I Feel Like A Genius

[kribensis12]

So, I have a 47 gallon tank with 3 Leleupi cichlids in it. The male has constantly been harassing the females. I can't separate them as they won't agree with other tank stockings. So, I was trying to figure out a way to make more floor space one the tank. THEN...


I thought, why not suspend (somehow) egg crate halfway into the tank and put rocks and caves, but leave a big circle leading into the bottom part of the tank so they can swim deeper, but if not, they can swim to the upper part as a refuge. I'm thinking maybe using PVC Pipe to hold the egg crate up in the tank? I doubt filtration will be affected as the egg crate has generous sized holes in it, and the water can just go in there. So, what do you guys think? Any ideas? Think it's a good one? Anyone wanna rain on my parade?

 

[kribensis12]

Anyone have anything to add or subtract?

 

[catfishblues]

im confused what is it that your doing? sounds interesting!

 

[Gvilleguy]

Sounds like a breathable horizontal tank divider. How thick is the egg crate? Whatever bulk you add will take up overall water volume - just have to account for that. Seems like it would work.

 

[Thedoctor]

I've been toying with the idea of upper level caves once I got a large tank established. Just got a large tank yesterday so keep us posted with pics on how it goes.

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks guys. It may be a week or so before I get it going. I am in Highschool, about to graduate. I have a job, and i work :Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Sat. and then I have to fit my girlfriend and general life into the other 2 days. So we will see how it goes.

 

[kribensis12]

I've finished it. It's a tiny bit slanted because I ran out of PVC pipe to evenly distribute the weight. I will have pictures up in the next day. It took around 2 hours to do.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Sounds good - looking forward to the pictures!

 

[OldMan47]

I am looking forward to seeing your solution Zeke. It sounds like you may have something I have not seen before.

 

[kribensis12]

Here are the pictures. I just bought a Fluval U4 last night, and it was two spray bar openings, one on the top, and one of the bottom. I have the second level slip in between to make sure both parts of the tank get adequate heat and filtration. There is not an airstone in their as well. I have noticed the females are going to the upper level and are getting more of their orange color back, unlike the balck coloring they have been getting recently.

Here is the mess I made will breaking the rings of the egg-crate off:

Here is the cut out I made:

Here it is standing up on our carpet (I still needed a few minor alterations to get it to pit perfectly:

AND........ TADA!:

 

[Gvilleguy]

I like the ingenuity of this design! Imagine if you were to attach some mesh to the pipes and grow something like java moss to cover up the white - that would look pretty cool. I have never considered a multi-tier aquarium design.

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks. I normally kill all plants. I am hoping that I can maybe buy some potted plant or something and get it to grow because it's closer to the top.

 

[OldMan47]

Looking good there Krib.
Being closer to the light should help with your plants. It is like having a more intense light source.

 

[JoshuaA]

Get a bunch of Java moss and spread it across that egg crate and with being close to the light source that egg crate will disappear in a couple of weeks.

 

[Randomitity]

I only wish egg carts came like that in the states... le sigh... I will have to look for another material to do a shelf kind of like that lol