Termato
Board of Directors
Word of advice, don't do it in a rental, definitely not in an apartment, and absolutely not before you move.
That's what everyone told me before moving into an apartment with a 150G tank ahahaha. The landlord knows I have large tanks up here and they said as long as I have my insurance, I'm good. Just don't put a hole in the floor. The reassuring fact is concrete flooring and a lot of coverage on liability insurance. They require you to have insurance before moving into this apartment because of the sprinkler system in the building. I made sure to double the required coverage. Last week, if you saw one of my posts, the sprinkler pipe broke in an apartment down the hall and it flooded a few thousand gallons into the hallways. It leaked through 8 floors after water kept pouring out for a good 20-30 minutes before it was shut off. It was a lot of water. After I saw how that was handled, how much water poured out and how everything worked out, I was definitely a little scared about going through with this. I feel like with anything else in life that if I approach this with caution and execute everything with extreme care and focus to details, then I can really limit my risks. I think I'm willing to take the risk to do a small set up like this because I have very good experience with building things and I will have expert help when I do it...on top of the fact that I really want to do it and I think the benefits outweigh the risks if done correctly. I have a very good amount of coverage on my insurance so let's hope this all works out. I do appreciate the warning though.
Also, if you ignore all of that, you'd better have renters insurance.
Additionally, think about what you hope to get out of doing this. A lot of folks think they'll make money breeding fish, but it's extremely difficult to do this, even when dealing with fish that sell for high prices. Others want to be able to keep a wide variety of species and have some space to grow out spawns and quarantine newcomers.
My goals is to breed beautiful fish that I enjoy keeping. I also want to be able to get new species without having to randomly set up a new tank or mess up my stocking situations. I also want to breed just to experience it. That's why I want to breed discus and grow them out. I really want to see a giant group of siblings grow together. As I explore the deep world of fish keeping, I want to share my experiences with fellow hobbyist by giving them what I've been given so far--beautiful fish. Being exposed to some of the fish the people here at the club breed, like Frank does, has inspired me to do the same for the fish I care for. I do the things I love to do because I enjoy them and not for monetary value. Everything I've ever done for money I get bored and tired of. All the things I am passionate about end up sticking with me for life. These are the things I fill my time with nowadays. This doesn't mean I'll squander on the opportunity to sell fish when I breed them. When the time comes, I'm sure I'll be able to use my skill set to properly sell some of the fish . I can imagine it will be challenging, as I've been selling artwork and programming services for years now. It's a hard business to sell things, especially live creatures when you don't have a reputation. It's just not my goal or motivation behind this project so I'm just concentrating on what I enjoy about it. If I get some money, awesome! But in the end, it will probably a good chunk of cash to set up and then keep running.
The only thing I would change would be the the left wall. If you switched out those tanks for a combo of pre-made racks, you could hold more tanks, more storage, and be able to move the tanks around without having to build new racks.
Here are three of the best steel racks I've found:
With adjustable racks like those the possibilities are endless.
Ill post up a pic of mine soon
Those racks will work great! Light weight and sturdy. 2,000lbs for one shelf, wow. You're giving me some great ideas here.
I may still have to build a wooden one for the small corner because it's only 31" but I still have time to look/think.
I'm still considering just building everything though so I can make it look nice, custom and still be cheap. My step dad and I built the stand for my 150G tank and it could actually hold two tanks. I've been meaning to add doors to it. This way I can customize the overhead part of each tank for light fixtures, swivel hinges for access inside the tank, and things like that. I'm thinking similar to what Joey (The King) did for his plywood ~370 gallon tank but not such a heavyweight fixture.
My step dad gets extra wood from his job so I can see if I can get some extra lumber.
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