Fishroom rebuild

Ok, after running my existing fishroom since 2010, I decided it was time for a complete make over. This decision was mainly due to my discus breeding taking off, as well as Eskom load shedding. I felt it will be easier and more practical to manage larger tanks ( equating to more water volume and thus more stable conditions ultimately ).

First to go were all the 3 foot stack ups. Initially there were 4 of these giving a total of 24 tanks. These have now all been exchanged for standard 1.2m tanks. So im now down to 12 x 1.2m tanks, 6 breeding cubes and then a rack of tanks for my guppies.

The first thing we did was revamp the 1.2m stack ups bought off gumtree!!

 

The tanks have a width of 450mm and the frame is only 400mm wide, so I decided to opt for boards underneath to help spread the load.

Builders had a good deal on 18mm shutterply and cut them to size. 5 new pieces out of a board to go with some spares I had lying around. 3 coats of Woodoc and they good to go.

 

I previously had black nylon piping as my air feed, but this has been replaced with 25mm conduiting on a complete loop. So now hopefully each air outlet will have equal pressure. All the 12 x 1.2's will have 2 sponge filters and a hang on filled with siporex. Here is a pic of the modified irrigation nipples to connect each airline.

 

Finally I have room to mount a dedicated shelf for food containers, water conditioners etc and up to the right, a shelf for my air compressor. I also have enough space in the fishroom to keep my 250litre water prep drum so this should help keep electricity costs down.

 

Cool!
What are you doing to keep heating costs down?
(My fishroom is tiny, and cold in winter)
Looking for ideas...

 

Looking good. What have you done with all of your fish on the interim?

 

Basically all I have done is blank out the existing window with 30mm polystyrene. The ceiling is polystyrene which is cladded. In fact the room actually retains its warmth pretty well and in summer time I keep the door open otherwise it gets just too hot in there

 

Sold off a lot of fish and have basically only retained discus adults and angels for breeding stock. All the 1.2m's will be used as grow-out tanks.

 

very cool
what have you done to seal the walls to stop water damage and stuff

 

I have been running this room as a fishroom since 2010 and only had 2 miff areas when we cleared out the previous racks. A good scrubbing of bleach and we were good to go with the re-fit. I also have an extractor fan mounted in the ceiling if the humidity gets too high.

 

Sounds like a good plan.
Maybe I should also stick polystyrene sheets on the sides of the individual tanks to retain heat in the tanks.
Got to do something now while its still warm, before the cold arrives.

 

Yes, cladding your tanks with polystyrene will most certainly help the cause

 

A well-thought out fishroom is something I've never had, please keep posting pics of your build's progress, you gonna inspire more than a few of us!

 

Ok, had some time today to nip off to a mate who supplies polystyrene, so picked up 4 pieces that were needed and have started filling the tanks. Still need to move a spare 1.2m from my fishroom at home to fill the void where the yellow bucket is on the photo. Incidentally, that happens to be the temporary home of my ancistrus breeding stock.

 

@pHis_man -I need to get myself lots of polystyrene pieces to clad my tanks and windows in my fish rooms. Found a company in your parts of the world which apparently supplies sheets of various thickness. Coastal Polycoatings, ...is that the same company?

Could you also remind me of what that stuff you glued onto your frame (below the tanks) is called again, I keep on forgetting, .....old age setting in I guess. -Lol

 

Hey Claude, you got it spot on. Coastal poly coatings is owned by a chap named Len. He took over the polystyrene business when the previous owner contracted cancer. He inherited the lady, Felicity, who is the backbone of the business and an absolute honey. I paid 80 bucks for my 4 sheets off 1.22 x 0.450 by 15mm thick very reasonable hey??

weatherstrip is the name you are after.

My old age is catching up with me.....was the 3m in the shop when you collected the stack up?

 

No, it wasn't. I came on Friday to get the stack up and you were going to move the 3m tank on Saturday. I only followed the progress on the forum.
But when I go to get the polystyrene I will pop around to have a look at what it looks now that you have moved the 'furniture' around quite a lot.

 

Great, give me a heads up and I can get the kettle boiling.

 

Can you elaborate a bit on this please... Do you use it on your rack underneath the plywood to protect it from the tank below's humidity?