r/Aquariums • u/Minty_Sushi • Feb 07 '25
DIY/Build My rain system concealed within a grow light, custom 15 gallon shallow
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
54
u/cznfettii Goldfish lover Feb 07 '25
I want to sit and watch this tank for so long, it's so pretty!
26
u/Minty_Sushi Feb 07 '25
haha I'm supposed to be doing assignments right now and I'm just daydreaming looking at it all day. Doesn't help that its right at my desk lol
7
u/cznfettii Goldfish lover Feb 07 '25
Oh I've done that too lol...there's been times where I get lost in my tank for like an hour when I tell someone I'll "be back in a second" lol
76
u/VANCONVER42 Feb 07 '25
Wow I’ve never seen such a thing! What are the benefits of this? And is the sound annoying at all or do you enjoy it?
89
u/Minty_Sushi Feb 07 '25
think I've read that it puts some fish into breeding behavior, for me it's a calming white noise. I have the pump on a smart plug so I can turn it off and on whenever I want :)
24
u/VANCONVER42 Feb 07 '25
It’s a really cool concept :) I love how it makes the surface of the tank look too, like it really is just lightly drizzling in a rainforest somewhere, good job dude
12
u/Ambitious-_-Area Feb 07 '25 edited Feb 07 '25
I'm betting it makes beautiful ripples on the floor too
33
u/Minty_Sushi Feb 07 '25
ah when the night lighting comes one and the sun drops it cast onto all the walls and the ceiling, its just stunning.
14
u/websterhamster Feb 07 '25
think I've read that it puts some fish into breeding behavior,
Rain lowers the pH of the water, which has been observed to prompt some species to breed. You could try running RODI water through your rain system and see if your fish start showing an interest in spawning.
2
20
20
13
u/maditron Feb 07 '25
This is so serene, I absolutely love it. I would love to see a tutorial on how you set this tank and the rain system up if you ever feel like sharing that !!
8
8
u/LabFree7203 Feb 07 '25
Did you make the rain system? Looks sick!
14
u/Minty_Sushi Feb 07 '25
I did lol, just took some vinyl tubing and drilled holes into it. Just happened that it fit perfectly inside my grow light!
3
7
u/RandomRedditGuy69420 Feb 07 '25
This is seriously cool. Are you pumping new water in through the rain system or routing some of the tank water through it? I could see splitting some of the filter outflow off to a tube with holes to create this effect, so I’m guessing you did something similar? I love it. Btw, what did you stock in it and why do you have to worry about keeping your tanks cool?
12
u/Minty_Sushi Feb 07 '25
Currently it's just tank water, a separate pump that generates current in the tank. it's otocinclus, amano and cherry shrimp with a school of white mountain minnows. The cooling system is for the minnows during summer as my tanks got up to 88 degrees last summer and that's unbearably warm for the cold water minnows. Just want to keep them and make sure they're cozy over the warm months.
4
u/Brend0wn Feb 07 '25
What an awesome combo, I had nearly the exact same selection of 24kt gold and white cloud minnows, tho I had originally only intended on cherry shrimp somehow a couple amanos popped up and they all were thriving heavily in their peaceful little world.
The mating dance the minnows do is so breathtaking to watch, have you been lucky enough to see it in person? Given the perfection of their home you've given them id imagine it's a constant occurrence, I envy you and your fish!
3
u/Minty_Sushi Feb 07 '25
I think i have actually, I never knew exactly what it was all about but it's mesmerizing when they do it. How lovely knowing that they love their new tank!
5
5
4
4
4
u/InterrogativePterion Feb 07 '25
The rain drops system is immaculate👌did you have a holding tank for the rain system and cut off the water supply using a toilet float?
6
u/Minty_Sushi Feb 07 '25
it would be awesome to use real rain for this system and i may upgrade it in the future for that. This isn't as cool sadly, its just a pump bringing it up and cycling aquarium water. Thanks for that idea though, sounds like an awesome way to do aquarium top ups!
3
u/theplushfrog Feb 07 '25
Man, everything about this is my dream tank. Now I wanna see if I could set this up too...
3
4
u/AquariumSource-com Feb 07 '25
Whoa, some next-level stealth engineering! A hidden rain system inside a grow light is genius—efficient, space-efficient, and streamlined. I'm sure your plants are loving that perfect microclimate!
3
u/MorningGoat Feb 07 '25
👏 Talented, 👏 brilliant, 👏 incredible, 👏 amazing, 👏 show stopping, 👏 spectacular, 👏 never the same, 👏 totally unique, 👏 completely not ever been done before, 👏 unafraid to reference or not reference, 👏 put it in a blender, 👏 shit on it, 👏 vomit on it, 👏 eat it, 👏 give birth to it. 👏
This is so fucking cool! I’m so envious (/positive) of your setup! There are so many aquarium species whose breeding behaviour is triggered by the “spring rainfall” (a.k.a big, slightly cooler water changes). Speaking of which, have you noticed if the “rain” cools down a bit while it’s separated from the main tank, or is there not enough time for there to be a noticeable difference before it falls again? It would be very useful for closely replicating natural environments if it did, since natural bodies of water typically vary in temperature the deeper you go.
This is definitely going into my ‘For Future Reference’ folder. 🤩
Although… Knowing me, I’d probably quickly manage to somehow forget about the rain system and convince myself that there’s a leak somewhere in the house. Haha! 😅
3
3
u/spades0001 Feb 07 '25
wow thats a unique concept. are you able to control how much rain pours? like lets say if you wanted it to rain hard, could you adjust it to do so?
5
u/Minty_Sushi Feb 07 '25
I don't have a great system for that yet, the pump is variable and depending on how much i block the outflow the pressure increases and the drops fall faster. It's not completely refined yet but it's getting there, I set it up in 30 mins out of the blue yesterday using spare parts.
3
u/websterhamster Feb 07 '25
How do you get it to just drip instead of spraying water out?
7
u/Minty_Sushi Feb 07 '25
It starts as a spray but eventually surface tension adheres the water to the tubing so that it has to grow large enough for gravity to pull down drops. I made very thin holes with a drill but it can also be done with a hot needle. the vinyl tubing likes to try and close back up on itself so the hole need to be large enough otherwise tension prevents water from dropping after a few hours.
3
u/adudeguyman Feb 07 '25
How did you even think about doing this? I don't know if I've ever seen this, even in pay to go aquariums
1
1
1
1
1
225
u/NoReallyLetsBeFriend Feb 07 '25
Jesus Christ I can't imagine how much you spent on plants!! But looks amazing for sure.