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Catfish Tank

Quick question for y'all. I've been thinking about getting some more fish into my system. I've got a tank that's 148"x30"x20"(LWH)....Would these dimensions be okay for raising some catfish? They're bottom feeders, so I'd imagine they would be okay with a little less fish tank height....Any thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by Scott Roberts on February 27, 2014 at 12:11pm

The height shouldn't be a problem. The dimensions are rather raceway-ish - what are your plans for keeping the bottom clean and providing current for the cats?

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Permalink Reply by 1EyedTuna on February 27, 2014 at 11:28pm

Thats like a 390 gallon tank... dimensions are fine. It will easily handle a good number of cats. You could really pack that with fish. But like Scott asked, hows the flow rate through this tank? You just don't want any anaerobic zones to build up. Its hard to know I don't know what sort of system you have it hooked up to.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Veidel on March 2, 2014 at 8:40am

Flow rate is a really good point to bring up guys. The tank I'm thinking about is my current sump tank. I was mulling over the idea of using a bridge siphon to connect another tank to my current sump to stabilize the water level and then redirecting my growbeds to siphon into the the extra sump tank before flowing into my would be catfish tank. My water pump would also be housed in the catfish tank.

I recently built a worm tea brewer and purchased an oversize airpump for it. I'm planning on using the excess air to aerate the water.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Veidel on March 2, 2014 at 8:46am

So, let's summarize the overall plan:

I have a CHOP system, with the pump in my sump tank (dimensions listed, the one I'm planning on converting to a catfish tank.

Pumps water to my current fishtank, which is an IBC tote

Solids lift overflow carries the water from the bottom of the tote and gravity feeds simultaneously to my two media beds.

With the way my growbeds are set up, I probably won't be able to siphon off both beds into an extra sump tank, so I will likely have to empty one into the extra sump tank and the other into the catfish tank. One bed empties into the opposite end of the pump in my sump tank.

Gee, I hope that made sense. I can't think of the last time I've ever listed off my system design via text...Lol, I feel like a noob :) (which, when it comes to catfish, I would be)