Hi everyone, I thought it was finally time to chronicle my fish room build. I'm not sure it truly counts as a fish room because it's only going to house two tanks, maybe three at most, but it is mine and I'm happy with how things are coming along. The main tank is a 180 gallon tank I got for $300 out of a guy's basement, with a 75 gallon sump and a 75 gallon quarantine/grow out tank on a much smaller stand. First picture is the stand I had built by a friend with a welder and access to square tubing. The stand is 36" tall and I painted it with truck bed liner. I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out; I was hoping for a slightly rougher texture, but it will do just fine.
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Next we have the tank sitting on the stand with the sump below it, before starting plumbing.
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The plumbing nightmare begins. The top bulkhead is the one that feeds the sump through 1-1/2" PVC. Bottom bulkhead is utilized as the drain for water changes. I have a full set up plumbed to a drain across the floor that I'll take a picture of next time I set it up. The tank is fed through 1" PVC and a DIY PVC spraybar.
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75 gallon quarantine/grow out tank. My one lonely discus is living in there currently; story to follow.
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Tank filled with a layer of sand at the bottom. Yes I know there's a hole in the sand. That's caused by the spray bar and I just haven't fixed it.
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My two 55 gallon water holding barrels. Each houses a 300 watt Eheim heater and a MaxiJet 1200 for circulation/filling the tanks. The barrels are fed by a hard plumbed feed line in the bathroom behind the 180 gallon tank. My dad and I also ran more electrical service to the room.
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My DIY sump build out of a 75 gallon I bought for $80. I know most of you dislike socks and I might change it one day, but the water is fed through there, in to the next chamber which houses my pot scrubbers sandwiched between two pieces of egg crate held down by some pieces of slate. Turns out pot scrubbers are incredibly bouyant. Who knew. Below that is a partitioned section the bottom egg crate rests on housing three Eheim 300 watt heaters. The water flows through a bubble trap in to the return pump section which houses a Waveline DC6000 pump.
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Since I don't want to start another thread in a different sub forum, I'll talk about my lonely discus.
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Meet Fred. I bought Fred off a guy here in town who simply didn't have the time to care for his discus anymore. He had three originally, one didn't make it a few months ago, another isn't doing well that he didn't want to give to me, and Fred. He's a flamingo throwback, around 6". He's been eating well, with daily water changes in the meantime, even ate from my hand this evening. Been getting far more adventurous as the days go by, even swimming right up to me against the glass. I haven't noticed any of the health issues I've been told to look out for and I'm happy with his progress. I know discus do a million times better in groups, but I couldn't pass this guy up. In the next couple weeks, I'll be buying 12 2-3" juvies to grow out in that tank after I move Fred over to the larger tank. He won't be entirely alone, I will have some cardinals and rummynose in with him, and hopefully he continues to do well until I can move the juvies over to the big tank.
I look forward to hearing everyone's feedback, positive and negative. I'm a first time discus owner, so have at it. :)
