Cuttlefish Tank Build Update

[Bryan47]

This is just a small update, I will make an official build thread by the end of this week. I have been working on a 40G Breeder setup that will house 2 dwarf cuttlefish known to some as Sepia Bandensis! I plan to have a male and a female and as they only have a lifespan of about a year (up to 18 months!) I plan to breed them to keep the tank going strong and not having to repurchase such an expensive Cephalopods every year! The cuttlefish tank is coming along nicely. The stand is all squared away and the tank has 4 holes drilled with the bulkheads installed. I am going to do the bean animal overflow. For a sump I have a 20G L and I installed the rear centerbrace as removable so I can remove the sump. I may build the sump out of acrylic as I have been researching this a lot. I wish I had some extra cash to order the colored pvc on sale at brs but the next thing I will buy is the pvc to complete the overflow. I also have the overflow which I will silicone on. I think on my next tank (the 72 gallon downstairs) I will do a coast to coast overflow. I will be doing a refugium style sump. I will be ordering the cuttles through frag freaks as they have graciously offered to match the deal of the group buy from CTARS (I am not ready for the cuttlefish just yet). They also will help with some education and offered a great deal on the shrimp they eat. You can wean them on to frozen however if I could breed the shrimp I would love to feed live throughout. One thing I considered doing which is ALOT cheaper is raising them from eggs. A bundle of eggs can be had for less than $100. I also have been conferring with Laura from Reefgen who you may have seen in the MACNA talk that BRS emailed out a video of! It's a great watch if you haven't seen it!

If any of you have any experience with cuttlefish please share or PM me! Thank you!!!

 

[phillrodrigo]

You get your bulkheads and stuff. If you need help with the plumbing call me. While the brs colored pipe is cool they don't make any fitting so it's kind of useless. If they made matching fittings I would be so on it.get a tank from petco $1 Per gallon sale

 

[smb2415]

Dont cuttlefish need a MUCH larger aquarium? My google shows 70g as a min. Im sure you've done your homework. Did you notice in the video, the number of tanks Laura was using to breed cuttlefish...certainly an undertaking.

I looked into raising feeder shrimp a while ago, however it was like 20 tanks for keep up with the various stages, matings, eggs, etc,..... waay too much real estate to devote towards food. Breeding pods and rotifiers is one whole mess, shrimp.. now that takes it to a whole new level.

Best of luck.

PS Petco $1 gallon sale is usually right after Black Friday or Christmas, I forget which. But it would be the following day and they don't advertise it well. Just visit the store and look for the stockpiling of 40breeders, 20L and 20H

 

[Bryan47]

They just had it 2 months ago? They do it again?

 

[Bryan47]

Yes Laura has assured me the 40 for 2 will be fine. Some people even say 10 gallons per. So I went up a step. These are Sepia Bandensis the dwarf cuttles.

Breeding feeder shrimp is not an easy task? Ah that's discouraging. I can always ween them on to live.

 

[Bryan47]

You get your bulkheads and stuff. If you need help with the plumbing call me. While the brs colored pipe is cool they don't make any fitting so it's kind of useless. If they made matching fittings I would be so on it.get a tank from petco $1 Per gallon sale

Been researching the plumbing for the tank and many places don't carry all the pieces for the bean animal so I am trying to price out the best prices.

Here is the pieces I need to obtain:

 

[tyler1503]

Following along for this one

 

[Bryan47]

Thank you! Should have cuttles in it by the end of next month!

 

[tyler1503]

Awesome! I love cuttlefish. I'd get one eventually, but the only ones I can get are cold water species
Good luck!

 

[Bryan47]

Why is that?

 

[tyler1503]

The hobby isn't big enough in Australia to warrant wild caught specimens and our customs regulations are too strict to import them I'd have to collect them myself and I live right down south where only cool water species live.
It's crazy how different the waters are here compared to up north in the tropics.

 

[Bryan47]

Wow you need to move! I don't know what I'd do without the hobby! Sorry to hear that!

 

[smb2415]

Try Grainger or BRS, The 1" and 1.25" pipe fittings are difficult to find as it is not generally used in residential construction. So shopping to prices may be difficult.
Try to stay with the same size pipe all the way through. Changing sizes after the bulkhead fitting will alter the design and cause issues.


I was able to find 1" tees both (sanitary tee isn't necessary), Home depot should have 1" caps. threaded caps are optional, just wrap edge of pipe with Teflon tape and push cap into pipe, it should seal it (many reefers do this to make fittings easily removable), Home Depot also has 1/4" quickconnect x npt, 1" pipe, 1/4" tube, 1" npt fittings, 1" elbows, and 1"ball valves. You'll just need to figure out out if you have slip x slip, thread x thread, or slip x thread bulkheads and get proper 1" fittings for that.

 

[Bryan47]

Try Grainger or BRS, The 1" and 1.25" pipe fittings are difficult to find as it is not generally used in residential construction. So shopping to prices may be difficult.
Try to stay with the same size pipe all the way through. Changing sizes after the bulkhead fitting will alter the design and cause issues.


I was able to find 1" tees both (sanitary tee isn't necessary), Home depot should have 1" caps. threaded caps are optional, just wrap edge of pipe with Teflon tape and push cap into pipe, it should seal it (many reefers do this to make fittings easily removable), Home Depot also has 1/4" quickconnect x npt, 1" pipe, 1/4" tube, 1" npt fittings, 1" elbows, and 1"ball valves. You'll just need to figure out out if you have slip x slip, thread x thread, or slip x thread bulkheads and get proper 1" fittings for that.

Thanks for the help! And thanks to Avasquez01 who has been answering all my texts and questions!

Plumbing is almost done! Just. Waiting for the gate valve to arrive !

 

[smb2415]

The plumbing looks right. Id move the overflow box up though. Id leave about 1 - 1.5" below the top of glass. That should make it above the outside edge of the black tank frame giving you a nice finished look.

another tip, leave enough space between the edge of the overflow and the tank glass for your mag scraper/cleaner.

FYI - One of the pipes pointing down is supposed to be shorter than the other I don't remember which without looking at mine or looking it up.. Helps get the full siphon going right.

looking great!!

 

[Bryan47]

I am taking them in to work to cut them tomorrow. Because they bottom out when I pull the overflow up. When you get a minute if you can figure out which one is supposed to be shorter that'd be great! Did you put the slots in yours like the original bean picture? Your advice to go to Home Depot was great.

 

[smb2415]

no need for the fingers on the elbow. Beans design was that the elbow would rest close to the bottom of overflow and the finger would let water in and stop fish from going over. I think its too restrictive and cutting those fingers is a PIA. I did not to it. I like many also allowed the overflow to be open so any fish could travel the pac express if they chose, so far many have, I got tired of catching them in the sump and have since used some egg crate as fingers ( I see you already have them cut out).

The shorter elbow is the one with the 1/4" tube. 1/2" should do it.

BTW you don't need a bunch of room under the elbow. Not sure how much is enough but Id guess 1/2" would be enough for your 1" piping.

When you glue your overflow in place make sure you have something cut to the right size to prop it up underneath while it dries.
Apply silicone to edge of overflow then press into place on tank.
Have plenty of tape and paper towels ready to wipe down, cleanup and hold in place.
**tip - a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol works wonders in smoothing out and cleaning up silicone before it dries. Dont saturate the silicone with it though.