Small Fishroom Construction pics

[ronrca]

My new fishroom under construction. Since we are expecting an addition to the family beginning of May 2004, I must move all the fish stuff downstairs to make room for the baby. To see the ‘fish stuff’ check out http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=28496
My wife had already agreed on giving up a bedroom downstairs dedicated to my fish.

So, here it goes! ;D

Entrance to the fishroom. Ive already started construction by installing the artificial turf and a 2” drain pipe around the perimeter of the room. You can also see the T’s for stand pipes allowing for lots of drainage access. To the right of the doorway is the bathroom door. Btw, this artificial turf is great for a basement. I didnt want to be walking on cold concrete so decide on the turf. It is inexpensive and when 'accidents' happen, it drys out in no time.

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

Close up of the 2” drain pipe. You can see the pipe strapped to the wall.

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

Pic of the closet and where the drain pipe enters the room. Directly behind the wall is the bathroom which is really convenient to run water/drain pipes from. To the right is the entrance into the fishroom that is seen in pic#1.

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

This is in the bathroom closet. Where the pipe enters the wall (left side) goes into the fishroom in the above pic. The right side is connecting to the bathtub drain. I had to reduce the 2” pipe to 1 ˝”.

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

Again, a pic of the entrance into the fishroom but a little further away. Looking into the fishroom you can see the water storage container. Excellent container only taking up 32” of floor space however it is very tall, I think around 80”+. However, as you can see, I could not fit the container though the doorway. So I cut an entrance in the wall. I guess I will never again place doorways in hallways. LOL!

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

Water storage tank holds 250US Gallons.

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

Reverse view of pic#1 – looking out from the fishroom. The storage tank almost fit standing upright but was ˝” or so too tall! O well, some drywall and mud will take care of the hole. I'm actually just going to put some painted hardboard over the hole since I may need the entrance when I move sometime!

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

So now Ive ran the water line to the water storage tank as seen upper right corner and also ran the fill pipes shown half way up the wall. I use bowpex to run the tap water and you see 2 valves on the bowpex, 1 for hot, 1 for cold. This is how I mix the water to get the temp. Plumbing is completed to the storage tank. Why so many pipes? LOL! A couple of reasons. Lets start with the bulkhead on the storage tank. Valve placed to insolate the storage tank if any repairs needed for the pump or changes to the fill system. Then it Ts with 1 pipe going straight up bypassing the pump. This is because I want to utilize gravity (red arrow) to fill my sumps and rather than flowing thru the pump, it bypasses it. Or I can turn the valves and start the pump up (green arrow). The angled pipe (blue arrow) goes directly to the drain if I need to drain the storage tank. The pipe goes up (upper left corner) is for when the pump is running. Since it is a pretty good sized pump that could create a lot of pressure, when all the valves are closed that fill the sumps, the water will circulate (yellow arrow) back into the storage tank. I like control therefore I put lots of valves in. LOL!

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

Again the water storage tank this time connected to the tap water. Inside the tank is a compact ball cock which has been mentioned before. Works great! Ive also put an overflow on top and in the center of the tank is another valve that doesn’t connect to anything. Why? Since the tank is so tall, it’s a pain to climb on top, open the tank (it has a really nice lid that screws on! Well actually 2 lids, one small 6-8” inside a 24” lid). I needed a way to get some water to test the parameters. The tank is sitting on 1” Styrofoam btw. You can also see a mess of extension cords because the electrical has not been run yet hence the empty surface mount receptacle boxes.

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

We jump ahead and the racks have been setup for the 65G, the plumbing is setup and electrical is done. This is shot of the back of the rack showing the fill pipe (green), drain pipe (light blue), circulation thru the tank (red) and overflow (dark blue) setup. Again, note all the valves. Its not quite connected how I wanted and will be changing it. The valve from the pump (clouded in yellow) should actually be located above the drain (light blue) pipe so I don’t have to adjust it every time I drain the sump (it drains much slower than if fully opened). The filter as you can see is homemade and have replaced it with a improved version seen later on. This filter is mechanical only, filtering the water as it overflows from the tank. The overflow pipe is 1” pipe and the little pipe beside it is ˝” which allows me to drain the tank is need be using the siphon effect. Notice the valve is placed below the tank level.

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

The overall setup but only 1 65G. Now you see the bio filter near the ceiling. The angled pipe seen is the pipe with the red arrow in the previous pic. The pump brings up the water into the bio filter and exits the filter thru the front. The water then travels down the clear pipe into the tank. At the bottom of the clear pipe I have a V cut so I can direct the water flow anywhere in the tank to ‘sweep’ everything towards the overflow located on the opposite side of the tank, again a clear pipe, having not to use a python to vacuum. This clear pipe is actually fluorescent guard tubing which you can buy in 12’ lengths pretty cheap. Beside the overflow you can see the ˝” pipe that can siphon all the water from the tank. The blue container is the 45G sump which all the heaters and pump.

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

Both 65Gs are up and running. Electrical has been complete.

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

The second 65G or the right side. There is a hang on filter on this one because I had to take down the 30G Qt but I still want to keep the bio alive.

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

A pic of both bio towers!

[ronrca]

Re:Small Fishroom Construction pics

This is the second 65G setup. The plumbing is setup properly with the valve placed above the drain pipe. Now I can drain the sump without sacrificing the pump power and not having to adjust the valve. The connector to the valve can be seen at the very top of the pic. Also seen is the improved version of the mechanical filter. I made it out of plexi. I had to put a cover on since it would splash a lot and I mean a lot. Over 12-20hours, around 10G can splash out!