Sonora Desert Fish Nook (mini fishroom)

[LizStreithorst]

Be sure watch your wife carefully, Peter. I hope that tomorrow she's be feeling better.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Be sure watch your wife carefully, Peter. I hope that tomorrow she's be feeling better.

Will do Liz! We are taking turns preparing herbal tea for one another!

This is starting to get fun!

Laying out the Hydor 25W Heating Cables in each 20L display tank.

HydorHeatingCableLaidOut.jpg

I'll mess around to find the optimal layouts... A small mixture of fine gravel and laterite clay will cover the cables. Then another lfine layer of just gravel will go on top of that. Total substrate depth will be about 1-1/2" These will be planted display tanks.

[JamesW]

Here in LA county most test results have a turn around time of less than a couple of hours. For those working, like my mother, she gets results back in 20 minutes. I believe it just changes from area to area.

Oh California! I lived there for 8 years, and miss it for many reasons. I don't for others but this is one reason I miss it.

Of course, originally I am from QLD Australia who have eradicated the community spread.

[two utes]

Wishing you and your wife well.
Its been good seeing the progression of your fish nook....Do you have any concerns with keeping electrical components up high in there? I'm thinking being a confined space you may have an issue with humidity.

[LizStreithorst]

How about an update on the health situation, Peter?

[FischAutoTechGarten]

How about an update on the health situation, Peter?

Liz. We feel about the same, maybe a tad worse. Bit of a cold front right now (had frost last night, and may tonight as well), so we both feel some aches... actually we feel worse than yesterday. However, we are not alarmed at all as we are breathing fine. Thank goodness for Washers, Dryers, Dishwashers and Vaccuums that clean tile floors. Makes it easier to keep up on housework even though neither one of us has much desire. Yesterday, two couples came by with homemade soup. That was a pleasant surprise and two meals we don't have to cook. However, I will say just repairing my sump sapped me of my energy today. It's 6:30pm and I'll probably veg and watch a movie... The dogs are upset that their walks are really short and just twice a day.

Wishing you and your wife well.
Its been good seeing the progression of your fish nook....Do you have any concerns with keeping electrical components up high in there? I'm thinking being a confined space you may have an issue with humidity.

The FishNook is a 3'x8' space that has a 5' x 6'8" opening into my office, so it's not really that confined. Water temps will be 80degF.. not the hight 86degF that many discus keepers maintain. Our house is dry (sonoran Desert). A little humidity in the home will be welcome. We maximize ventilation through the home so that we can cut back on A/C in the spring/fall. Notice the louvered windows into the guest room; those and the hallway have a straight shot to the 6' sliding glass patio doors of my den/office. Ceiling fan keeps air moving around (every room in the home (sans bathrooms), even our back patio, has ceiling fans). Both sump chambers and all four display tanks will have glass covers (I know open aquariums are the rage, but some of my fauna will be jumpers...). As I answered another poster, I can always add a humidity sensor and install a vent fan, all wired into my homemade aquarium controller, if I feel the need to exchange air to lower humidity.

Lots of fresh air sources for the space:

ArizonaDenOfficeAirSources.jpg

ArizonaDenOfficeDoorWays.jpg

[FischAutoTechGarten]

I mentioned 'both chambers' of my sump. So yeah. I broke out all of my busted tanks (1 broken removing rim, 1 broken drilling a hole without my jig, 1 sump that was hit by a falling door).

LessonsLearned.jpg

Successfully removed an end panel from teh tank on the far right to replace the busted end panel on the sump on the far left. Why Recycle? Because I have Covid and can't go shopping.
Sharp Glass, Heat Gun and Razon Blades... not for the faint of heart. This is the first time I've succeeded doing this, so I'm kind of happy about it...

SuccessRecyclingAGlassPane.jpg

Jig in place to drill the new hole that will connect this sump chamber to the other sump chamber.

DrillingNewSumpPanel.jpg

It's going to get cold, so my wife gave me permission to do the sump panel assembly on the kitchen counter top for stable temperatures. (I'm neat.. no spills).

SumpPanelInPlace.jpg

I guess I could have used masking tape for cleaner lines, but I was over confident and thought I could make them cleaner than I did. Oh well, always humiliating lessons to be learned. I'll let it dry until morning, then set it in the stand in the FishNook. I will allow it to cure until Sunday evening before I attach it to the other chamber. It means figuring out how I want to mount the U.V. Sterilizer and the CO2 Reactor. I just couldn't sacrifice that extra volume of water in the combined sump that is going to allow me to stock my tanks nicely.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Started plumbing things up. Began with the 1/2" supply lines. Invested in Hydroponics grade barb connectors and tubing. Unfortunately, one manufacturer's 1/2" is not the same as another's. Bulkhead fittings are a bit larger. Thank goodness for a heat gun. Will definitely be some very good seals. A valve immediately proceeds/follows each of the troublesome bulkhead elbows, so at least I'm heating up and wedging very small segments of hose. It's only the bulkhead elbows that are especially tight and require heat... So just some hard work for 9 1/2" connections and then 8 more 3/4" connections.

HeatAppliedBarbFittings.jpg

Man, I thought Hydroponic stuff would be so much easier than gluing PVC. Not so sure.

[LizStreithorst]

OK. You know what to watch out for. At the mere hint of shortness of breath get your selves to a hospital, PLEASE. You may just need supplemental O2 and a shot of Dexamethasone. The heck with braving it out with Covid 19. Lethargy is the first sign of lack of oxygen. Shortness of breath comes second.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

OK. You know what to watch out for. At the mere hint of shortness of breath get your selves to a hospital, PLEASE.

I estimate that I'm 12 days into Covid, my wife probably 11. Definitely no lethargy today. Today we felt better. Lots of cooking and cleaning.

I've plumbed more than half of the fish rack. (Even deciding on how i will include the CO2 reactor and UVFilter, which I put together today). I'm liking the black tubing and very happy that I put an isolation valve on every entry and exit of every tank.

Tomorrow (Sunday), I hope to finish the plumbing, hang the lights, and put in the gravel/laterite mix in each of the display tanks (at the very least to weigh down the heating cables that keep coming out of place)..

I'm a bit behind on my secular work, so sickness or no sickness, I need to log some decent hours this week... I can work remotely, so Covid won't be an issue. So, I don't know how much more Fish Nook stuff I'll get done throughout the week.

[coralbandit]

Nice with the heat gun !
Glad you are feeling up to things ..

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Before disposing of broken glass, decided to fix another aquarium. That means of my original 8, I broke 3, but repaired 2, and am only scraping 1. Not bad. But more importantly, I gained a skill and the confidence to work with glass. It was soooo fast removing the 2nd pane from the broken aquarium and placing it in the other broken aquarium... under 1/2 hr total! Another cold night, so this one is curing on the kitchen counter as well. Before scraping the last aquarium, I removed the bottom... and it will be my template for building the 6 glass tops I need.

AquariumSuccessfullyRepaired.jpg

Still lots more work to do. Will be interesting to see what is accomplished throughout the week.

[famtsberg]

Glad your getting better and the nook looks great. your choices of fish sound amazing can't wait to see it done.

Cheers
Fritz

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Did some small work in the R.O. Water Prep Bodega. Mounted the R.O Unit and the Pump. Of course I'm waiting on the Thermostatic Mixing Valve to arrive to complete hookup of the R.O. Unit.

ROWaterBodega.jpg

Pump is attached via a generous section of hose that allows the Storage Vessel to be re-positioned when necessary. A Tru-Union is employed for quick disconnects. The 65 Gallon R.O Storage (nominally about 55gal) is on wheels so that it can be repositioned to allow for access to other things in the Bodega. (Honestly, I'd love to trade this 24" diameter water storage for a small diameter unit... or square unit, so that it wouldn't take up so much space... but I'll live with it).

ROWaterDeliveryPump.jpg

First use of the raceway... R.O Water line from the Bodega to the FishNook.

ROWaterBodegaRaceWay.jpg

Need to run the R.O. Waste line, Storage Level Lines, and Pump Command Lines down the raceway this week...

[LizStreithorst]

Peter, I admire all that you can do and figure out how to do so beautifully, but I'm mostly happy that you are getting better. How is your wife doing? Better too, I hope.