My fishroom

[lauris]

I have a few photos of my fishroom to share. It is in the basement of my old house. I have had it going for about 4 years, although it certainly is a work in progress. I have about 40 discus but suspect that my fishkeeping routine is more amenable to angels, of which I also have a pair or two. I just got a few bettas and will see about them.

The entire space is basically a corner in my 100 year old Minneapolis basement. It is about 8 feet wide and 15 or 16 feet long. I have a 110, 3 90's, 2 75's, 3 40's, 3-29's, 6-20's, a 55, and half a dozen 2.5's and 5's and 10's. I needed to maximize the space given the limited height (6'6") and footprint.

I built multi-level stands as I acquired tanks and while I would like to have more uniformity in a future fishroom, this hodge-podge approach has let me acquire equipment in stages and custom fit stands to space.

There is a central air line which was a great investment. I put in a sub-panel off my electrical service for about $300 that was a great relief to the tripping circuits. I drain the tanks through a haphazard but devastatingly effective conglomeration of garden hoses, 3/4" tubing, and sump and submersible pumps.

I also use a garden hose type pump to clean the tanks. It does work out nifty and I describe/picture it herein in case anyone else wants to try it. I certainly have learned quite a bit by looking at others' fishrooms, either online or in person and offer these pics and commentary as a contribution to that knowledge base.

I have not done a serial post with pics before, so bear with me.

[lauris]

These are some pigeon bloods in a 110 high, which is a nice tank. Some type of 'high-fin' variety I cannot now recall the name of. Sub-adults.

[lauris]

This is a 'blue pigeon' from Stendker.

[lauris]

Some blue pandas, whites, and a ghost that I wish would pair up.

[lauris]

Marlboro red fry after beefheart.

[lauris]

a pair of pigeons. spawned them, so looking forward to the next generation.

[lauris]

Angels. The kois I raise, I have a nice veil-tail koi (gold marble?) pair that have produced a few thousand fry. The smokey veil I am hoping will pair. I also have a tank of blue blusher veils that I have raised up that look spectacular.

[lauris]

I will try to show the layout of the room. It has a corner in the basement that also has a workshop, laundry, dog kennels, orchids and plants (100's) in a 24' by 24' space. There is a 110 over a 55.

[lauris]

Er, that's the plant cart next to the 110, you can see the edge of the tank in the above photo. Anyway, this is the 110 high. As you can see, there is no support except on the ends of the tank. A cross piece bears no weight with a static load of this type and I found that I needed the space much more than the illusory support. There is a 3/4" flexible tubing going up the back. It is attached in the tank to a cheap via aqua pump I got online for about fifteen bucks. I just open a stopcock in the tubing, plug the pump in and the water goes up, over and out to the basements floor drain. I wouldn't recommend a separate pump per tank, but this was an early thing that allowed me to start changing water on a more 'automatic' basis. No hassle, just connect the pump and toss it in, at the price I paid, I wish I had bought ten. I have another pump-hose in a 90.

Two of my tanks I bought drilled and they drain on their own. The rest I drain with my wonder wand or I carry a submersible from tank to tank and pump them that way. I can change all the water in the room ~800 gallons in a little over an hour and a half.

[lauris]

Left side of room. The first rack has the bettas in their small tanks. Then two 90's, and 6 20's (three narrow side out). At the end of the room is a 90 under a 20 long and a tv and whatever else. The top could take a 48" tank like another 90 but a place for my TV and books and whatever else is also useful. The 20 has a pair of bristlenose ancistrus that provide cleaners for the rest of the tanks. They, and the lights on timer (generally when I am around in the morning and evening) keep the algae to a bare minimum.

[lauris]

another view. can see a dorm fridge and a work station of sorts where i hatch brine shrimp and mess with little fish in little tanks. the cooler on the floor is actually a sound dampener for a pump. the rug on the floor is one i 'custom' cut to fit. buy them at garage sales for ten bucks and keep it until it gets too wet and rotted to go on.

Stack of 3 29's hold pairs when I have them. I don't keep discus in the bottom tanks of these three-highs. I do find that I tend to keep them full of ancistrus growing out or guppies or they could also function as a hospital tank, although I have never medicated.

[lauris]

29's and 40's. no cross supports. i thought the camera was auto-focus.

[lauris]

2 75's. As to the previous 3-high stands. The 29's have 6" clearance but that is just an inch too narrow. The 40's are 8" and that is perfect for me. I put a mdf shelf under the 75's here and you can see that is has sagged.

Most of the tanks are wrapped bottom and sides with reflectix. Easy to work with and recommended. I think there is a thread by Jeep that has more info. That is where I got the idea. No problems with tape pulling off after 3 years. I just used the 3M packing tape. Wrapped the bottom too, like a package. The weight of the tank takes care of any irregularities.

[lauris]

The view 'out' of the fishroom and towards laundry. Can see the storage in the rafters. Maybe the garden hoses snaking through that area too.

[lauris]

i store and age water in two stock tanks stacked one over the other. The are entirely wrapped in reflectix. They are galvanized and light. I looked into all sorts of options to store water, but was limited by my narrow stairs. These are 6' long and basically a couple feet high and wide. I think they each hold 257 gallons. Could always use more water, but these are in scale with my tanks. They do take up space but this is a back passageway that would not be used.

[lauris]

The tanks come into the fishroom under a 45.

[lauris]

a close up of the 'plumbing'. There is a pedestal sump pump. A Wayne 1/3 hp I think. Cheap, like $30. The PVC to the left is from the top stock tank. I have a submersible in the top tank that pumps to a PVC pipe and starts a siphon into the lower tank. Each of the stock tanks has about 1000-1500w of heater and an airstone.

The sump pumps to a 1.5" pvc that i stuck on the regulation attachment. That pipe is reduced to a garden hose fitting that you can maybe see off to the right.

[lauris]

That garden hose (and this is where things get weird) goes to a garden hose splitter that is situated in a nearly inaccessible place that I really could not get a good picture of.

[lauris]

The hose connections are easy to work with in a cramped space. I use the basic .99 plastic connectors and basic hose (5/8). I don't use any special garden hose, but i do buy it new and run water through it for awhile. The four hoses run off the splitter up into and around and through the rafters and terminate in this gizmo. I can then run water at a decent rate into four tanks. My personal record for overflowing a tank is 1.5 days.

[lauris]

This is a cooler containing a pump. The cooler is a sound dampener, you can seed the garden hose going through a hole i drilled in the side of the cooler. I used this same technological breakthrough to hold the linear piston pumps that power my central air. They each are in a plastic 6-pack size cooler with holes drilled for inlet and outlet air. They probably do get a little hot in there, but so far no fires.

[lauris]

The pump. Garden hose connections again, in and out. Idiot-proof. The out hose goes up into the rafters and over to the laundry tub. The in-hose has a 'wand' connected to that I use to clean up the tanks.

[lauris]

The end of the in-hose. The pump generates enough suction to handle the height while still giving plenty of sucking power to clean up any crud in the tank. It will handle solids like picked over beefheart and is invaluable. I can drain a 20 in a few minutes. For the bigger tanks, I use the pumps inside them or carry a submersible to each tank and drain them quickly that way.

[lauris]

the garden hose to npt connection depicted above can be made although they will tell you it cannot. Here is my final pic and my contribution, copyright-free, to the brine shrimp hatchery archives. I don't claim it to be the finest bbs hatchery of all time, but I have not seen its equal. The key is that ocean spray juice bottles nest perfectly into a 2.5 gallon tank. Three of them so there is always some fresh hatching going on. Put a heater in the tank and they stay warm, some aeration (through a rigid air line instead of tubing) and go to town. The salt water goes through those binder clips in about two weeks, so make sure your office orders enough.

[ronrca]

Wow! Its looking really good. I see a lot of good ideas and innovation.
Your discus are really nice as well! ;)

Thanks for sharing!

[jim_shedden]

Excellent!!!!!!!...............I love the idea of using the pvc for spawning sites......I do the exact same thing except mine are black.
Thanks for the pictures.

Jim

[mench]

Nice pics,always fun to see other folks fish rooms.

Mench

[Timbo]

Great post! very interesting, and thanks for sharing!


My personal record for overflowing a tank is 1.5 days. lol

[discusfire4]

Great post! very interesting, and thanks for sharing!

lol
mine is 3 days!!

[kaceyo]

You've got some high quality finageling goin on there. It looks like one of my custum built "add it as you need it" setups. I'm very surprised to see that you can suspend a large tank by only it's ends. What is the largest tank you've done that with? I'd worry myself sick just thingkin about my tanks like that, lol. Anybody else doingit like that?
Good job,

Kacey

[lauris]

The second pic is of a 110 that has been suspended by its ends for 3 years now. Structurally, only the uprights bear any weight. I am sometimes forced to spend time with structural engineers and more than one has confirmed this. And, a picture is worth a thousand words. The fasteners (bolts or nails) should also be directly over each other (as in a colon : ) rather than offset ( / ). This adds significantly to the strength. Finally, never notch an upright. I sometimes see that and all it does is put the weight on the area under the notch, usually a 2X2 section.

[CAGE-RATTLER]

Just haveing end braces was definately something that caught my attention!

That definately would help with spacing and making a 3-up rack much easier ............. but i think i would have to add a brace across the back for some added strength.

Even then i think i would be scared to death to do that ..... lol.

Maybe not so much in a concrete floor basement ................. but in my carpeted rooms ..... im not so sure.

Maybe a 2x2 or 2x3 flat with some angle braces across the front would ease the worries .... lol.

By the way ...... i was wondering ...... do you guys just use the cheapest 2x4's or do you use pressure treated??

[CAGE-RATTLER]

Now that brings up another thought :confused:

Do you even have the uprights tied together at all?? You would have to wouldnt you or the whole thing would fall over ..... lol.

[kaceyo]

Thanks Lauris,
Thats interesting. I would think that the front and rear supports would help keep the weight evenly distributed and keep the tank from flexing even though the end supports are actualy holding all the weight. Are there any engineers out there that can add to this? The extra clearence alone would make it worth while. If I tried it it would be like Wile E Cayote stepping off the cliff. It would stay up till I looked at it and realized there was nothing under it, then it would come crashing down, haha!

Kacey

[lauris]

It took me awhile to accept it. It is an immutable law of physics though. There is a crosspiece in back, often two, so that the stand does not "rack" or sway to and fro. For that, 1X boards that are wider are better in that they help withstand the flex better.

I started with new lumber, untreated, and bolts through everything. The last stand was a double 90 and I did that with pure scrap 2X6's that were probably 25 years old and nails.

I don't think it is overly reckless behavior. Some stands that are 'overbuilt' actually are counter-productive in that they introduce flex or transer loads away from bearing members. The classic example of this is the 2X6 that is 'notched' to accept a 2x4 or another 2x6 as a crosspiece. This actually puts the weight on the area under the notch, 2x2. Those stands hold up 75s or 90s (I saw a post on here once with a 125 like that) on what amounts to 2x2s. They hold I guess, but that is a pretty slim margin I would imagine.

[molurus73]

Looks real nice. I am thinking about building my racks like that with no cross supports. I am a little nervous though. Have you had any problems with the tanks flexing at all? No bowing of the glass or anything like that? That would make things really nice and easy.

[ronrca]

Have you had any problems with the tanks flexing at all? No bowing of the glass or anything like that? That would make things really nice and easy.
If the glass were to bow or flex, it will crack. If you look at commerical built tanks, you will see that the bottom isnt actually at the very bottom of the tank. The bottom glass is actually raised an inch from the bottom.

[kaceyo]

Have you tried this with acrylic tanks? I'd think they need more support, but then I thought glass needed more than it really does.

Kacey

[CAGE-RATTLER]

If the glass were to bow or flex, it will crack. If you look at commerical built tanks, you will see that the bottom isnt actually at the very bottom of the tank. The bottom glass is actually raised an inch from the bottom.


So are you saying that just supports on the end is sufficient?

[jeep8rus]

I love those blue pandas! All I really see people showing off are red melons, goldens, and spotted varieties.

Who supplied them to you?

-Russ

[chris allsop]

i thought i had it hard with three tanks!!
great set up there mate, i bet theres alot of work gone into it!!

[Ginoinchicago]

Lauris, Fish room looks great! Good Job.

I just want to point out tho, the angels you pictured are very nice gold marbles. They are not koi. Koi would not show striations in the fins and are blushing. These are not. They are still great looking fish. Gold Marbles are one of my favorites. For definition, a Koi is a Gold Marble Blushing. Genetics notation can be Gm/g S/S or Gm/Gm S/S. Where Gm stands for Gold Marble, g stands for gold and S stands for stripeless. A "koi" Can have a singel or double dose of Gold Marble but must have a double dose of stripeless in order to be blushing. If you need more info for angel genetics, the TAFII forum is a great source for info.

[Ardan]

Thanks for sharing,
Looks like you have a great time with it.
I have a drain pump similar to yours and I really like it for sucking up debris and emptying tanks.

Nice fish too:)
Ardan