Scott Carlson is a hobbyist in the Quad Cities area (Iowa/Illinois) who I have known for a while from American Cichlid Association conventions and other aquarium events. Having the chance to visit his fish room was a real treat. Scott’s room is great for viewing fish. It is set up like a store: dark room, lights directly over the tanks and clean glass. He filters the tanks with sponge filters. One of the filters in each tank is usually powered by a water pump that creates current. The others are powered by air that is provided by a linear piston air pump.
The vertical PVC pipe with a strainer that can be seen in a couple of the tanks is a part of the water change system. Scott uses gravity to drain water out through that pipe when he urns a valve over a drain in his floor. There is a water delivery spigot over the tanks that he attaches a hose to in order to refill the tanks. I had a lot of pictures of the system, but I lost the images in a tragic laptop file accident. The problem was between the chair and the keyboard. At least you get to see Scott’s pretty fish….
Ted, I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your site. I love all of your videos, especially the tours of other hobbyist’s fish rooms. It really highlights the everyday cichlid keeper like me. I can’t wait until your talk at the OCA meeting this year. Thanks for everything you do for the hobby. I’ll continue to check your site every day.