Building a Fishroom

Initial Advice
1. Rather than building your own fishroom, help someone else build theirs
-find out the mistakes that can be made and what equipment is essential
-practice drilling glass aquariums with someone else’s tanks
2. Re-locate your house to be closer to a hardware store
-at least know how far away the stores are and write down the store hours
3. Plan on servicing everything so make it accessible!!!
- you will need to get at things without taking the whole system apart
-expect constant maintenance (tinkering) to keep the system running
-leaks happen
4. Marry a patient and forgiving spouse
5. You can’t have too many shut off valves in the water system
6. Put in more airline valves then you think you will ever need
7. It is unlikely that you can have too many electrical outlets
8. It is going to cost more than you budgeted, accept it.
9. Solid PVC piping and joints are great for the air system but not for the water system
-you will have to take the water system apart frequently
-the air system will need infrequent work (twice in three years, myself)
10. Time spent researching equipment, other peoples’ fishroom designs, advice etc. online is never wasted

Room Layout
1. The size of tank dictates the shelving plan and the floor plan.
2. The type of fish you wish to keep dictates the size of tanks.
3. Stand alone tanks, central sump water system or a flow through water system?
4. Drain locations are essential.
5. Place electrical outlets high on the wall.
6. Leave more space than you think you need. You will need it. Floor space for buckets, radiators, de-humidifiers, etc.
7. Leave as much space a possible between the lid of tank and the shelf above you. Remember you may want to add or remove aquarium decoration, wood, and try and catch fish.

Heating, Venting and Air Conditioning (HVAC)
1. Insulation saves money
2. Venting is essential (aquariums = water = humidity = mold & fungus)
3. Cheap dehumidifiers are very noisy
4. Make sure the dehumidifier has a hose outlet for condensate
5. Will the dehumidifier restart by itself after a power loss?

Central Air System
1. If you are using a blower, plan for noise abatement (blower in garage, etc)
2. Make sure the air pump is accessible to allow air filter cleaning.
3. Remember that linear piston pumps run quite hot, so leave air space around it.
4. Only glue one PVC joint at a time. Let it dry 15 – 60’ then see if it will fit in place.
5. Buy a large (>1” diameter) PVC cutter. It’s much easier and cleaner than a hacksaw.
6. You may not be able to glue all the pvc assembly together away from the system. You may need to build it in parts, then glue it together when it is in place
Automated Water System
1. keep hose diameter large (3/4”) to enable good flowrate with a reduced pressure
2. Keep system pressure low to avoid leaks. At tap it can be up to 120 psi, in water system try for 15 – 20 psi.

Drip System
1. Use smaller diameter tubing (½”) to reduce amount of water in line and space concerns
2. Use pressure compensating drip valves
3. Drip valves are cheap, buy lots (they clog)

Drain System
1. Although the piping likely will not need to >3/4” in diameter, the access holes for drain hoses should be as large as possible (2-3” is good)
2. Try to include a sump, to catch fry, snails and debris before the water goes down the drain.
3. Remember, water runs downhill, so slant the piping
4. When laying out the drain system, try to put the drain valves directly behind the tank overflow bulkheads. It reduces bending of hoses.
5. Snails get everywhere

Fishroom Supplies and Equipment


Jehmco (gives discount for AKA members)
http://www.jehmco.com/
Almost Everything! Water and air pumps, fishroom tools, plumbing and airline equipment, valves, diamond drill bits, storage tanks, etc.

Dripworks
Drip systems, water timers, hoses, drip valves, connections, guages
www.dripworksusa.com

Air Water and Ice (sponsor of Oklahoma Aquarium Association)
http://theh2oguru.zoovy.com/
Water system supplies. Canisters, carbon cartidges, DI resin, gauges, many accesories


Aquarium Hobbyist Supply
http://www.ahsupply.com/
Retrofit compact fluorescent lighting kits and equipment, bulbs.

Aquatic Eco-Systems
http://www.aquaticeco.com/
Equipment for small to large scale aquaculture, plumbing supplies, etc.

Clean Water Store Water
http://www.cleanwaterstore.com/index.html
RO and DI systems, canisters, cartridges and supplies

Sea Tech Incorporated
http://www.seatechinc.com/
Watts quick connect line, connections, vavles, etc.

Watts Products
http://www.watts.com
Watts product information (quick connect valves)

Internet Allergy Store
http://www.iallergy.com
De-humidifiers


Presentation documents Available Online
To download acrobat files (pdf) containing the slides and this handout please go to
http://www.earlblewett.net/fishroom_talk.htm

for further information contact
Earl Blewett
micro@earlblewett.net

Bravo Earl, wish you would have been around too post this a while back ago. Maybe then I would have had an easier time with my fish room

Wow!!! Good as gold!

An excellent posting on building a fishroom. I have only one disagreement--item 4 should be item 1 on that first listing--that patient and understanding spouse is very essential and makes the rest fall into place.

I've been fortunate for that patient and understanding spouse as I have built two fishrooms, and will be doing at least one more, which will actually be a fish building of some 24 x 40 dimensions.

I met my wife in a pet shop ,she was purchasing a 10 gal setup and was very unsure about setting it up,so I offered my services.

An excellent ploy!

Seriously, that helps keep the minds in a 'like mind' mode, or at leas an understanding mode, which in our hobby is very important.

I've always been fortunate in my spouses and friends in that they understood my involvement with my hobbies, and as long as they never met, I was fortunate...

Quote:

Ok everyone. Here is your chance to "help someone else build theirs"

I currently have 65 tanks between 10 and 55 gallons in a small fishroom and am planning to add around 35 more tanks (probably 20 gallons) over the next year or two. I currently have two small Hailea air compressors driving a sponge or box filter in each tank. Each compressor is connected to a distribution manifold. Each manifold outlet is connected to a brass gang valve by standard 1/4" airline tubing. The two air compressors are fairly noisy, but that doesn't bother me at all.

I want to build an air system for my expanded fishroom. I would rather have 50% too much rather than 5% too little. I don't have any experience so I have a lot of questions. I'm looking for opinions. All are welcome.

My strawman idea is this. Build a pvc loop suspended from the ceiling and connect a single linear piston compressor to the loop. Some of my questions are:

Is a single linear piston compressor the right choice? How big? Is a loop the correct configuration? What size pvc? Should I install my own taps or buy pretapped lengths of pvc? Can I construct the pvc loop and connect my current two air compressors before I purchase the linear piston compressor?

Thanks in advance. I hope this is an appropriate use of this forum.

I have been using a linear piston pump for a while now and I couldnt be happier with it. They are very powerful, quiet and reliable. I bought mine at JEHMCO http://www.jehmco.com/html/central_air_pumps.html , model LPH45. Right now I have twelve 20gal, sixteen 10gal, ten 5.5gal and a few other tanks running on it and I still have to bleed off excess pressure. If I were you I would buy the largest model they have, LPH120. It does cost $200 more than the one I bought but you did say you would rather have more to spare then to cut it too close. This model would be more than enough to run all of your tanks and you could keep the other two air compressors as backup in case anything were to go wrong. I have read that a closed loop is the best way to go but I do not do this and it has been working fine for me. I also tapped my own holes, the drill bit to do this is inexpensive and it gives you more versatility as to where you want to place the valves. The key to drilling them right is to not let the bit go all the way through or it will make the hole too big. Use a spare piece of pvc to experiment on before you start drilling your main lines. As for the size of the pvc I use 1 1/4" and suspend them from the ceiling with pipe hangers. Here are a few pictures of how my air system is setup.

Attach file:

---

  DSCN1509.JPG (0.00 KB)


  DSCN1515.JPG (0.00 KB)


  DSCN1521.JPG (0.00 KB)

Dear FishFolk,

Joel, your question is exactly what this forum is for, so I would say it is appropriate.

Like Michael, I have a LPH45 from Jehmco. I run PVC into the attic, across and down into another room. I have had >50 tanks running on the system but none are deepwater. I have always had excess air pressure.

I would also recommend a slightly larger pump. A friend has the LPH60 and is running maybe 100 small tanks. The LPH80, which is almost twice as powerful as mine, is on sale right now for $299 ($70 more than the LPH45)

I think no matter what you get you will be happy with it. The linear piston pump was the best hardware purchase I've ever made for fishkeeping.

Keep the other pumps for emergency backup.

Best wishes,

Earl

You guys are making me jealous. I could substitute air driven sponge filters in my natural planted tanks where I run powerheads, but I keep mainly big messy goldies in my non natural planted tanks and I just don't think sponge filters would be a good solution for them. Using the air to run UGFs would also increase my workload because they'd have to be kept vacuumed.

If you don't have a generator for power outtages, I'd suggest getting an power inverter. Those hook up to a car battery and would likely run one of those linear pumps quite nicely. If I had the money, I'd get a linear air pump to go with my power inverter for emergencies.