Seems like long ago that my tank was huge and all the rays were micro machines swimming around with tons of space to spare. For a second hand tank it has served me well and will continue to do so with the future changes to be made.
I'll start a little from the beginning.
I started with my 600 gallon tank 10x4x2 , it always seemed huge but as the rays started breeding and I was using a divider I needed more space.
Soon I added a 400 gallon plywood fiberglass setup that helped me keep all my males seperate. It served me well and gave me the needed space to make all happy and well for the rays.
Soon the addiction made me want more rays and to grow out some of the pups that I wanted to keep for future breeding.
So I found another tank which was a 210 gallon 7x2x2 which is great for my grow outs and then plumbed in another 220 gallon sump to tie my system all together.
Seemed like everything was great and well but I added in another 80 gallon tank to help with new pups and who wouldn't want more space.
So as you can tell the obsession was just getting worse and worse. I soon had more grow outs for future breedings than I had adults already and my tanks were full.
One really large female named Fatty who as you might guess loves to eat was starting to measure about 40 inches long from tail tip to nose and needed more space as the females were just buming into one another more and more in the tank.
Overall I want to keep 10-12 females and that requires more space than any normal human being would usually give up in the basement of their home.
But I'm an addict and the cure has not been found yet so planning and planning and drawings and about a year of planning had brought me to the point that I'm going big in my home but I'm limited on space at the same time. So stacking tanks or even more a tank over a pond started to be the direction I was designing.
First I planned to slide my 600 gallon tank down to one side of the room and build a 12x6x2.5 pond in that free space once I tore down my 400. But then I decided I won't be doing this twice and to tear it all down after lots of thinking and do a 12x8x2.5 pond.
Now the hard part 20 stingrays of 9-28 inches and 2 pregnant females soon giving birth. Where to put them all if your tearing it all down and starting over?
So I got a 10 foot pool a 300 gallon rubbermaid trough and picked up a number of 75 gallon tanks to move everyone.
Just setting this all up and getting it going was a bit more expensive and labor intensive than I figured it would be but I got it all going.
One complain that I have with so many rays is that the mechanical filtration (filter socks) has become the hate of my filtration life, still recommend them to most keepers but if you have a horde then something else I hope will be better. So I am changing up my filtration and going to run bead filters to make everything that much easier and better for my lazy self and to keep up with the food overload after matter.
So here is a little bit of the start. Filtration is more or less set and all ready females finally had pups and have been moved to new pool housing. Just a little more work before the lumber start going down and the process push forward at a fast rate.
My tank looks so different being empty. But reminds me of the beginning and gives me a great chance to start over and rebuild bigger and better.
View attachment 20161029_174335.jpg
I'll start a little from the beginning.
I started with my 600 gallon tank 10x4x2 , it always seemed huge but as the rays started breeding and I was using a divider I needed more space.
Soon I added a 400 gallon plywood fiberglass setup that helped me keep all my males seperate. It served me well and gave me the needed space to make all happy and well for the rays.
Soon the addiction made me want more rays and to grow out some of the pups that I wanted to keep for future breeding.
So I found another tank which was a 210 gallon 7x2x2 which is great for my grow outs and then plumbed in another 220 gallon sump to tie my system all together.
Seemed like everything was great and well but I added in another 80 gallon tank to help with new pups and who wouldn't want more space.
So as you can tell the obsession was just getting worse and worse. I soon had more grow outs for future breedings than I had adults already and my tanks were full.
One really large female named Fatty who as you might guess loves to eat was starting to measure about 40 inches long from tail tip to nose and needed more space as the females were just buming into one another more and more in the tank.
Overall I want to keep 10-12 females and that requires more space than any normal human being would usually give up in the basement of their home.
But I'm an addict and the cure has not been found yet so planning and planning and drawings and about a year of planning had brought me to the point that I'm going big in my home but I'm limited on space at the same time. So stacking tanks or even more a tank over a pond started to be the direction I was designing.
First I planned to slide my 600 gallon tank down to one side of the room and build a 12x6x2.5 pond in that free space once I tore down my 400. But then I decided I won't be doing this twice and to tear it all down after lots of thinking and do a 12x8x2.5 pond.
Now the hard part 20 stingrays of 9-28 inches and 2 pregnant females soon giving birth. Where to put them all if your tearing it all down and starting over?
So I got a 10 foot pool a 300 gallon rubbermaid trough and picked up a number of 75 gallon tanks to move everyone.
Just setting this all up and getting it going was a bit more expensive and labor intensive than I figured it would be but I got it all going.
One complain that I have with so many rays is that the mechanical filtration (filter socks) has become the hate of my filtration life, still recommend them to most keepers but if you have a horde then something else I hope will be better. So I am changing up my filtration and going to run bead filters to make everything that much easier and better for my lazy self and to keep up with the food overload after matter.
So here is a little bit of the start. Filtration is more or less set and all ready females finally had pups and have been moved to new pool housing. Just a little more work before the lumber start going down and the process push forward at a fast rate.
My tank looks so different being empty. But reminds me of the beginning and gives me a great chance to start over and rebuild bigger and better.
View attachment 20161029_174335.jpg
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