BUILDING A FISH-HOUSE

This is my effort for this month, I am thinking of building another Fish-House, has anybody any advise they could give me no matter how insignificant they might think the point might be.

I have built 3 Fish-Houses in the past but it’s about 7 years since I built my last one and a lot of new products and technology has come into the hobby. Plus there are things I would not remember. Please add something to the Thread.

So what’s NEW????

Tom.

www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/content/view/49/30/

Great news!

As I have said before I can give great examples and demostrations of how not to do it, but I know some of the things I would be looking into if I was starting from scratch.

Insulation, insulation, insulation would be the first thing, Electricity is not likely to get any less expensive and money spend building an efficient fish house from the start should pay for itself over time.

Next would be the water changing arrangements. I don't know whether a central system of several small central systems would suit you but they may be worth considering, I know there are good reasons for using them and good reasons not to. It very much depends on what you are doing with the tanks in the system. If you are not going that way, automated, or at least as automated as possible water changing facilities would be key.

Centralised air ring system going around the room to feed all the tanks.

Flooring, ideally a tiled floor with a central drain (like Derek's), I think that is a great luxury in a fish house where water spillages are virtually unavoidable.

Water storage, do you need to catch rain water, or just store tap water to let it come up in temperature? Either way you will need suitable water containers, preferably positioned so they don't eat into space that could be given over to more tanks.

Racking. Some people prefer wood, others metal - whichever you get make sure there is enough room from the bottom of one tank to the top of the other, also try and have all tanks accessible without needing to get a ladder or lie on the floor!

Fish - ah, the fun bit, but I guess you have that one sorted already.

Look forward to hearing how you get on.


Daragh

looking at doing this myself and agree dereks is a class example of how to do it, will be watching this thread with intrest

Going through this myself at the moment,so the head is spinning with what to do.Daragh has pretty much covered it very well,a couple of things I would think about are a wee extractor fan,like in the bathroom,to help with condensation,much easier to add 1 when building,than as an after thought.
As Daragh said,water supply.I'm thinking of 1 of those black plastic attic tanks mounted high,the hose can fill it,then just syphon down to tanks,however,there are better and more efficient systems.And of course,it would depend on the fish you keep,fine if all are,say,tangs,or all SA,but if you have a few betta that require under 6ph,a couple of tang tanks,a couple of SA tanks,then you will need something a bit different.
Thats about all I can think of at the moment,but there are plenty of lads here with a lot more experience.

Tom will this be using the existing fish house or are you starting from scratch?
If you are starting from scratch and using the existing shed/garage what thickness are the walls? Just so i can suggest what insulation to use.

For lighting i would look at LED's. Not the expensive one's you buy in fish shops but strips of LED'S you wire yourself. These would be very efficient with good bright light.
The light of cheap LED's have no benefit to the fish, they are more for your viewing pleasure. So i would suggest some windows or roof windows that get the early morning sun or late evening sun. The midday sun would bring in to much heat in the summer.

Water storage could be done with water storage tank's (like those used in a house) placed on the very top of the rack that is to high to place tanks. These could be drilled and linked together with wavin pipe and fittings.
I would keep these aerated with a bit of polyfilter cliped on the airline. But that depends if you are using mains water, well water or RO etc.
The only concern i would have with this is a build up of bacteria in the water if it is stored to long. I dont know if this would happen or not but it is something to think about.
I would put a tap at one end of the storage tanks so you could connect a hose to fill the tanks. The benefit here is the water is gravity fed and no pumps are needed.

If you cant fit a central drain in the floor you could pipe 1 1/2" wavin across the bottom of the rack with a small upstand teed off at each bay. You can just drop a hose in these when you are draining water from the tanks.

For ventilation i would put 2 extractor fans in. Reverse the fan in 1 so one is blowing fresh air in and the other is extracting air out.

If you are using an air ring system for sponge or box filters try have the airpump located out side the fish room but still indoors so it is fresh air and not recycled fishroom air. If the pump is in the fish room have it near the fan drawing air in to the fish house but i would use carbon sheets over the vent for times like Halloween when you will have nasties in the air.

That's all for now, Darren.

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far, I am thinking of using an existing wooden structure with an apex roof which will allow me to put my water tanks into the roof space. The shed is about 15’ by 8’ a good bit smaller than my last fish-house 20’ by 13’ but a lot more manageable. The other more expensive option is to build a fish-house/garage from scratch which I am also considering. This would be a block structure with the option of expanding in the future if it was ever needed.

Thanks again for the great ideas, keep them coming, I am setting up a folder with all the ideas and will put them into my article when I start my fish-house.

Tom.

Tom if you use the wooden structure i would insulate the walls with dry lining plaster boards. These have insulation stuck to the back of them and can be screwed to the timber frame with dry lining screws. I would go with 80mm thickness.
www.insulation.kingspan.com/ireland/k17.htm

for the apex roof i would use 50mm terma pitch insulation. These are 8"x4" sheets you cut to fit between the joists in a roof.
www.insulation.kingspan.com/ireland/tp10.htm

For a new build i would insulate a concrete floor. 100mm insulation sheets are laid in top of 1000 gauge plastic with the concrete laid on top. This makes a big difference when insulation any structure.
you will find this in the king span website.
www.insulation.kingspan.com/ireland/index.htm

The walls and roof i would insulate the same as above.

Thanks Darren for all your info, I agree insulation is very, very important. It’s going to be well insulated all around as it is money well spent.

Tom.

make sure you add a drain as this is of vital importance. i think the wooden shed is the easiest option. it can be quickly sorted and is easier to keep the heat up without too much expense. my earlier fish houses were converted garden sheds and i could change things around without much bother.

For the airloop, i found these great
www.jehmco.com/html/air_accessories.html

the AV1B.. they're great

good luck with the build!

Thanks lads, I am adding all you ideas to my list and will use loads of them.

Tom.

Hy Tom,
Was looking to go to do one myself.I am at the start of planning it-so at the construction of the house.One day i walked around(wasnt to buissy;) on a building site,i looked at a portacabin(office-container).For the first viewing it has a lot features in place(electricity,insulation,waterconnection,windows,vents,even some have a small cantine for cleaning things and preparing,storing food for the fish) which are handy and the rest could be put in place fairly handy.Main aspects to go down this road for me are aswell that you have no conctruction work(you only add things),looks clean and price.....When i find out more i let you know.Regards,Tim

Tim,the first thing that comes to mind with the portakabin idea is would the floor be sturdy enough to take the weight,which will obviously be concentrated on a few points?

the floor can be reinforced without too much trouble

Acara wrote:

Tim,the first thing that comes to mind with the portakabin idea is would the floor be sturdy enough to take the weight,which will obviously be concentrated on a few points?

I usually use 3” X 2” timber to build my Tank Stands and have the stand sitting on a piece of timber lying flat on the ground to spread the weight, even on concrete floors…………

Tom.

tom,

found this fellas website on another forum, might give ya a few ideas for yours and if not still not bad to look at

www.tedsfishroom.com/wp/

stan

Stan,

Thanks for the link, it very good for a little fish-house, only 92 tanks that will be one corner of my fish-house.

if thats the case tom, we will have a new sponsor soon.... Tom's Aquatics