Fishroom Design....

[Ludwig Venter]

I did some things tonight in my fishroom (garage) which made me wonder..... If I have to design a fishroom for at least 50 tanks from scratch.... what considerations do I need to negotiate.

In my experience, the basics have to include the following points:

1.... Have a central heating system instead of a heater for every tank...

2.... Do not keep any tanks smaller than 3ft x 1ft x 18"....

3..... Keep a huge drum with "cycled" water for every time you do a water change and refill immediately after every waterchange you do....

4.... Have the concrete floor tapered towards one end pointing towards the massive drain where water treatment can be done for recycling...(pumped back into the drum with cycled water)...(no electrics or anything else on the floor level)

5....Use blowers instead of airpumps for aeration with 12mm tubing...

6... Do not have any gravel in any tank... (plants required for breeding purposes can be potted)

7....Have sliding glass tops on all tanks....(which can close off completely)

8....Have a small access door available for entrance (so as not to loose heat when entering and exiting) & keep it closed at all times.....

9....Have back to back ceiling lighting so that additional lighting for each tank is not required.....

10....Have a big sign on the door which states that "NO ENTRY FOR ANY PERSON BELOW 10 YEARS OF AGE"

I only mentioned 10 points above as 10 is a magic number...... What would you design into your dream breeding/Hatching room???......

 

[treefella83]

this may not happen in your part of the world but i had major problems with condensation and damp on the walls and floor of my fish room in winter but a total strip down and better insulation solved this and nearly halved the heating bill.
larger storage area for sumps and water storage for water changes was something that i greatly under estimated.
larger tanks with dividers is a better idea than mine as i had lots and lots of smaller home made tanks at least 5 to 1 sump which was very untidy and complicated.

 

[yvez9]

i'd think heaters in most, if not every tank is a must though as not all fish like it the same temp
heat the room to 76-77 but then some tanks will be warmer.

i would also have to figure out a way to auto dechlor water as it is pumping in the tanks and have a sort of auto change feature where the sumps get drained constantly and topped off with fresh water, triggerred to perhaps 100% weekly or more change for the entire tank volume.
I guess some sort of a drip system going to the drain, and an auto fill system (automatically dechlorinated/treated) to compensate it.

the drip system would be easy enough as long as a drain is available nearby, but the auto-fill... not so sure

 

[Ludwig Venter]

I once had one stand, which contained 25 x 18" tanks..... this was an extremely expensive setup, but very useless.... That's why I stipulated... all tanks "at least 3ft.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

I once had one stand, which contained 25 x 18" tanks..... this was an extremely expensive setup, but very useless.... That's why I stipulated... all tanks "at least 3ft.

Oh!! I forgot to add....... In one little corner, I'll have a fridge, well stocked with..... with.... uhm...... frozen bloodworms & shrimps??? (that did'nt come out right though).....

 

[Tolak]

A small fridge makes a real nice TV stand, nothing better than watching sporting events while doing tank maintenance, with a good supply of "bloodworms" handy.

You can run a carbon block filter inline with your water supply, eliminating dechlorinator. Set up your used water system with a line that can water outdoor plants, weather permitting. These are a couple of ideas I'm working on incorporating into my fishroom. The TV is just outside the fishroom, fridge is around the corner for "bloodworms".

 

[Spishkey]

plenty of power points..............i dont have nearly enough in my fish house and am sick of tripping on extension leads and cables!