Starting My Fish room

[georgedv]

I started my fish room in a section of our stand alone garage. I got pics of end of day for day1 and day2...I will post later.

I got the electrical & plumbing taken care of by professionals (Ted, can i borrow your father-in-law?), because I have to start from scratch.

I got ideas for air circulation (thanks Ted) to all sponge filters.

What I lack is a way to make water changes. What I have found most people to suggest is having two sets of pipes...one to add water and one to take water. Reason being that by using one set, the pipes might get contaminated by a disease from an infected tank and thus spread to the others. What I am looking for is a diagram/idea to get me start in the right direction.

If anyone an help me on this.....!

As I progress I will post here with successes and failures...and hopefully be able to help others in turn.

Thanks

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[georgedv]

Progress is progressing:biggrin: Kind of slow with a new baby ib the house. I will post some pictures soon.

Anyone with any ideas on water changing setup?

Also any suggestions on color for the walls in the room. I figured some thing like lite blue.

Thanks for any input.

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[georgedv]

What adhesive can be used?

I am setting up stands now. Before I push them against the wall i want to set up the plumbing to carry water to and from all the tanks. I am using PVC pipes...the problem is what kind of adhesive can I use. I have read I an use regular glue made for plumbing...it s toxic, but not that toxic. I am unsure...can anyone help me here please.

Thank you in advance.

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[RHS788]

I can't help a lot, but I have seen a few "fish rooms" in St. Louis, and here is what I recall:
1) most use a plastic tub of some kind to collect the treated water, and thus treat it also with dechlor of choice. They use a pump that is linked to PVC pipes (with the regular adhesive that if good enough for humans is good enough for fish).
2) at this point, I have seen a couple ideas:
2a) they use a shut-off valve at each tank, and when under pump pressure, add water individually as desired; or 2b) they have lines that go to each major set of aquariums with a valve added, say for each section, so water can be added to a row at a time.
3) in terms of discharge, I have seen a couple varities, and only recall bits and pieces. What I recall with one is holes drilled at certain levels (such as an overflow) and when the aq fills, the water exits the overflow through piping to a common drain. The other option had another system of drains that I can't recall how they were set up.

Another idea for you is to go to the aquarium club sites. Some have pictures of various fish rooms, and some with details that you can see online.

With regard to air lines and heat I have seen again, the PVC pipe with screw in air valves either in banks or one by each tank. The most creative guy I saw with heat, first had a walled-off basement room that he kept at the desired temp, thus used no heaters. It was a small room. The problem with that is ventilation. And when you vent you obviously lose heat.

I have tried keeping multiple tanks in a finished basement, but that didn't work with the family. I have learned that it is easy to overfeed, underclean, and microworms can surely get rancid in a hurry. I would be interested in your and others' ideas on "keeping down the fishy smell".

Good luck with the room. I think next to a hunting cabin in the middle of nowhere a fish room is the second best thing one can do. Hang in there.

Randy

 

[Zack Wilson]

http://www.thedigitalfishroom.com/articles/thefishroom.html

Basically what I did for the water supply/returns, I used 1/2" PVC and created a network that ran across each row and had ball valves and a "T" junction over each tank. The pipes were saddled behind and against the supports running above each tank and then a short length of pipe was run down to each tank. I then tapped my R.O. reservoir and also my tap water into the system so that I could use either to fill a tank, depending on the fish's needs. Of course, there's no way to mix them with any control in a particular tank, but one could do one and then the other during filling. The water was sourced into each rack from the top by another "T". Might not be painting a good mental picture....there is a pic of the refill and drains at the bottom of the article. Anyway, this method does have the flaw of leaving stagnant water in the lines, but it's just R.O. or tap, so I don't worry too much. Using this method I can also fill a large number of tanks at a time.

 

[georgedv]

Thanks for your input Zack and Randy. The design I came up with is a combo of many of the suggestions you and others made (or designs I got from other sites).

Eventually...i will post pictures...this has been a heck of a learning experience.


g