Keith's basement winter system

[foodchain]

How did you mate the PVC to the pool? In the above picture of the pool, it looks like there's a 2" PVC attached to it.

[keith_r]

i enlarged one of the existing openings (used for the filter i got with the pool) and used 1 1-1/2" electrical coupling.. i've used this when i've done water changes, to drain the pool (before i got the filter set up), this connection will go to my sump, that i'll pump up to the gb's, which will drain back to the ft.. i saw what i thought was a pile of 4" pvc sitting by this fence for the last year, so i finally took a walk to see if i could salvage any of it.. turns out it was pvc downspouts, lots of it was cracked and deformed, but i grabbed a couple pieces, enough for a few drain/siphon guards.
i was hoping there would be enough to use for my main drain line.. so my main layout of gb's is still kind of up in the air

[keith_r]

had my first successful rosy red minnnow hatch! i set up another 55 gallon tank a while ago.. i put some 4" and 6" clay pots in the pool with the minnows and crayfish, the first time i took 2 4" pots out with eggs and put them in the tank without the male, they didn't make it.. the second time, i put 2 4" pots in that had eggs and males, and they didn't make it.. the third time i put 1 6" pot that had a bunch of eggs (the most i saw at any one time) and the male in, and after about 10 or 11 days, i saw fry this morning..
my daphnia tanks seem to be doing pretty well, so even though the fry are probably still feeding off their yolk sac, i put lots of live tiny stuff in the tank with them.. and got the male back into the pool

[foodchain]

Congrats!!!
Once they are about 3 days old try introducing newly hatched baby brine shrimp. They are a little bit of work, but once the fry's mouth is big enough to eat them, they will exelerate the growth fast enough to get them on larger food types. I typically keep Cabomba, and such in the rearing tanks to help encourage infusoria and such on the smaller egg laying species. It's imperative that you get small food types to them on a regular basis.
Good Luck.

[keith_r]

i've got a good start on my daphnia culture, so that should be ok when they start eating...i was thinking about setting up a brine shrimp hatchery dealio..but right now, the basement is too cold for them..
our weather is super crazy right now.. 2' of snow last weekend, thunderstorms and 50's today, with snow tonight.. i just need a couple day break to get my gravel, then i'll have a few more tanks to play with
there are several plants in the tank bottom, i'm not even sure what they are, and floating i have duckweed and water lettuce with long roots that i see the fry swimming around in.. they're still quite small, 1/8" to 3/16" or so.. and clear, but it's easy to spot their eyes.. i tried to take some pic's this weekend but didn't have any luck..

[foodchain]

Use a incandescant light, in a desk lamp. Adjust height to control temp, hatch brine shrimp in 2 liter bottle with bubbler.
Easy fix....cheap.

[foodchain]

you probably already have infusoria then...and if this was outside, you would likely already have daphnia and such. Best of luck to you.

[keith_r]

work has been a pita lately, so my gravel pile is sitting there waiting to get moved..
had my lone marmokreb escape from her 55gal tank, and one of the cats brought it upstairs for me to find yesterday morning.. it was dark, at first i thought it was either a cat toy or a cat mess.. but she was still alive.. didn't realize it was the marm and threw it in the pool with a couple dozen papershell crays.. when i realized what happened, i luckily found her right away and put her back in her tank.. work is killin me, just had to delay vacation to the second week of may instead of the first.. i'll get this sucker built though

[foodchain]

I know the feeling, we just now stopped the mandatory OT we have had for the last 5 months. Burns you out quick.
This year is nearly half over, and the kids only have 1 more month of school. And all I have done is work.

[keith_r]

yikes! lots of pics gone!