It's been chucking it down all weekend, and bar a brief trip on Saturday afternoon to see some friends - I've spent the weekend outside pushing on with the project.
My objective was to get the first tank up in the polytunnel, and have it filling; and also to fit a retro bottom drain to the temporary pond housing all my fish, and install the full filtration suite.
It's 10pm on Sunday, and I've just finsihed - and achieved all the objectives which leaves me on course to start the spawing in the first half of June.
The tank in the polytunnel is an Aquosis Oval 1, which housed my fish for the last year and I am using it as the males brood fish tank for my project. It was more difficult to install than last time, mainly because of the weather and water logged ground; there were large patches that had flooded that made laying the celotex base awkward. And, dry firm ground would have been a lot easier to work on than the squidgy mess.
My new favourite tool is a pick axe; totally brilliant at getting to places normal spades can't make. And it was invaluable digging a trench for the bottom drain and waste pipe.
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| Laying out the celotex base for the Oval 1 tank. I dug a hole for the bottom drain, and a channel for the 4 inch pipe that will link the bottom drain to the filtration. |
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| Craig Emery popped over on Saturday afternoon to help me move the tank into position. You remember the picture from my last blog, with the black matting neatly laid out - and looking black... All the brown patches are deep puddles which made life a little more complex. |
On the temporary pond, I'm trying out a retro bottom drain. Something I've never used, and lets see how I get on with it. I'm going with a pump fed system on the temporary pond, and once the Oval 1 is fully operational, I'll move the males across leaving just the females in the temporary tank - and I've decided that's where they will stay until spawning time. I'll condition them in situ.
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| I started on the retro bottom drain and filtration for the temporary pond on Sunday |
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| Thank goodness for rubber fittings |
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| Plumbing in the heat pump and vortex. I have a diy style easy in the vortex for mechanical filtration |
Once I'd finished with the temporary pond, it was back to the polytunnel ...
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| This is the project tonight (end of Sunday) - the Oval 1 tank erected, and filling! |
