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New fish room/breeder!!! NEW VIDEO 11-11-13!!!!!

113K views 574 replies 143 participants last post by  Clear Water 
#1 · (Edited)
In the process of building my own fish room something i always wanted to do. I am setting up 20- 75gallon, 30- 29gallon, and 20- 10 gallon. I am going to breed angels, discus, rams, and guppies mainly. I plan on doing some oscars but i have heard they take a little time. The water by me is from a well and has ph of 6.5 so its perfect for South American ciclids. Im getting building spray foamed next weekend and then i will start racks and order tanks.

LIGHTING... All tanks will get cfl bulbs..some 1, some 2.
HEATING.... All tanks will get a heater determined by size of tank.
WATER CHANGES.... I am going to put 1" bulk heads in all tanks and run a water inlet f9r each tank. That way all i have to is turn water on and let it go out. I am going to use a 50 gallon water heater and put a valve on the hot and cold outlet of tank. Then i am going t9 put a temp probe and adjust valves till water mixture is 78 degrees. From thereit will go to water lines throughout the room.
FILTRATION.... setting up central air using linear pump and using sponge filters.

Heres a couple pics of my work so far... any suggestions or concerns will be helpful.









 
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#2 ·
Congratulations on a dream project!

You mentioned insulation going in next on the structure and with power bills being what can break many it is solar water panels on the roof and a holding tank w/circulation pump that can make for nearly free hot water. Room heating/conditioning rather than tank resistive heaters is a way many have gone to improve that electric overhead even further.

I for one am EXTREMELY jealous of this build! :proud:
 
#6 ·
Well i failed too mention that i am going with a mini split ac unit which has a seperate dehumidifier built in. It says that it removes 40 pints a day. I do plan on installing glass tops on tanks. I figured with spray insulation the room will be very easy too maintain temp thus probably not needing in tank heaters. If humidity is still too much i will have to do some kind of ventalation other than opening door.
 
#15 ·
Mini splits are very nice systems. You'll really like it, very energy efficient too. I work for an AC company an the only problems we've had with the minis we install are frogs an lizards getting into the outdoor unit an frying the control board. It is still rather rare though :)
 
#7 ·
I do have a question for you guys. I plan on this setup being a breed only thing too generate money. My question is, is it best to keep tanks simple such as the only things in tank are heater, sponge filter, and breeding slate, cone, or pot; or should i include things that i would consider to keep fish happy such as plants? I already have a 90g in my house thats for my own pleasure, so i figured i would gear these tanks to just breeders. That and im sure it mkes maintenance nd care much simpler.
 
#9 ·
keep plenty of moss in the tanks, many different mosses sell for good cash.
 
#11 ·
The tanks that you expect to be fishing a lot of babies out of to sell/ship you probably want to keep sparsely decorated/planted for obvious reasons.

That said a lot of fish seem to spawn better and have better survival rates in very mature tank with a lot of bio-film and microfauna (basically heavily planted that and let run free).

I am not sure that this applies to the commonly (easily) bred fish though. So many different breeding habits/practices, etc.

I definitely agree with whoever suggested using the extra real estate in all of those tanks to grow out some various mosses. You have the room already so tossing mesh tiles and waiting for the moss to grow won't really be a problem since it is just a bonus for you.

Plus mosses are great for fish fry usually.
 
#13 ·
I definitely agree with whoever suggested using the extra real estate in all of those tanks to grow out some various mosses. You have the room already so tossing mesh tiles and waiting for the moss to grow won't really be a problem since it is just a bonus for you.

Plus mosses are great for fish fry usually.
I not familiar with mosses at all but since so many people are saying great things about it i guess i have to give it a shot. Lol
 
#12 ·
awesome! it's more of a fish...building! xD

suggestions:
i think you alluded to this, but i don't see why you'd need to buy in-tank heaters, you could probably just heat the building/room itself.

i'd definitely add plants, something cheap anyways, to the tank... it would be a little extra maintenance, but things like duckweed and water sprite (i'd go more with the former than the latter since it's harder to maintain) can really help with keeping your water parameters steady. also, the fish like it! :'D

i'd also use sponge filters rated for tanks quite a bit larger than the tanks you'll be keeping, they're pretty useful and easy to maintain.
 
#14 ·
awesome! it's more of a fish...building! xD

suggestions:
i think you alluded to this, but i don't see why you'd need to buy in-tank heaters, you could probably just heat the building/room itself.
I will probably end up just using heaters in discus tanks for obvious reasond but all the other species should be fine without.
 
#28 ·
Quick update.... spray foam going in tomorrow morning will take pics. Ordering tanks on monday. Final count is 22 - 10g, 30 - 29g, and 20 - 75g. 29's and 10's will be coming in this coming thursday and then i have too wait 2 weeks for the 75's too come in.
 
#29 ·
I might suggest going a different way on the water temperature control. You may find the incoming water will vary in temperature enough to make it a hassle to fiddle with adjusting the hot and cold to get an even temperature. Since you may need to do some water treatment to some water, how about a cheap reservoir to store water while it comes up to room temperature and then pump it to the tanks? It might at first seem this would not be a problem in the Sothern states but I found it MORE trouble when moving here to central Texas. The water lines are not buried as deep as in northern areas. That leaves the cold water temperature to vary quite a lot. With eleven tanks I find it very nice to have a stock of water at the right temp to add to tanks during water changes or when I need to fish those fry out. Just bringing it to room temp brings it close enough to not shock the tanks.

Have you also worked out a steady place to sell fry or growouts? I'm getting out of breeding due to the hassles of trying to dispose of the fish without a shop or dealer who has a steady demand for my fish.
 
#30 ·
In regards too the water temp issue, i have thought this over for months now and the method i came up with seems the most logical and easy.

In regards too buyers, i have all lfs around ( atleast 7 of them ) literally begging me too sell them fish. I will have little too no overhead so they know my prices will be much better than what they currently have.
 
#41 ·
From the outside it look like a part/playground restroom.

Male on the left, female on the right. Haha

That room is just the right place for a fish room. Also a good place for drugs. Haha
Have fun spending 10-20g on your dream, will be worth every sec.
Well as of now i'm at 11 grand. Dont expect too exceed 15.:icon_roll
 
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