• You liked BFD7 now you should join this forum and of course become a club member to see what CCA is all about.
  • Thank you to everyone who registered and showed up for the BIG Fish Deal #7.

Will an alcove work as a fish room?

captmicha

Members
I have an alcove off the basement that I was given permission to turn into a fish room. The problem I'm foreseeing is that it's an alcove, so open. No door or wall on the fourth side to hold in heat so I'd have to put heaters in each individual tank. Of course I'd like to keep costs down as much as possible. The basement IS heated. Usually around 72 degrees but can be slightly warmer or cooler.

I'm NOT being given permission to add a fourth wall or a sliding wall type door. There's a oriental screen but that's not the same as a wall.

Measurements of the alcove are roughly 14' x 10.5'.

photo (7).jpg
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
Keep fish that are happy at 72 degrees. An awful lot of our fish do fine at that temperature.

You can't keep Angels or German rams, of course.
 

captmicha

Members
I keep a lot of tropical fish. 72 is on the low end and I don't think I'll see a lot of spawning at a constant lower temp. The fish I generally seem drawn to are maintained at 78-80ish.

I don't think I can negotiate a black out curtain. They don't want it to look ugly. Maybe I can find a larger decorative room divider screen but I doubt they come large enough.
 

rich_one

Members
Honestly, I'd just leave it as is, and accept life having heaters in the tanks. Congrats on the upcoming fish room!

-Rich
 

Becca

Members
Also, do the math... Many room heaters are 1500-3000 watts, while tank heaters range from 5 to 300 watts. Whether a space heater makes sense depends on the number of tanks you have. If you're doing 10 20 gallon tanks, for instance, you're going to be running 750-1000 watts of heaters... still less than a space heater.
 

captmicha

Members
Most tanks will be insulated on 5 out of 6 sides so I'm hoping individual heaters will at least be efficient and not a lot of heat loss will be happening.

I AM happy, but I want things to be affordable or they'll shut down the fish room idea.

Super excited!
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
I'd also suggest that, to the extent you have differing temperature requirements for your fish, you keep the ones that prefer cooler temperatures on the lower shelves. At least in my basement, the lower tanks tend to be a couple of degrees cooler than the upper tanks, without heaters (of course).
 

captmicha

Members
Makes sense with heat rising. Also on the ends where it won't have a side next to another tank. I think I'm going to go with DIY plywood shelves. Does that sound safe? I won't be building it by myself or I KNOW it'd fail!
 
You could run over flows and a sump. Then you only need one or two heaters. Pvc over flows are the easiest unlease you want to drill tanks.
 

captmicha

Members
I'm going to be looking into all that. I have some concerns about cross contamination and moving fry from tank to tank, but I guess all that can be accounted for with careful planning.
 

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
Congrats on the awesome space! very very cool.

I do use QT tanks, for an entire month, but stuff can still happen.

That's why I don't currently have any tanks plumbed together. Would make life a whole lot easier, but too much of a risk for me. Once one tanks gets sick, they all do...
 
Top