Ultimate DIY Aquarium Breeding Rack (Auto Water Changes, Clean Design, Low Maintenance)

[@FoisyAquatics]

Timestamps: 01:08 ➼ Fish 04:05 ➼ Rack 06:26 ➼ Auto Water Change System 19:03 ➼ Filtration / Air 23:13 ➼ Heating 26:10 ➼ Tanks, Lids, & Lights 30:56 ➼ Miscellaneous

[@fir22x]

Do u use UV sterilizers?

[@WhiteNoiseCompany]

Beautiful setup, I plan on building my own shortly and this will be my inspiration, very clean!! 😀

[@FoisyAquatics]

Good luck!

[@peterschulties3258]

I type in aquarium rack system and your video pops up 1st. Then my mind exploded. Very impressive thing you did there.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@mikejurnak4253]

You are on your game Young Man probably the best setup I've seen on KZbin

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thank you!

[@nicholasmartinez8204]

Amazing video. Love how meticulous you were and thoroughly went over your system. Cnt ask for anything better. Thank you

[@FoisyAquatics]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@johnjams4]

This setup is immaculate, recently put together a couple of small racks myself and wish I'd seen this video first!

[@DuzzyDobbin]

One of the best auto water changers I’ve seen, I’m not sure how it would go for me with plants.

[@troublingleaf]

You want one addition, a fine mesh filter sock in the drainage. This would need to be easily replaceable. Or just ditch the water changes like I have. I only change water if there's a problem, or if I'm raising fry. Otherwise I only top up evaporated water, and my tanks have never been healthier.

[@yorkshireaquatics9537]

Amazing quality video mate. Keep this content coming! You are one of a few on KZbin who have inspired me to quit my day job and commit to breeding fish and playing music for a living. It's the most free I have felt in years and I basically do fish therapy for a living now haha. Your information and attention to detail is exceptional. You are in my top 2 fish keepers with master Dean.

[@FoisyAquatics]

WOW! To be mentioned in the same sentence as Dean is a dream haha!! Someday I hope to reach his level. Thanks!

[@robertsowinski164]

You have a very beautiful and impeccably clean fish room. Very impressive. I have multiple racks with other than a few 10 gallon quarantine tanks mostly ranging from 40 breeder to 180 gallon. I wish I could keep my fish room as beautifully clean and organized as yours is. Very impressive. Thank you for the content on your video.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thank you so much!

[@flippingthebirds3161]

This is like a zen garden its pretty much perfect

[@keithjackson28]

Thanks for taking the time to show a great setup.

[@NeoByteNL]

Just stumbled by and want to say what a beautiful, clean and slick aquarium rack.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thank you!

[@adenopriansyah1427]

Whatever type of fish, the fish will be happy and enjoy be there🙌

[@meghancass3187]

I'm a life long professional carpenter (35) years and I enjoy it when people think a DIY project through. I, personally would build out of plywood because I have tablesaws routers chopsaws tracksaws etc, more than enough to build professional quality cabinets. The dados truly help support the weight and help lock a piece together. The only suggestions I would make to anyone wanting to use this as inspiration is more shear bracing if you live in an earthquake zone and using an oil based primer under your paint coat. Lack of a primer severely shortens the life of a paintjob and you'll have to strip all of it to correct it later.

[@DidisFINDen]

Very nice job with this system. Will be watching for updates.

[@elevenseven007]

👏👏AMAZING. Clean set up. I'm running four 20 g long , four 10 g. One day automatic water changes. 👍

[@krs306]

Run one extra air line to balance overpressure, but add extra air line closed, T into airline anywhere, then open all tank filters fully Then close down to your chosen bubble rate, now open the Spare air line until it slows one tanks bubble rate "Balanced" or becomes fully open "still over pressured" if filters are good and spare line is fully open then add another spare air line till it does, this will also extend the Diaphragm life, hope all is good, outstanding system great effort !

[@FoisyAquatics]

Great tips, thanks!

[@MickysAquariums]

Really nice fish rack. Very interesting to see how it all went together.

[@mattbartels4598]

To get te same air out of each filter you need all the air lines to be the same length 👍 Beautiful set up mate

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thanks 👍

[@scottcahala7779]

Great set up. The fish look great.

[@danielluo6499]

very nice setup, one thing i will recommend is if you want something affordable and industrial quality, try to look into pneumatic component, like SMC or festo or aitTag, etc they are built for pneumatic systems in manufacturing, but the majority of their hose, valves, regulator can be used for water as well you can buy an air regulator and put it in the outlet of your air pump, it should help with the issue :)

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thank you!

[@brendentrussell6576]

Love your setup. Incredible design.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@skan7677]

I was serching for a good acuarium automated water sistem in the acuarium coop chanel, and your video spawned and im glad it did. Nice set up. Nice art wood, and thank you for shering. I will sucribe becouse of the way you explain everything. Nice video! greetings from Argentina.

[@TaderSamich]

If your air pump is above your top water level, you don't need the valves. Those are just a failsafe incase of power outage so water doesn't siphon down the line. Water can't siphon uphill. Great build!

[@colinhamer6506]

nice job like you I'm going through 100s of videos for inspiration before I start building my new setup

[@FoisyAquatics]

That's what I did!

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

Absolutely beautiful!! Love all the plecos!! Your setup is amazing!! Thank you for sharing your rack and setup!! This would definitely be my dream to have a setup like this!! I hope you have a very blessed weekend!!🙏🌿🐟🌿🙏

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thanks so much!

[@Jackinthewoodz]

Excellent, thanks for taking the time, I really enjoyed that!

[@FoisyAquatics]

My pleasure!

[@gregslaski6956]

Beautifully set up fish rack 👍🏻

[@bridgeportfishkeeper7845]

That’s a really nice and clean setup.

[@jeromea9786]

your set up is amazing!

[@serpico727]

just found your channel from youtube recommendations, cool setup, mine is very similar with 40b and 20H but not as aesthetically pleasing lol. One thing about the drip emitters is to make sure you are getting the pressure compensating models. They will output more consistently to their rated number in a setup like your manifold.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Great tip, thank you!

[@luisvieyra]

Great setup!!!, thanks for sharing!, as others said, this is inspiration for my next DIY project!!

[@MissChelle]

Great setup. Thanks for sharing. New sub from Australia 🇦🇺❤️

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thanks for the sub!

[@tastyfishsauce4410]

I love how clean your fish room/rack/set up is. Nice informative, inspiring and entertaining video. I definitely need to do auto water changes as you have done, it is simple and easy. Liked, sube'd and note belled.

[@Juancmanzanares]

Wow man. Nice work and thanks for the info. This is what I was looking for. I will be doing one for my house but not for breading just for display

[@RussMcCord]

Impressive and informative. Thanks for sharing.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Natquascape]

I wish I lived in a house with a basement! That would be epic! Totally do a fish room in there

[@ashleygarnish9995]

I want to get into breeding plecos love this set up

[@Alniemi]

awesome rack! im in that stage now of researching for my own. probably just 2-3 tanks though. I think that the manifold for the drippers should be set up like a fractal, 1 to 2, 2 to4, 4 to 8 if that makes any sense. it might help the drip heads get a more equal amount of pressure

[@rbear4574]

I love your video's on pleco's

[@MKRProgressiveNews]

Great job with auto system!

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thank you!

[@addisonwilliams2221]

Awesome video man I’ve watched just about every video also and this is what exactly what I’ve settle on. I’d say water alert things on Amazon very loud and like 8 bucks might help notice leaks.

[@FoisyAquatics]

I actually have one of those for my main water line, with an automatic shut off if it detects water on the ground!

[@RWAquariumPages]

Such a great and wonderful video. Watched it 2x and love the clean set up

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thanks so much 😊

[@philipkrueger4977]

Great video, you earned my subscription. Very nice setup, I'm taking notes.

[@jasonlilly6112]

Really nice job! Inspirational

[@mirali4467]

If you haven’t already corrected the issue, place a Y-splitter on the main outlet of your air pump. One leading to the aquariums and the other to an insulated closet (any place to prevent air noise from bothering you) then place a valve controller at this end, opening it to release the desired amount of air pressure. That machine can probably handle up to 30 tanks with ease A side note: keep up with the updates brother… I dig your setup. Excited to see how you develop it

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thanks so much, great tip!

[@fourtytwo2024]

very impressive system.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thanks!

[@Ttblondey]

Wonderful mate.

[@dlioncoulthurst778]

Good stuff bro....Hoorah!!

[@ARod-br2ui]

Nice setup. 👏👍

[@Aquaticangels]

Looks sick !!!

[@bennis325]

Very nice and neat!!

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thank you! 😊

[@simpceferglenparacale7988]

With regards to relieving pressure from your air pump. You could use a T connection where yhe inflow and outflow of air is the 2 adjacent end and the middle connection is the pressure reliever. Add a control valve on the reliever to control how much pressure is going into the main line going to the tanks and the excess air flow will be exhausted out the reliever end. This way you would'nt damage the air pump.

[@cichlidrich6589]

This is the way to go for sure, great setup buddy. The 75% water change weekly is great but personally id do 50% and with your double sponges you wouldnt notice a difference imo, i think this would help you because when breeding you want to trigger them to spawn. So in spawning periods you would do the 75% change instead of the 50%. New subb here great channel

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thanks! And ya you are probably right about the water changes, though with the clogged emitters I have now, they are probably getting less than 50% weekly on some tanks. I'll likely tweak the run times when I swap out the emitters

[@rct6518]

very cool setup

[@northaquatics]

Nice video Like the cloth to tide things How long has there been fish in this rack? If ick shows up or a heater fails Consider a mixing valve They are fairly cheap Not much extra pluming Expensive pleco’s you have and albinos You should highly consider it Just my 2 cents and been using auto water changes systems for a few years now

[@FoisyAquatics]

The rack has been up and running for close to 2 years now. Ick and disease are mitigated by following a good quarantine routine with new arrivals. I run wi-fi temperature controllers on all the tanks with expensive fish. I initially thought about using a mixing valve, but I have a combination boiler and didn't want it kicking on to make hot water for every water change. The drip system adds the cold water so slow and in such small increments throughout the day that it does not affect the temperature of the tanks more than a degree or two anyways.

[@COOPERSCICHILDS]

Awesome set up I like it great job

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thanks 👍

[@WhiteNoiseCompany]

Where did you get the strainers for the bulkheads please 🙏

[@FoisyAquatics]

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NN0DE7K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[@tr3x43]

Oh yeah definitely some money in the Plecos haha

[@Obit88]

Very nice set up. Some types of plecos enjoy and breed best in a good amount of water movement across the front of their breeding caves. You may need some small powerheads to help with this. At least for the harder to breed plecos. Good Luck. Just subbed.

[@FoisyAquatics]

I thought this might be the case with the L046, but I've had 3 spawns in the span of 4 months on this set up!

[@jlathem56]

You mentioned that your super reds were your bread and butter fish and you had a problem getting rid of them sometimes. Where do you sell them? I had a 32 tank fishroom not long ago and once life settles down again i will be setting up some of my tanks again. Blue eye lemons were my bread and butter fish. Cory were my second to them and following them were my neocaridina shrimp. Your super reds look very nice. I would like to get a strain of them going when i get setup again if possible.

[@KriptoVlogs]

That set up is amazing and inspirational.. my wife is going to hate me for what I’m about to do to my fish room.. I also wanted to ask what is it that you are using for lids on the aquariums??

[@mrklean93]

I'm late to this video release and I haven't looked at your other videos, but your comment on drip emitters clogging even w/ filtered water makes me first think that it's not the incoming water causing the issue. My brain first goes to when the emitters are shut off, the water is freely able to drain out of them. This allows air into the line and allows evaporation inside the emitter. This evaporation is going to leave behind efflorescence inside the emitter and is likely causing the clogging. I'd extend the output clear line and form a drip loop to allow a trap of water to keep the emitter wet at all times.

[@FoisyAquatics]

That completely makes sense, though I must say that the new non-clog drip emitters have been going strong with no issues!

[@BuckWezr]

Def not a hustle; just 1 obsessed hobbyist to another:I would be MORE than happy to help you save a ton on temp control (thermostats) for those preset heaters, my man. I've built quite a few of them the past 2 years, and they've been working out *great*. Can do 12v, 110v or 220v, zero problem. Hit me up, if interested.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Send some more info to [e-mail], I'm curious!

[@Jdubswateringhole]

Great video! You could package these kits and sell them for us lazy people. 😂

[@FoisyAquatics]

I have definitely thought about it lol

[@garysfishroomtx]

Awesome job!

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thanks!

[@Tad3r]

Also for extra protection against a failed valve you can install two irrigation valves in line and wire the first one into the pump connector in your controller and it will act as a double block. If either valve fails open there's always the other one to stop the flow. It will give you more piece of mind.

[@PazLeBon]

gets less simple by the hour :)

[@jungleman4800]

I have a few clowns and i just picked up a ranger pleco today.

[@terryfrost4328]

looks good... only 1 question i have is regarding the air manifold, are all the lines running off all the same length to keep the pressure equal over all 18 filters?

[@kms108]

try considering wifi power adapters for easy access to power, I have these in all my tanks, they are fully automatic, I also have wifi auto fish feeders when I'm on holiday, I have about 5 of those when I also had turtles, but now they are on the shelves. I use a two, two bulb LED light (white/blue) which runs at 2W, as my pleco don't need much light. BTW I have 3 zebra plecos only, plan to add some cherry shrimps to eat algae and left over food.

[@life_motivation_spirituali6333]

Hey, how much time you run oxygen...... If you are running it continuously pls share a review of motor... Doesn't it gets overheated.. 🤔🤔🤔

[@gabrielrivas6281]

nice set up!!! anyone know where can I buy the plastic frames to build 20 gallon long aquariums?

[@FishyMike88]

Beautiful set up!! how did you go about cycling your tanks? did you have a tank set up and cycled filters or? i have a rack and i was scared i would kill the Beneficial bacteria to i put a couple scoops of cycled sand from my established tank. I wish I didn't :(

[@FoisyAquatics]

I had pre-cycled sponges from my old house!

[@ToolTeardowns]

Do you have chloramines in your water? I do so it seems like I can't use a water filter system like that. I will need to add dechlorinator, which makes designing a system more difficult.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thankfully I do not!

[@bigmuddy4229]

What an inspiration for my growing pleco breeding project! Thank you for sharing so much of how you built this! Does the filter inline from your water supply take out chlorine and chloramine? I’m on public water with chloramine and have thought auto water changes were something I’d never be able to do.

[@finvincent303]

I believe that’s a hma filter which strips certain heavy metals and it gets rid of chlorine and chloramknes

[@FoisyAquatics]

I know it removes chlorine, though I'm not sure on chloramine as my town thankfully doesn't use chloramine

[@DJPacoRamirez]

Great video

[@AQUAPLANET128]

Nice video

[@michalw704]

whered you get those backflow preventers from @20:24?

[@FoisyAquatics]

www.amazon.com/Pawfly-Aquarium-Valves-Plastic-Non-Return/dp/B01N92AXHF/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2B951VGOSPSIR&keywords=airline+backflow&qid=1687524370&sprefix=airline+backflow%2Caps%2C115&sr=8-2

[@jeffguy1145]

Nice setup. Your air stones will clog once a month. Change them often.

[@FoisyAquatics]

They haven't clogged that fast, though I do end up needing to replace them annually

[@joeprovenzano4362]

Do you have a complete list of material for water change AND Overflow?

[@FoisyAquatics]

Just added additional links to the description!

[@joeprovenzano4362]

@@FoisyAquatics Ty

[@carybritton4178]

I know it’s an older video. You ship your plecos? Those long fun reds look good

[@FoisyAquatics]

I do! But unfortunately I don't breed or sell bristlenose anymore :(

[@nguyensu9554]

Beautiful rack! What is the dimension of the tank?

[@FoisyAquatics]

Each tank is a 20g long

[@fearfullywonderfullymade4057]

You could probably cut back on water changes a lot if you added plants to the tanks to take care of some bio load.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Potentially, though the plants would require light and I leave the lights off all day for energy savings

[@lisamcgill664]

Zebra ones so cute

[@mpezzi]

Maybe your drip emitters are slow because you lose some water pressure when you gain height from the pressure regulator. Also longer tubes will reduce some of the pressure.

[@whatevers_clever]

love the setup! I'm just worried about those glass heaters up top blowing up while the water level is down during an auto water change. That is what happens with most glass heater blown glass accidents, the person forgot they left the heater on while doing a water change...

[@FoisyAquatics]

Yeah I definitely need to be more careful about that for sure

[@nextisnik]

Hey, really nice Setup! How did the new Non-Clog Drip Emitters work out?

[@FoisyAquatics]

So far so good!

[@addisonwilliams2221]

Only thing I’d recommend is a sensor for breeders when heater sticks on and cooks fish will shut power off to heater. There like 40 bucks peace mind those zebras cost a lot more 40. O well you have them at end video nice setup!

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thanks! Yeah that was definitely a must for the Zebra tank!

[@pakhozheng1873]

Hi, may I ask why you use two pressure regulation valves? Can you use the 15 psi valve only as you need only 15 psi?

[@beltbusterbbq7259]

Why do the tips of the LF pleco point upwards, where the fins of the SF pleco do not?

[@FoisyAquatics]

Very good question lol

[@firematt422]

Just a thought, but if you have one 1/4" tube feeding nine 1/4" tubes, you're not going to get full flow out of all nine tubes. I would try putting the nine tubes directly into the larger diameter PVC as your manifold instead of using the 1/4" tube for the manifold.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Very good point!

[@PMeer-gc7kw]

1 25w to 30w. Airflow needs a minimum of 12 outputs. Further you need other flow rate with a black nob you can turn around 1mm. This way you have better control and your airpump wil last for 20 years. Nice setup

[@Saltlydog4]

Hi! love the video. quick question: how do you know when to change the canisters out on your inline 3-canister filter?

[@FoisyAquatics]

Good question - and I actually don't have an accurate answer haha! I'm just trying to do it once a year.

[@debraricci6227]

Omg...my hero! Do you just have a list of the products you used? And your tank tops...whatbis that material and does it come clear? I am really being a student of your video! Thank you and great, impressive job!

[@FoisyAquatics]

Glad you enjoyed the video! The product list can be found in the description, as well as the polycarbonate sheet used for the lids!

[@slamboy66]

Detailed and clean, curtain hides it but someone needs some cable management .

[@FoisyAquatics]

Yeah definitely a regret that will be corrected when I build a new rack someday!

[@vinceolshove1499]

What a great set-up and I am very jealous. On your water change, the true math says 1 gallon of water twice a day is 67% water change per week, but there is little chance 5% of the fresh water goes out so you are well above 70%. You have a great system, but I am extremely worried about running your drip on a "not meant for pressure' PVC system. High pressure, especially only 3 feet onto your main, should not be plumbed with PVC. Copper or blue plastic (I hate it) is code and in theory safe. I am afraid your system may blow up and you will end up with an indoor pool in your basement. PVC is not meant for that kind of pressure.

[@FoisyAquatics]

Thank you for the words of wisdom, this is something I am definitely going to need to work on!

[@carlreichelt8724]

Actually schedule 40 is rated for well over the pressure it is receiving..only difference is it is not to be used for hot water applications..for this breaks down the polyvinyl chloride more rapidly then the chlorinated polyvinyl chloride would..which in turn would need to use cpvc if exceeding 140° f..cpvc also is more resisting to harsher chemicals..but also have noticed cpvc eventually becomes more brittle over time then pvc does

[@josephwong143]

Sir what is the size of your pleco tank. Thank you

[@footballlife2808]

I'm your subscriber

[@TaylorYarick]

With the softened water coming in every day, do you have issues controlling your hardness?

[@mikerichardson8983]

How many baby plecos do you lose through the overflow. The fry are so small they can go thru that strainer.

[@FoisyAquatics]

A small handful, though I started leaving them in the floating breeding boxes until they are too big to go through the strainer