Betta Barracks up Close

I finally got a few pictures that are up close of our flow through Betta Barracks. The photo on the left shows the input side of the barracks. Since I am left-handed, I made mine on the left end. Because of the white walls and stainless shelves, it is a bit difficult to see that first compartment is only about 2″ wide. An imput line will go down into that compartment and feed water into the barracks. If you look real close you will see the space under that first divider that allows water to flow into the next cell.

Notice the dividers between the cells. I actually got the configuration backwards on the first cell of this barracks.. but you have a long divider that goes from the top to almost touching the bottom. This divider goes on the ‘in’ side of the barracks so water flows under this divider. The shorter divider is about 1″ high and is placed on the bottom of the tank on the ‘out’ side of the tank. This divider directs the flow of water up into the next cell and also prevents the fins of the fish from being washed into the neighbors cell where it could get chewed up.

At the other end of the barracks we drilled a hole 1/2″ in diameter. Notice again the last compartment is smaller than the others.. only about 2″ wide. Inside this compartment we have a 1/2″ coupling that was cemented to a short length of pvc. The pvc was cut short enough to allow the coupling and the elbow that goes on the outside of the barracks to fit snuggly up against the barracks. Not only are the pvc pieces glued to each other, the coupling and elbow are sealed to the plexi to prevent leaks. A design change for the next barracks is to make the input area only 1.5″ wide and this output area 2.5″ wide. The reason.. that coupling on the inside is almost touching the last divider. I’d like a bit more room on this end.. the water input only needs to be wide enough to put a small hose into.

The elbow is a slip on one end and threaded on the other. The threaded end we have pointing at a 45 degree angle down. Into the threads we put a nipple we can attach a hose to. In time, this hose will be cut to about 4″ and the end will run into a ‘wye’ or ‘tee’ that feeds into a main drain. Right now we have a longer hose that reaches to a 5 gallon bucket on the floor. We pump fresh water in and wait until the bucket is almost full.. giving us close to a full water change.