Cold Hardy Old School Black Moors

Just came in, some healing to do but over all a very nice batch of fish.

The New Racking

As part of the new expansion I've been searching for a new fish rack. Well I finally found a great readily available unit at Costco. It's cross bars are a full 6 feet between the rails and a bit more if you center the tank front to back. They hold 2,000 pounds per shelf and are very easy to set up.

You can't front load a 6 foot tank but you can assemble the rack, disconnect the shelves from one leg allowing you to open the rack just enough to put the tank on the rack. I bought 4 units, two of which hold the new 6 foot by 4 foot tank (with 2x 6 foot tanks under it and storage above) and two units along one wall. 

With 4 shelves per system I have extras so you can connect the two units together forming 3 sections of racking. I put 5/8 plywood and firing strips between the metal grating and the tanks for a solid surface.

The 6x4 tank didn't fit on the two back to back racks as I had hoped
but we came up with a 1.8 inch polycarbonate shim that fit between
the shelves and the uprights that gave an additional 1/4 inch that
was very needed.

A Couple Big Tanks and Sump, adding 1,000 gallons

A friend of mine had a small reef shop for a couple years. These tanks have been on his back porch for a couple more so I bought them from him.

This is a 300 gallon 4 foot x 4 foot x 32 inch acrylic with a black
back wall an over flow tower. There will be two 75/90 gallon tanks
under it. This will be plumbed into my Tanganyikan Cichlid system
which consists of a 8 foot 340 gallon tank, a 4 foot 120 and a large
sump. It will house a colony of Mpibwe Frontosa (gerberosa).

This is a 320 gallon 6 foot x 4 foot x 20 with a over flow tower. There are two 120 gallon 6 foot tanks under it. It will be on the main goldfish system.

They form an island 10 feet long and 4 feet wide in the fishroom where the 4x 100 gallon rubbermaid tubs once were. I think it was a good trade, 400 gallons for 1,000 gallons in the same space. There is room for a few tanks above the 4 x 6 tank but I think I'll use it for storage.

As part of the deal I purchase several really nice tanks including this which will be my new sump (all roads or pipes lead to Rome). It is on feet so you can pass pipes under it. It is 48 x 42 x 30 (24 inside measurement) holding 210 gallons but will only have about 15 inches of water in it once it's plumbed as it is taller than my lowest tanks.

As part of this week long project (Thank you Javier, Norm, Bill and Mark for all your help, I couldn't have done it without you!) I removed my 5 gallon racks that have just become obsolete) moved the 15x 20 tall rack (under the red angel fish) into their place leaving a narrow but passable isle at the end of this isle. There are no long any dead ends in the room.

The wall in the picture above has been completely remodeled.  The old racks were replace with a new inter locking metal racking.  It is easily adjustable and holds 2000 pounds per shelf.  I'm still working out the configuration of this wall but it will hopefully include as many 6 foot tanks as possible as this is the spacing of the racking.