Fish Room

[Nadine F]

Hi all I am looking for some general advice.

I have, attached to the back of the house, two brick built sheds, one was originall the coal shed and the other an outside loo.

My other half has taken over the shed and installed his block built pond filters in there. So I was thinking I might comandere the loo part for conversion into a fish house.

The shed is constructed of a single brick skin with a concrete, felted roof. It measures approx 7 feet by 10 feet and has all the plumbing and waste pipes still in tact.

What I am after is advice on how to convert it and I have listed my main queries (although I probably have not thought of everything yet!)

1 - should I add an inner skin such as dry wall with an insulation layer?
2 - what sort of shelving / racking would be best suited to support the tanks?
3 - what sort of filtration system would work best for a series of tanks for breeding purposes?

I currently have a 300l tank in the living room which I intend to use as a planted display tank, and I would like to use the fish house to breed Killifish and maybe bettas.

All advice welcome

Oh and where do you get reasonable priced breeding tanks in the uk?

 

[dgwebster]

My uncle has a converted shed as well, housing 35 tanks.

He did at an internal wall and insulated it, just makes it easier and cheaper to heat the tanks in the long run, esp in the UK

Industrial L bracket shelving is used, each shelf able to take about 250kgs. whilst this only caters a 3ft by 18" by 18" tank, butting two together and using floor tanks too, he has several 6 footers in there as well.

I single large tank air pump pumps airing through plastic plumbing pipe around the wall, off of which he has taken air lines for each filter (in tank media filters, home made from stork tubs) and used aquarium silica to seal the joints and connections. it is highly recommended to ensure that your shed is running on its own electrical circuit ring.

 

[Dangerousdan]

hynuhlj

 

[annka5]

IMO, leave space for an arm-chair and wine-cooler so's you can sit and admire the fishies occasionally... Does that count as practical advice?!!

 

[smithrc]

definatly insulate it.

as for the shelving... it depends - I've just done ours with 22mm floor boards and 70x40mm timber - an 8 ft run with 1 centre support - I've got 7ft of tanks on the first level and will have the same on the top and probubly the floor too...

as for filtration - I'm going for individual filtration at the moment as it's using equipment i already have It allso allows me to have different water conditions for different fish as i need it.

My thread is >> Here <<

Its getting there now

 

[prankster705]

Insulation- definetly
Cheap tanks- I don't know
Filtration- LARGE sump
...

 

[BigC]

I would fix wooden battens on the walls and ceiling and insulate in between them (do not use rockwool/fiberglass) to a depth of around 4-5ins. (the more the better) Do the same with the floor. Then cover the whole lot with plywood and cover with polystyrene ceiling tiles for asthetic reasons. You can then decide where you want everything to go and make 2"x2" shelving to suit your tank arrangements. Allow room for shelving for your fishkeeping odds and ends, live food cultures etc. Electrics should also come into play at this point. Keep all electrics high and out of harms way.
The door also needs insulation and a heavy blanket used as a curtain across it also prevents heat loss.
The whole structure can be heated by a 3kw fan heater (safety first if you decide to go down the space heating route).
Another good tip is a air supply ring main. Buy some plastic overflow pipe and 4 ninety degree bends from your local DIY store. Make it into a rectangle and fix it to the roof of your shed. connect your airpump by means of algarde straight airline connectors into the ring-main (using the appropriate drill and drill bit). At the opposite end you can bleed from the main using the straight connector again and attaching it to a bank of gang-valves. This has the effect of getting more volume of air from a small pump. I would then just use air driven sponge filters.
I hope this was a little help to you.
Regards
BigC

 

[Nadine F]

OK brain overload

Only joking, can I use poly eurothane foam to insulate the floor? And cover it with ply, same with the roof? This is the stuff OH used to line pond before fibreglassing and is thin but very durable. However if I used this I would need to water proof it in some way before adding a final layer.

Oh air filters sound good but not too sure how they work as have only used pump driven filters before, can you suggest a site or give some info on this. Thank you.

I think that wood is going to be the cheapest way for me to shelve out the area, and we are taking our kitchen out in the spring so will pinch a couple of old units and some work surface for the cultures etc.

And yes will need to see where that wine cooler and chair can go

Ok as I am thinking of breeding killies and maybe bettas I was thinking of eight 24x18x18 tanks, so will need to draw some plans.

I was also thinking of linking the tanks in some way so that I could fit a drain to one tank in order to perfom easier water changes, and a top up valve at the other end. What do you think?

Keep the suggestions coming, all advice is good advice, so I can pick the bits to suit my DIY capabilities and the area

 

[BigC]

Check you rainwater stats if you want to breed killis. some areas suit them down to a tee mixed with tapwater. Easily collected via corrugated plastic sheeting on you shed roof and channelled via guttering into butts.
Algarde Biofoam air driven filters (from an airpump) below for illustration only. Ideal for the killifish. Power filters supply too much water turbulance for killis.
http/www.fishathome.co.uk/undergravel_fi...ardebiofoam.htm

 

[Nadine F]

So am I right in thinking that I only need an air pump to drive eight sponge filters?

Nothing else? Sorry for being dim but never seen this before.

I have used undergravel filters in the past but they were pump driven.

Have a lot of rain water here but it is quite acidic as we are right next to rugby cement!!! (You may have seen this monstrosity on the programme "Demolition" as the sixth most hated construction in britain!)

 

[BigC]

If you use the diy ringmain as I discribed earlier then a decent sized airpump should have no difficulty in powering 8 Biofoam filters.

The rainwater might be a problem if you are situated next to a major cement works due to air borne imputities.

 

[Nadine F]

Yes I though that about the rain water, but I have a good fish store nearby which sells RO water, which I am using along with 50% treated tap water, for my main tank.

OH has agreed to build me a ring main and his koi store sells some good airtech pumps, which can do anything from 65l to 120l of air per minute.