Charlutz's 12x12 Fish Room - A Drop of Tanganyika (c)

[Charlutz]

Here is a picture tour of my small fishroom. It's 11.5'x12.5'. Currently, I have 9 tanks running, all full of Tangs. The tank breakdown is:

(1) 210g 7x2x2 - filtered with DIY sump. See thread here.
(1) 125g - filtered with 2 AC110s and a fluidized bed FB300. All the rest are on the air system with sponge filters
(2) 40g breeders
(2) 75g
(2) 20g - one high and one low
(1) 15g
And a 2.5g with a daphnia culture

Looking in from the doorway, 210g on the left, 125g on the right, stacked 20's to the front

125g/75g and 2.5g. There are no heaters in the tanks. I'll eventually move the 2.5 and add a 10g or 15g there. That space heater is set on its lowest setting of 500w and set at 75*. The tanks on the top racks are maybe 77* and the tanks on the bottom racks are maybe 72*.

Front rack with 40br/40br and 15g/75g. I've got room on the top rack to add a 10g or 15g.

 

[Charlutz]

In addition to my slop sink, I also had the plumber add a mixing valve. It's set at 75* and I add water with that garden hose straight to the tank.

There are drains all around the edges of the room. I can siphon multiple tanks at once into the drains. The tall stacks are air vents. Because the drain is not on a very steep slope, the vents keep the water moving. For the bottom tanks, I drop in a powerhead hooked to some hose and run the hose into the drains. You can see the drains in between the sink and 125g. as well as in between the 210g and rack of 75/40brs.

 

[Charlutz]

The air pump is on the shelf up top of the sink. It is connected to the rest of the room via 1" pvc. The pvc is not glued, but held together merely by friction. Aside from one instance where my brother bumped into it and dislodged a connection, the friction has been sufficient to hold it together.

I drilled the pvc myself and added the valves. It took time and you need to be careful to not crack the pvc with the drill, but it wasn't difficult.

 

[Charlutz]

I had my electrician add extra outlets and an extra circuit, and had the outlets mounted at 36" off the floor. He also added the vent fan which is just to the left of the air pump. It's very quiet and is controlled by a dehumidistat that regulates the humidity in the room. You can see it to the right of the light switch. My GC made a mistake as he was supposed to use green board but used regular drywall instead. Also to control the humidity, I painted the the walls and ceiling with Dryloc before adding wall paint, and used Dryloc on the floor.

 

[Charlutz]

The 125g has cyathopharynx foai moliro green marble adults, cyprichromis utinta and gobies.

 

[Charlutz]

The top 40br has my alto comp goldheads

 

[Charlutz]

The 75 under the 125 has cyprichromis specklebacks, lamp stappersi and growing out cyathopharynx foai sibwesa.

 

[Charlutz]

So that's about it. No great pics, but the 75g under the breeder has growout cyatho foai green marble, 12 growout enantiopus kilesa and paracyps. The 210g has cyp utinta, lamp ocelatus and opthalmotilapia boops nkondwe. The 15 has a trio of julie transcriptus kissi pemba and the 20 has some growout comps, foai, cyp utinta and my breeding albino bristlenose cats. When I get a bunch of breeders going, I'll probably replace the two 20s with a triple stacked rack of 10s, 15s and 20s, sitting end-in to the wall to maximize "gallonage."

 

[Tony]

Holy cow Charlie! I am impressed on how clean and well thought out the room is. I am finally getting into planning my water changing and this is really nice seeing your setup for reference. Thanks so much for posting it up. Never heard that about the riser on the drain, how does that work?

I also like the vent fan set on auto-humidostat idea.... very clever. :happy0144:

Oh yeah, and your male foia is definitely sickbo.

 

[Charlutz]

Thanks Bro!

I'm not a good photographer and that foai is impossible to shoot. You should see him in person. The vents in the drain just allow air to get in there. I think it helps to keep the water moving and not clog, get stagnant, etc. There aren't any moving parts. Just a vent.

 

[mscichlid]

Very very nice! Neat, clean, light and bright!

 

[Charlutz]

Also, here's a link to a thread I put in the lounge showing the rest of the basement The Man Cave.

 

[fischfan13]

I absolutely agree with Tony.
Very impressive especially because how clean you have made everything look.

Those Specklebacks look phenomenal!!!

 

[Charlutz]

Thanks guys!

PS - I did remove all of the buckets, fish food, nets, supplements so the room wouldn't look cluttered in the photographs. It all has a place, but in photos, not so cool. :lol:

 

[dogofwar]

How is drylock as a floor covering? Slick enough that you'd add a little sand next time..or OK?

Is your air in a closed loop?

Looks great...although I'd jam about 3 times the tanks in there

Matt

 

[Charlutz]

How is drylock as a floor covering? Slick enough that you'd add a little sand next time..or OK?

Is your air in a closed loop?

Looks great...although I'd jam about 3 times the tanks in there

Matt

I like the Dryloc. I used a long nap roller so it's got a rough texture. I used it in the fishroom, the storage room and under the carpet in the tv room we finished for the kids as a dust barrier. You could probably mix in some sand, but I didn't bother.

I always get the open/closed loop thing mixed up. It doesn't connect all the way around the room, but I did create loops behind the 125/75, another behind the 20/20, and a third loop behind the 75/75/40/40 rack. I think that would effectively create an open loop. The pump is good for 25-40 outlets and I'm only using 14 so it's got plenty of headroom for further expansion.

 

[F8LBITE]

really nice and well thought out fishroom. Im impressed man. Awesome fish too.

 

[Charlutz]

really nice and well thought out fishroom. Im impressed man. Awesome fish too.

Thanks Jose! Thank you also for transporting that air pump from VA. Love it. Super quiet and strong.

 

[cmcpart0422]

Looks great! The room looks so neat and clean. And its super well lit which is a must for me.

 

[Charlutz]

Looks great! The room looks so neat and clean. And its super well lit which is a must for me.

Thanks! The lights are all tank lights, well sort of. You can see that the ceiling light is off. I had several extra 48" twin flourescent fixtures after the basement remodel. I added 3 prong plugs to them and mounted one on the ceiling over the 125g and one inside the stand of the 125/75 to shine light into the 75. Between those lights and the rest of the tank lights the room is very well lit without the ceiling light on. I only use the ceiling light at night. I think it also looks bright because of the floor and ceiling paint (bright bright white) and relatively light colored walls.