GWAPA Meeting – Multitank Systems

August 28th, 2007

On Saturday, GWAPA had its August 2007 meeting out in Braddock Heights, MD at Robert’s house. Robert maintains two circulating ranges in his fish room, which means that he has multiple tanks chained together creating a much larger shared water volume than if each tank were separate. The plumbing involved with this is very impressive, and a little chaotic, if you don’t know what you’re looking at. Robert did an excellent job dispelling some of the mystery during his talk. You can find a summary of his talk on GWAPA’s website.

Part of Robert’s setup is a prominently displayed Crinum veggie-filter. The water is circulated through this tank, where huge Crinum root-balls suck up nitrate from the water. With so many siphons and pumps, it’s impossible to use CO2 injection, but nevertheless, Robert maintains some very nice low-tech tanks with anubias, val, java fern, etc… He also sports one of, if not, the oldest American colonies of Melanotaenia praecox dwarf neon rainbows, being one of the first purchasers of females in the United States from Germany.

Crinum Veggie Filter

And beyond that, our meeting had another great mini-auction, including many rare plants, and even a few aquarium setups this time. I was happy to be able to give away a few copies of The Aquatic Gardener (TAG), featuring my very first published cover image and article about GWAPA’s recent Florida collecting trip.