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Anyone know what this is? It has started to form on my heaters and suckers in all of my tanks. (I have 8 of various sizes)

Any ideas?

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Butterfly

I love the way your tanks are set up! Mine do that too sometimes. I think it's a type of algae. It wipes off easily.
Carol

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Thanks for the comment Carol. I thought it was, since it isn't affecting the fish at all.

I've added a few more pics for you, since you like the setup!

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tatnsteph

You`re living in my dream home!
My living room is only 12 by 12 feet would be impossible for me do that but it looks great
Just needed to comment I`m so green with envy, I love it!
Tat

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Sorry if I've made you green, but had to show off the room a little! For your information, our living room is only 15 x 12, I had the tanks made specially to fit on a 9" shelf, which I built myself.

The tanks are only 36 x 15 x 8" deep, but they look much bigger, because the ends are all covered. The problem I have with them, is that I can't keep any larger fish, which is a shame that I'm now working to rectify.

We now have a total of 70ish fish in the six tanks, ranging from Marble Angels, through dwarf Gourami and Siamese to small catfish, loaches, neons, tetras, platties, mollies and guppies.

Bonochick

Wow, what a fish paradise!!!!!!!!!!

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There's still one wall to build on! This wall will have three 12 x 18 x 48 tanks for the larger fish..... hehe!

By the way, anyone have any other ideas about the white slime? is it algae or something to be wary of?

Neville

sorry, no idea about the white slime. hi timg, i'm neville; i like your tanks, they r cool. what kind of fish do u have in collection?

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Just finished the members tanks section. A signature would take too long to do!

Neville

u can link your signature to the members tank section. but i like to show my full signature

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The link works well, and this way you can post pics too!...lol

kalika

Very cool! I also love how it is set up. I would love to have that in my home but I am afraid I would spend all my time doing water changes etc. Do you have a special set up or something to make that easy for you?

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I did sort of plan to put a system in, but didn't get round to it for a couple of reasons, mainly the need to pre-treat the water would involve a storage tank of some kind, a pump, a heater and a supply of fresh water. I opted not to do this because of the time I had to build the shelves, but god, I wish I had!

As you can imagine, water changes are not easy, and very time consuming at the moment, but in time, I'll find an easy way around it, I'm sure.

The way I do it at present is by using the shower in the bathroom to fill a 2 gallon bucket to which I add a teaspoon of salt and AquaSafe and bring the temperature to around the right mark using the shower regulator. (This has another advantage, as it de-gases the water as it sprays into the bucket, so I don't have to wait for ages for the water to de-gas naturally). Then the bucket is lifted on top of the lighting canopy and a hosepipe syphons into the tank. It takes around 30 minutes to do a 50% change on each tank. (6 tanks x 30 mins = 3 hours!). As they are all newish, and all started at the same time, (stupid, I know), they are now getting 25% changes every few days. All the tanks have undergone mini-cycling, and are now stable, as I used pre-loaded filters to get them going. The only thing that is running high is nitrates, hence the water changing routine being so frequent. (Perhaps I should get hold of some real plants and throw the plastic ones away!)

Maybe I'll put a system in when I build in the other side of the room. That is an exterior wall, where I could mount a plastic tank above the level of the unit, so gravity would do the work. I also have a tap outside to plumb into. Treatment would b easy, as I could fill the tank and then treat it by the tankfull. It could also de-gas naturally. That just leaves the problem of heating the water before dropping it into the tanks, but a modified electric shower might achieve this, if it can be regulated acurately.

Getting the water out would still have to be done the traditional way with a gravel hoover, otherwise there's no way to keep the bottom clean, so I'll still have to use the buckets!

I have been thinking about an external filtering system too, although I think the cost would kill that idea.

atmmachine816

have you ever thought of using a pythong?

Awesome system you got going there though. I've never heard of the white slime and don't think it poses a threat. Throw in some hornwort to reduce the nitrates. It grows like a weed and you can just leave it floating and cheap too.

It looks like you use a lot of air-driven filters, have you considered buying a couple large canister and filter two tanks at once or using HOB filters. I've found HOB filters remove more than air powered filters.

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You are correct, I use air filters because they are cheap and simple. I have three large air pumps which are supplying more air than I need to run everything including the curtains, so it makes sense to me to use these filters. When I built the shelf, I restricted the headroom and this caused problems with the electrics and hasn't given me enough room to plug much in above the tanks, and there's no room behind to run wires for powerheads etc. So this setup is stuck with air filters now.

I haven't heard of a pythong so maybe it would be worth having a look before I do the next phase and rope in a lot of expensive piping!

Thanks for the complements all, it's given me a real buzz to see that everyone likes the way I've done it! And BTW, my bristlenose loves the slime! He's gradually clearing it from the tank he's in, so I'll move him along from tank to tank I think!

atmmachine816

LOL ok. I know that the python costs roughly 30$ in stores by me and you can buy a longer tubes to fit to your sink.

Ok well that's ok, as long as the stats are fine, air filters are good, though seriously, consider adding some hornwort, lowers nitrates like no other and is pleasant to look at.

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I actually have some hogwort in my 2' tank, but will need to grab some more to cover this lot! Thanks for the tip, if it reduces the changes, it's got to be worth a few bob!

atmmachine816

Really, that's great. Ya it sucks up nutrients, I only do 20% weekly water changes on my 29gallon tank and it's overstocked atm, but I have a good filter running and all the live plants help a lot. The hornwort should grow pretty fast, just cut off a strand and put it in the new tank.