Fish room!

My parents have repurposed a storage room into a fish room for my birthday! And that's not all. My dad has offered to make any improvements nessecery to make it the best it can be. I know, I'm spoiled, but I was wondering what kind of appliances are good to have in a fish room. (besides the tanks themselves) There is already a sink, some cabinets, and two very sturdy counters for putting some tanks on. My dad is also already planning on adding some more outlets.

Sweet deal!

If you have a lot of tanks, it might be worth while to get a big air pump and run sponge filters on your tanks with that, instead of using individual power filters. Reselling the power filters will probably pay for the air pump! A few shop lights to replace individual aquarium lights are also good. A nice big tub would be helpful. You could fill it with water, dechlorinate, aerate, and let the temp equalize ahead of time for low-stress water changes.

Is there a floor drain?

Sweet deal!

If you have a lot of tanks, it might be worth while to get a big air pump and run sponge filters on your tanks with that, instead of using individual power filters. Reselling the power filters will probably pay for the air pump! A few shop lights to replace individual aquarium lights are also good. A nice big tub would be helpful. You could fill it with water, dechlorinate, aerate, and let the temp equalize ahead of time for low-stress water changes.

Is there a floor drain?

My plan was to do a 40 gallon, a 75 gallon, and a few smaller tanks. I have an air compresser meant for a nebulizer, would that work? Also, I was thinking about central filtration for the 40 and 75, any suggestions? Thanks for the shoplight idea! I can definatly get my hands on a big tub. No, there is not a floor drain.

Three words: Automatic Water Changer. People at my local fish club, the OCA (Ohio Cichlid Association) have ones that automatically pump out the old water and pump in heated, treated water, no buckets necessary. Here are some DIY plans:
http://www.aquaticpl...nge-system.html
http://www.cichlid-f...ter_changes.php
http://www.cichlid-f...ter_changer.php

And if I could build any filter I wanted, I would combine this video with the idea of a fluidized bed http://www.cichlid-f...les/diy_fbf.php


(I'm a chemical engineering major, so combining a fluidized bed reactor with a fish tank filter sounds so incredibly awesome to me)

Edited by EricaWieser, 06 April 2011 - 09:12 PM.

Three words: Automatic Water Changer. People at my local fish club, the OCA (Ohio Cichlid Association) have ones that automatically pump out the old water and pump in heated, treated water, no buckets necessary. Here are some DIY plans:
http://www.cichlid-f...ter_changer.php
http://www.cichlid-f...ter_changes.php
http://www.aquaticpl...nge-system.html

And if I could build any filter I wanted, I would combine this video with the idea of a fluidized bed http://www.cichlid-f...les/diy_fbf.php


(I'm a chemical engineering major, so combining a fluidized bed reactor with a fish tank filter sounds so incredibly awesome to me)

Thanks for the resources! These will definately come in handy!

Thanks for the resources! These will definately come in handy!

Sure, no problem. Some more links you didn't really ask for but that I've bookmarked for when the time comes when I can set up my own fish place are:





More links:
youtube.com/watch?v=95HShae6x2E
youtube.com/watch?v=zEO64JqhjRE

Hope those are interesting

When I was a young pup I staked out a corner of the basement - I didn't have a lot of tanks but it was nice to have free reign. We didn't have a lot of the equipment that is available today - Dynaflo filters were the order of the day - or a Vortex diatom filter if you wanted to go really high tech. No Internet either - I did a lot of stuff based on the Innes book. It was either that or any of several books by Axelrod, which I came to despise. I bought all my own stuff - I worked at a pet store so that helped. I was 14 years old, and that "fish room" is where I spent most of my time. My biggest tank was a 29.

The best part was experimenting with different stuff - mostly low tech. My advice - don't go high tech. Takes all the fun out of it!

I know with my fishroom, I didn't add ventilation in and regretted it. now we are moving so I do not care as I would have had this random exhaust fan in the middle of a room.

Make sure there is plent of electrical high enough off the ground to avoid water leaking down wires into the plug. If you plan to keep several tanks in a row (no space inbetween) look into shop lights because it is much cheaper!

Would one 4 foot flourescent shoplight about 2 feet above an 8 foot tank countertop be sufficient in lighting them all? I want light quality close to that of a storebought aquarium light on top of a hood.

I rest my light right on the lid of the tank. Picture: http://img.photobuck...imiru/039-1.jpg Light model: http://www.homedepot...catalogId=10053
And I've got these bulbs http://www.homedepot...53#BVRRWidgetID (they're $8 for two bulbs). 32 watts, 2750 lumens, 6500 K per bulb.

I rest my light right on the lid of the tank. Picture: http://img.photobuck...imiru/039-1.jpg Light model: http://www.homedepot...catalogId=10053
And I've got these bulbs http://www.homedepot...53#BVRRWidgetID (they're $8 for two bulbs). 32 watts, 2750 lumens, 6500 K per bulb.

I was just wondering because we installed a brand new shoplight just a while ago so I thought that maybe it would be sufficient.

I was just wondering because we installed a brand new shoplight just a while ago so I thought that maybe it would be sufficient.

"Sufficient" lighting all depends on your goals. If you, like me, use the light as an energy source for living breathing plants, then you might want bright, full spectrum light. If you just use your light to illuminate your fish, then it doesn't really matter. Some nocturnal fish become shier with bright lights, so for them you'd want to use dimmed lights or red spectrum lights to encourage them out into the open. It's all about what you're going for.

or any of several books by Axelrod, which I came to despise.

+1!
I have several of the old Innes books. Classics, and full of info that is being "discovered" today.

On the fish room, make sure the tank stands are level. Think about a dehumidifier, too.

Rick

full of info that is being "discovered" today.

Ain't that the truth. Apparently the "Walstad method" is something new and on the cutting edge of modern thinking!

If you have access to issues of "The Aquarium" you are in for a real treat.

I don't know if I'd bother doing central filtration for 2 tanks, unless you plan on adding several more at some point. Are they predrilled? I might've missed if you said they were. I converted my garage into a fish room and run most of the tanks on sponges via a linear air drive pump. It's silent and has enough for the couple dozen tanks I have going and then some.

As far as lighting goes, if you don't plan on live plants then whatever is aesthetically pleasing is good enough. If you want to keep and sustain live plants, I suggest getting at least a dual bulb t8 shop light directly over each tank within just a few inches from the top of the tanks. You can go higher up, but at some point their growth will be minimal. You can spread a single light over multiple tanks depending on how you angle them.

This project is still on going, I'm still planning to insulate the garage before the heat really sets in, and also working on an automatic water changing system using DIY pvc overflows. Rather than a floor drain I just put a hole in the wall to the outside near the floor and plan to run a 2-3" pvc along the bottom of the wall.

This is what it looked like when we moved in:

And this is what it looks like currently, or as of last pics a few weeks ago.


best of luck!

Edited by jetajockey, 09 April 2011 - 08:06 PM.

I don't know if I'd bother doing central filtration for 2 tanks, unless you plan on adding several more at some point. Are they predrilled? I might've missed if you said they were. I converted my garage into a fish room and run most of the tanks on sponges via a linear air drive pump. It's silent and has enough for the couple dozen tanks I have going and then some.

As far as lighting goes, if you don't plan on live plants then whatever is aesthetically pleasing is good enough. If you want to keep and sustain live plants, I suggest getting at least a dual bulb t8 shop light directly over each tank within just a few inches from the top of the tanks. You can go higher up, but at some point their growth will be minimal. You can spread a single light over multiple tanks depending on how you angle them.

This project is still on going, I'm still planning to insulate the garage before the heat really sets in, and also working on an automatic water changing system using DIY pvc overflows. Rather than a floor drain I just put a hole in the wall to the outside near the floor and plan to run a 2-3" pvc along the bottom of the wall.

This is what it looked like when we moved in:

And this is what it looks like currently, or as of last pics a few weeks ago.


best of luck!

Thank you! Beutiful tanks by the way. What do you keep?

Thank you! Beutiful tanks by the way. What do you keep?

Thanks, they are definitely 'utility' purpose rather than show tanks, for sure, lol.

I have 8 different guppy/endler strains going, rams, peacock gudgeons, black strain corydoras, a few different kind of angelfish, jack dempseys, cherry shrimp/crystal red shrimp, longfin and shortfin bristlenose plecos, paradisefish, honey gourami, celestial pearl danios, danio choprai, that's all i can think of off the top of my head.

I have 8 different guppy/endler strains going, rams, peacock gudgeons, black strain corydoras, a few different kind of angelfish, jack dempseys, cherry shrimp/crystal red shrimp, longfin and shortfin bristlenose plecos, paradisefish, honey gourami, celestial pearl danios, danio choprai, that's all i can think of off the top of my head.

Yep, time to move up to natives.

Yep, time to move up to natives.

Can you get those in Florida?

Why don't my parents do this?