very skittish!

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 05 Sep 2019, 14:49
by MarcW
The eggs appear to be developing well now, I lost 3 more to fungus in the floating trap, although it could have been that they weren't fertilised I suppose. The male has sorted out a few other bad eggs on the glass, but I have 25+ remaining.

Hopefully they will hatch in another 2-3 days, then I'll have to leave instructions on how to look after the young as I'm off to Cataclysm next week!


Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 10 Sep 2019, 21:20
by MarcW
The Sturisomatichthys eggs hatched on Friday, I've lost a few of them since hatching so I've now moved them into a tank with just a young L260, plenty of algae and some old oak leaves. Hopefully they'll find enough food in there while I'm away.

This morning I also found the first spawn of Ancistrus sp. L393 'Cheese Creek', these are F1 fish which I got from the CSG convention last year. The male seems to be doing a good job with the eggs so far, so I plan to leave him to it over the weekend.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 17 Dec 2019, 14:15
by MarcW
It's been a while since I've posted anything, not a lot has changed in the fish room, I've put the heater back in and insulated the skylight for the winter. Rainwater collection has been going well, I've not had to use my RO unit for a while now.

I attended a CSG meeting at Pier on the 8th December and took home two new and two male . The L020 had been there for at least several months I believe they came mixed in with some L354. I have three L020 already and they all appeared to be females, and have looked gravid for a couple months.

Today, just over a week after adding what I think are two males into the tank with what I think are the three females they have spawned! It is in a home made cave, the exact one which my L128 spawned in despite these L020 being much smaller in size.

I've attached a picture below, not great quality, as I was surprised to see it and didn't want to spook the male! As I haven't had much luck artificially raising eggs/fry in the past I'll leave the male to it for now.
L020 Spawn.jpg

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 17 Dec 2019, 16:45
by bekateen
Hi Marc,

A spawning that fast? Terrific! It's great to see things (things meaning fish) working right, doing what they're supposed to do.

How are the baby Sturisomatichthys? Did any survive and grow?

Cheers, Eric

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 17 Dec 2019, 17:55
by MarcW
Yes I was really surprised, the two males were only introduced on the 8th December, I've had the three females for 4 or more years.

It's puzzling to me that I really struggle to get things like common corys, ancistrus and hypancistrus to spawn, yet these spawned so quickly!

Unfortunately the Sturisomatichthys fry died one by one, the last one disappeared when the suction cups holding the fry basket failed and it escaped into the tank, I've not seen it since. They were certainly growing and eating, and made it to 6-8 weeks before the last one escaped into the tank.

I've now moved the adults into a smaller tank by themselves, they are looking ready to spawn again, so I plan to leave them to it next time without any other fish in the tank.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 17 Dec 2019, 18:06
by bekateen
MarcW wrote: 17 Dec 2019, 17:55Unfortunately the Sturisomatichthys fry died one by one, the last one disappeared when the suction cups holding the fry basket failed and it escaped into the tank, I've not seen it since. They were certainly growing and eating, and made it to 6-8 weeks before the last one escaped into the tank.

I've now moved the adults into a smaller tank by themselves, they are looking ready to spawn again, so I plan to leave them to it next time without any other fish in the tank.
I've heard the fry can be difficult. Better luck next time. In the meantime, enjoy your successes and this early Christmas present from the zuanoni.

Cheers, Eric

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 17 Dec 2019, 19:23
by MarcW
Thanks Eric, I'll update in a few days, maybe a week if I'm lucky, and they develop well and hatch!

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 18 Dec 2019, 21:50
by MarcW
The eggs were gone when I just checked. After looking around I found the remaining eggs, only 4 surrounded by empty shells. They are now in a tumbler, but there are no obvious signs of development yet.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 23 Dec 2019, 08:41
by MarcW
Bad news unfortunately, the eggs did well for 2-3 days in the tumbler, longer than my previous attempts with other eggs, but they eventually got a fungus. There was no noticeable development, and as the eggs were at least 4 days old before they started to fungus I'm assuming they weren't fertilised.

Hopefully they do better next time!

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 23 Dec 2019, 15:43
by bekateen
Hi Marc,

That's tough, but it happens. My second wabenmuster egg mass failed to develop too.

Have a good Christmas with wife and friends.

Cheers, Eric

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 11 Feb 2020, 14:54
by MarcW
I have had a bit more luck with spawns over the past few days, i'm assuming partly due to a storm which passed over the weekend.

On Sunday my spawned, having been trapping for 24 hours, I've just been to check and one egg was kicked out, but the rest still appear to be good with the male in the cave ~48 hours after the spawn.

Having just checked on the eggs, I noticed my male guarding a fresh spawn! Over the weekend, I also moved my to their own tank, they also spawned, a little haphazardly from the look of it, some eggs are on the glass, some in a woll mop, some in the sand! These were young fish I bought at the last CSG convention.

Some attempts at pictures below, if you look very closely you can see a couple eggs under the pectoral fin of the male H. inspector!
H. inspector 2.jpg
Sturisomatichthys.jpg
C. parallus.jpg
C. parallus 2.jpg

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 11 Feb 2020, 15:45
by bekateen
Hi Marc,

Glad to see your fish getting "back in the saddle." Good luck with the eggs!

Cheers, Eric

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 12 Feb 2020, 16:46
by CoryWally
Ditto Marc, great news. Parallelus are super rare Corys!

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 12 Feb 2020, 21:31
by MarcW
Thanks Eric and Mark. Unfortunately all the parallelus eggs have fungused, they were all 2-5cm or more apart and all fungused independently overnight. Next time I'll collect them and split between a few different containers to experiment a little.

Also, all but 2 of the Sturisomatichthys eggs went bad and were eaten by the male, he is still guarding the remaining 2.

In better news the inspector eggs seem to be doing well, and are still with the male in the cave.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 17 Feb 2020, 21:42
by MarcW
The rescued inspector eggs are doing OK, I have 4 young developing well so far, and starting to show pigment now. Unfortunately it seems that the male has eaten the eggs/wrigglers which remained in the cave. Next time I'll take the eggs and raise them myself.

I'll add pictures when at my pc, struggling to add them from my phone.

Re: Marc's fish room build

Posted: 18 Feb 2020, 01:04
by bekateen
MarcW wrote: 17 Feb 2020, 21:42Unfortunately it seems that the male has eaten the eggs/wrigglers which remained in the cave.
Dad's a jerk! :((

Good luck, Marc.
Eric