New Home For My Corys

[RShinjiro]

Hey all, been a while since I last posted anything. Well I just spent the weekend with a buddy getting all the bits together and setting up my new tank for my Corydoras.

I am going from two tanks (18g Tall, and 24g Nano Reef Cube) to one tank.

Setup now is:

60g Visio Glass Aquarium with corner overflow
26g Glass Refugium (with a healthy amount of Bio-Balls and a Danner Mag Drive 3 pump getting the water back up to the tank)
Glo T5 Flourescent (Mounted into the new canopy)
Eheim Jaeger Heater
Cyberpower 850VA Backup Battery (In case of blackouts, my house is rather old)

the Rig is still cycling at the moment, Still need to move over the driftwood, add new plants, and of course the fish. In the Refigium i will have a few onion bags of Java moss and a small 24w Compact lamp.

Pics here

Just thought I'd share and say hi. Thanks!

 

[snowflake311]

Thats cool. Not many people do a Refugium/sump for freshwater but it is a good idea. It's a neat set up. Sure the cory cats will love it.

 

[RShinjiro]

Thats cool. Not many people do a Refugium/sump for freshwater but it is a good idea. It's a neat set up. Sure the cory cats will love it.

Yeah both my buddies run sumps as well (one guy has a reef setup though) and i kind of got keen to the idea. Plus the big sump I am using kind of fell in my lap so I couldn't resist.

Tank is still cycling, but once things settle down I will take some new pictures that will hopefully be way more appealing (and actually show some of my corys!)

 

[snowflake311]

Cool I'm sure it will be a nice set up.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi RShinjiro

Your tank promises to be very interesting. I can't wait to see pictures of it set up with your corys swimming merrily about.

 

[thefubar]

For us simples folk, what is the benefit of a refugium for a freshwater tank?

 

[RShinjiro]

For us simples folk, what is the benefit of a refugium for a freshwater tank?

Well people have different reasons and different ways to go about it, but here is why I am doing it:

1: Increased water volume
Space is a consideration for me, and I couldn't fit a much wider tank in my house, running a sump underneath gives me an extra 15 gallons or so of water which helps with overall water stability.

2: Natural Nitrate Scrubber
My Particular sump has baffles in the bottom making it possible for me to run substrate without the worry of it getting sucked into the pump. I have Javamoss in there now, but I do plan to put some fast growing plants down there along with a pendant light that runs 12 hours a day. Hopefully, if/when i do get algae, it grows in the sump out of sight and in an easier to clean spot then in the tank.

3: Less Equipment
For this setup at least, I am running far less equipment then before. I have one single pump that pretty much runs the whole deal, no more air pump, or powerheads. Instead of the usual hang on filter, my sump has a bunch of bio balls in it.

In the end, while there will be other fish in the tank, i really dove into this setup for my growing Cory family. I started off with an 18 gallon tall tank (dimensionally like 2 10 gallon tanks stacked on top of each other) only meaning to keep livebearers. Ended up buying 4 Corydoras Paleatus to clean the bottom, and now i have no live bearers at all, and 15 corydoras (4 of which were born in my tanks). So now i have one big permanent home for all the little ones instead of two tanks. Though i will keep the old 18g around in case i run into something rare i need to quarantine.

 

[RShinjiro]

Just added more pictures to my FLickr. Seems the Paleatus are making themselves at home laying eggs all over the tank! Water is still a bit cloudy, but parameters are all coming down to acceptable levels. Almost time for the Trillineatus to migrate over and meet their Paleatus and Adolfoi friends.

 

[thefubar]

Thanks for the info. Makes alot of sense and i hope it works well for the Corys. I took delivery of my first ever cory yesterday, they are cracking!

 

[snowflake311]

Looks awesome love the plants well done.

 

[RShinjiro]

Thanks! All the Corys have since been reunited and have three more C. Rabauti friends to play with.

Grats on getting your first Cory's thefubar, which did you get?