Project Quiet River Shrimp Rack

[Navanod]

I think I'll stick to zip ties and PVC pipes. I had enough disaster with this tank already!
I wonder how the shrimps are doing...in Hong Kong for almost a week now and abit worried

[RonWill]

Make sure you insulate the steel wires, otherwise you might just electrify the whole stand.

Well... with good cable ties, there's no need for Navanod to bother with insulation anyway

[cheetf]

Well... with good cable ties, there's no need for Navanod to bother with insulation anyway

Or he could just avoid touching the stand at all costs!

[Wjustin]

It seems that yr moss is very clean haha . wheere did you get them from ?

[Navanod]

It seems that yr moss is very clean haha . wheere did you get them from ?

They are from my old scape tank. Had been growing for about 2 years. Yes they are pretty clean aside from seed shrimps and maybe some hidden algae.

[weiquan]

oh no im a little too late. what a fabulous thread this is.
the next time if u ever embark in such a big project again.
i could help you out on the pvc pipes and fittings.
my family runs a hardware sanitary business.

[Navanod]

I'm feeling bad that I had not been about to update this thread with all the itchyhanded things I had done to it.

The LED lights still needs fixing and after looking at the sag, I realize that it's partly caused by the stands tilting forward at both ends, so the proposed solution by the bros to improve safety should also solve the sagging issue.

Also, I'm somewhat disappointed that mid-level water movement is very poor and there's almost no skimming being done at the surface.
The mesh partitions had proven to be very choke resistant so I'm experimenting with the idea of using a full sponge for bottom partitions every alternate partition, to force water to move in a W pattern through the tanks.

Lastly, I had partial success with a pet idea of "auto-separating" shrimplets from their parents. I had used partitions with large holes for certain parts and found that shrimplets generally like to swim "upstream". My guess is that the smell of food from upstream attracted them to swim against the waterflow. The "downstream" direction was not as popular.

However, the large holed partitions also allowed them to come back or worse, get trapped/hide inside. I had been thinking hard about how to make this a "one way trip" for them and was trying to think of a modified "reversed bottle" trap. It was too large and complicated to include.
As luck would have it, a saw this seed shrimp trap in Hong Kong. It was basically a plastic bottle with more than 20 plastic disposable lab pipette tips stabbed into it.
The tips are cone shaped and ends at a very fine opening, perfect for funneling shrimplets! And there's plenty of expired tips at the lab I'm working in.
If I stab them through the full sponge partitions, this should make a very nice shrimplet trap/separator that'll auto separate them from the breeders.

[stormhawk]

The shrimplet "sizer" thing sounds cool. You might want to experiment in a spare tank to see if it works.

Because the flow is going basically via the bottom end where the mesh is, you'd have little flow at the top. I think the simple solution is to place airstones in every compartment, so that there is some circulation in the upper sections, instead of going with alternating sponges.

[Navanod]

Thanks Storm, yea its pretty cool. Even with the lousy big holed mesh, a few bro who saw it was quite amused that the shrimplets were moving to another compartment on their own.

It's actually quite a pain to have to separate Fire reds. The male shrimplets are always sexually active at a small size and trying to mate, competing with the alpha male. Coupled with their rate of reproduction, it gets really time consuming after sometime.

Airstones would solve the problem but the noise and splashes would make the rack really noisy and also increase evaporation. I'll say it's a last resort.

[RonWill]

...a few bro who saw it was quite amused that the shrimplets were moving to another compartment on their own

Pictures pictures~!!!!

[stormhawk]

The only noise you'd have to bear with is from the air pump. I use a Eheim 3704 and it's pretty silent. The model is called 400 I think, at LFS since they changed the packaging some time ago. So one pump per tank is pretty sufficient. You can probably run 3 tanks at once with a single 3704 with little noise, though you'd have to get several of the "air stones" aka diffusers separately. One box comes with 2 diffusers. Oddly, the price difference between the 3702 and 3704 is really small. I think I paid $55 for my 3704 at C328 when the 3702 is like $45 or 50.

[Navanod]

oh no im a little too late. what a fabulous thread this is.
the next time if u ever embark in such a big project again.
i could help you out on the pvc pipes and fittings.
my family runs a hardware sanitary business.

Hey! Thanks for the offer bro. Yea, the PVC stuff took me awhile to locate and they still gave me the wrong pieces, resulting in 2 extra trips to do exchange. Luckily GC is just next door to the hardware place, so they weren't entirely wasted trips.
It was a real learning experience and I found that PVC can be used for so many things!

[Navanod]

The only noise you'd have to bear with is from the air pump. I use a Eheim 3704 and it's pretty silent. The model is called 400 I think, at LFS since they changed the packaging some time ago. So one pump per tank is pretty sufficient. You can probably run 3 tanks at once with a single 3704 with little noise, though you'd have to get several of the "air stones" aka diffusers separately. One box comes with 2 diffusers. Oddly, the price difference between the 3702 and 3704 is really small. I think I paid $55 for my 3704 at C328 when the 3702 is like $45 or 50.

Yes, I've heard very good things about the Eheim air pumps and how silent they run. But most folks seemed to be on Hi-Blow for some reason. I'm a total noob on air pumps.

How can I manage the bubbling noise and the droplets sprayed by bursting bubbles?
I need to eventually run 16 partitions so that's alot of noise and bubbles.

For the noise, I can put the thing on timer to cut off at night, but I'm very leery of the evaporation and aerosol generated by having so many air stones.

[bai]

If you are going to run so many outlet for air. I would suggest you to get the "Medo" brand it's very slient then Hi blow. As "Medo" run with piston.

For price wise is about the same.

Here the link for Medo Air pump:- http://absolute-koi.com/subcat47.html

Here the link for Hi Blow Air Pump:- http://hiblowairpumps.net/

[Navanod]

Pictures pictures~!!!!

Yes Sir! Tonight I take Sir!

If you are going to run so many outlet for air. I would suggest you to get the "Medo" brand it's very slient then Hi blow. As Hi Blow run with drum and "Medo" run with piston.

For price wise is about the same.

Thanks for the tip. I'm trying not to have to run another extension multiplug to power a platoon of airpumps so yes, this is one option.

[stormhawk]

HiBlow are great for people with many things to run off an air pump like those with breeding racks and such, but the output point requires a special splitter valve. They are not exactly silent to begin with. I'm running my Eheim on second lowest output and it's already producing enough air to power the 2 Eheim diffusers in the tank at full strength with the other output going to 4 other tanks. So I guess for your setup with only 2 tanks to aerate per compartment, a single 3704 will do.

Prior to this, I was using a smaller GEX pump and it was not that powerful nor silent. The pump from Hailea with 4 outputs is not that silent either, a little noisy but it does produce a lot of air. Was using it to power 2 rows of tanks in the past when I was deep into killies.

[Navanod]

I have 16 compartments to aerate. 8 per tank. Wait, I can probably take 4 compartments out as these are directly under the 1st overflow and are well circulated.
12 compartments then.
Yes, silence is a concern. Sounds like Eheim's airpumps are the only quiet ones in the market!
Hmmm...

[stormhawk]

For 12 compartments I guess running 2 x 3704 might be worthwhile. Will set you back by around $100+ but for peace of mind I guess it's alright. They have a small Hi Blow unit called Hi Blow Baby. Can find 2nd hand but not sure of the noise output.

In my case, I hear the bubbles more than the pump.

[weiquan]

Hey! Thanks for the offer bro. Yea, the PVC stuff took me awhile to locate and they still gave me the wrong pieces, resulting in 2 extra trips to do exchange. Luckily GC is just next door to the hardware place, so they weren't entirely wasted trips.
It was a real learning experience and I found that PVC can be used for so many things!

The hardware store near GC i believe does not specialize in pipe and fittings but more to general hardware.
I'm located more to the north side at Ang Mo Kio and pipe and fittings is my forte.
There are actually PVC gate valves but they are very costly (not made in china)
and i remember they would need extra adapters to fit AW fittings.

But for my own set up i use the ball valves with union ends also due to too much ex stock LOL .
and also to be able to have the choice to detach the setups when i need to do modification.

[Navanod]

For 12 compartments I guess running 2 x 3704 might be worthwhile. Will set you back by around $100+ but for peace of mind I guess it's alright. They have a small Hi Blow unit called Hi Blow Baby. Can find 2nd hand but not sure of the noise output.

In my case, I hear the bubbles more than the pump.

Yes, the bubble noise is what drives me nuts. Anyway to mitigate?

The hardware store near GC i believe does not specialize in pipe and fittings but more to general hardware.
I'm located more to the north side at Ang Mo Kio and pipe and fittings is my forte.
There are actually PVC gate valves but they are very costly (not made in china)
and i remember they would need extra adapters to fit AW fittings.

But for my own set up i use the ball valves with union ends also due to too much ex stock LOL .
and also to be able to have the choice to detach the setups when i need to do modification.

I remember you now! You're the merchant doing the steel racks!
Union valves are nice for tight spots with limited space, but not cost effective for my project. I'm using the ball valves and although they work, each time the pump gets shut off and back on, the flow is wrong and I get alot of water going into the 2nd overflow pipe.
I suspect the bubbles cannot be auto-purged from the main pipes with the ball valves, causing flowrates to be reduced.
Gatevalves would be nice for fine adjustments, but I doubt it'll solve the problem.

Still, it's not a major issue, just abit of noise that can be resolved in 10 secs by turning the ball valve to flush the bubbles out.