# Brad's Fishroom build



## snaggle

Ok so late last summer I started my fishroom build, this is sort of my first fishroom, at least official.

Right now I have most of my silver board up, one rack of 6 45 breeders and 2 stacking Dutch Aquarium System tanks.

Here are some old pics from the summer, I will post some more later. I have them spread in between 2 computers and a cell phone.

The total room will have 2 more DAS Aquariums, and up to 6 65 gallon breeds or 4 65s and 2 75s.

I do live in military housing so there where 0 modifications made to the existing structure or finish on the house.

I used 1/2" silver board from Lowe's as a vapor barrier/ insulation.

I will be running a dehumidifier and space heater at all times in the fish room, the space heater is an oil filled unit with a programmable thermostat (not just on off).

I will be using LED lights for most tanks from http://www.superbrightleds.com.

I hope you enjoy I hope to post more tomorrow, then I am off to course for 3 weeks.


----------



## pyrrolin

you built your racks the same way I built mine. It's a good design concept I found online, probably the same as you. I find the one smaller one I have built so far to be great.


----------



## snaggle

I used the fishroom design videos from Ted's fishroom, one thing you cant see in the pics is the cross bracing I used. I put 1x2 on both sides and on across th back. They made the stand solid, it didn't move and mm ven after I filled the tanks.


----------



## pyrrolin

yup, same place I saw the concept.

The stand I made already is very short and no cross pieces were needed. The next one I am going to make will be about 4 feet long and I will most likely have the two stands in an L shape and attach them together for more stability. Being only about 4 feet, I shouldn't need any extra bracing like your much longer one.

Was there a definite need for the extra brace or were you just being extra safe? I have extra support because I put on 7/16 boards for shelves instead of just putting the tanks on the 2x4's. I also did the shelves because my tools aren't the best for accuracy and the board helps to make the surface more even in my case. Having a 4 year old helping doesnt help with accuracy either.


----------



## snaggle

I would not say that I needed the bracing 100% but I have small kids in the house and there was some sway in the stand (less then 1/2") but better safe then sorry.


----------



## snaggle

Ok here are some more pictures, uploaded to photo bucket this time.

They are in a random order.

first few are leak testing the 45 gallons, I got them from a old pet store in Edmonton Alberta they haven't seen water in at least 5 years. I cleaned and resealed them all.



















The building inspector checking my work










My set up on the driveway, having to cut wood so close to the neighbors new car 










The temp and humidity in the basement some time in July.










The Start,



















All Cleaned up,


----------



## nightowl1350

Love the little fishy you have in the tank. Hope he doesn't go for a swim once it is set up. Great looking fish room.


----------



## snaggle

Ok so now here we are over the last week,























































The top tank has one divider removed from the right hand side to double up the space, all said and told these two tanks add up to about 120 gallons.

I have a second set that will be on the back wall (opposite side). The 6 45 gallon tanks are beside the shelf unit, there will be 4 65 gallon tanks across the room from the 45s. I have been stuck on what will go in the middle if anything. I will still have 5 65 gallons and 6 75 gallons that are not set up.

I also have a 150 that will be out side the fish room it will be the first thing you see when you round the corner at the bottom of the stairs.

My two biggest challenges right now are time and money. I hope to have the fish room in production in time for the fall auction series even though it will be a lot of late nights and long drives to get my fish to the auctions.


----------



## Ryan.Wilton

That's basically what I want to do lol. You can buy them pre-built though and just install it, but wheres the fun in that?


----------



## pyrrolin

Much cheaper to build your own stands


----------



## Ryan.Wilton

that too lol. Plus when building, you can custom in to have spare storage space, etc. assuming you have the time and room in the budget  Looks great none the less, I'd love to do something similar one day.

I forgot to mention, I see you have one of those rare "topless" children fish I've heard so much about.


----------



## snaggle

I have run through the numbers when I get home but I think I have about $250 in material so far. the biggest cost by far will be the light and equipment. I am looking at $300 for LEDs and another $250 from kens fish.


----------



## Ryan.Wilton

Kens fish? You mean over at Sea U Marine? And the LED systems are outrageously expensive. I bought a pair of 24" ones for my dads 220gallon. The 2 units light it up that 3 single strip T5 units would. But the cost was probably the same if not a little more at $450. (we bought high end units... I guess)


----------



## snaggle

Ryan.Wilton said:


> Kens fish? You mean over at Sea U Marine? And the LED systems are outrageously expensive. I bought a pair of 24" ones for my dads 220gallon. The 2 units light it up that 3 single strip T5 units would. But the cost was probably the same if not a little more at $450. (we bought high end units... I guess)


No I am looking these or these for LEDs. The smaller units, I am going to try them with white and blue lights, and just white for the larger ones.

Kens fish is here.

Here is what I am looking at,


----------



## Ryan.Wilton

I see you're DIYing the LED units too! Nice, sounds like it should be fun but remember a ballast lol


Edit--> Just noticed that Kensfish.com ships throughout the US but I didn't see any Canada shipping info.


----------



## snaggle

Ryan.Wilton said:


> I see you're DIYing the LED units too! Nice, sounds like it should be fun but remember a ballast lol
> 
> Edit--> Just noticed that Kensfish.com ships throughout the US but I didn't see any Canada shipping info.


There is 3 50W power supplies on the LED list.

Kens fish dose ship to Canada, the shipping is expesive for one or two items but it gets better with balk orders.

I have also been looking in to a shipping service call bongo they will repack and ship multiple items together.


----------



## Yann

Looks great! Can't wait to see everything in it's final stage.

*I guess I'm not the only one dado jointing my stands with a circular saw 

I just winged the design my first time, but i think i will adopt some of what you have going on in your design for the Skeleton of my new build. (Hopefully today)

Keep the updates coming


----------



## snaggle

I have been doing some work on the fishroom but it has been slow, I got 4 single 4' light fixtures for free so I have light on two of the 3 levels of the main rack. I also have all for of my stacking tanks set up and filled with some fish.

Here are a couple picks of what I did to wire the lights in, I need to take a couple more, I also need to do some new over all photos.







I found that the but end connectors where too much of a pain so I pig tailed the rest of the wires, I did have to redo one of the neutrals, I am not sure what went wrong but either light it self would not work or the lights after the one with the bad wire would be off.

I may end up installing switches inside each of the lights so I can control each one.

Here is one of my Venestus sitting all happy after he had an earth worm snack.


----------



## Ryan.Wilton

I'd love to see so full fish room shots.


----------



## snaggle

I am doing some clean up and moving around right now, I will post some photos soon.


----------



## snaggle

ok so here are a few more pictures, I am hoping to work on last racks this weekend, it I don't drive to London.

Ok so this is my tap water filter, I am not sure what Toronto water is like but Trenton water is not the best, I have 3 sediment filters a 30 micron, 5 micron and 1 micron, the forth one is a chemical filter.



and rest is just a general over view of the fishroom so far;











I hope you enjoy so far, I hope to have more updates soon, and maybe even my first video.


----------



## 10G

Sweet fish room. Lots of hard work, definitely looks like everything is coming together!


----------



## John_C

*Oh*

WOw... There's so many good ideas here now!!! I don't know which method I'm going to use yet, but I'm definitely set on building my own now!


----------



## snaggle

I have not done much to fishroom as of late, I have started to use some more of the tanks in the large rack, I need to build two more rack, and get the last insulation wall up.

I might do some work this weekend, so I will post some pictures once I get some more done.

Once that is done I will need to put together an order for supplys and filters.


----------



## Bigdaddyo

I'm interested what the silver board is attached to. Is there 2x4 framing behind it? any batt insulation?
I have a cold room in my basement that I want to convert into a small fish room.


----------



## pyrrolin

If you can dedicate a single room for a fishroom, it can be great savings on heaters and hydro. You can heat the room to the temp you want the water to be and not have to put heaters in each tank. But this will require a dedicated heating unit of good quality to maintain temp and keep it even. 

I would insulate the room well also. You might want to add plumbing into the room to make water changes easier.

One other thing is to make sure the room is water proof or at least very water resistant due to all the humidity that will build up and have a dehumidifier in the room.


----------



## snaggle

On two walls there is a dry walled wall, one wall it is sandwiched in-between the stacking tanks and a 150 gallon tank, the last wall the silver board will be attached to the rack.

I do not own this house it is a military rental house so if I build a full room using studs and drywall, I could be ordered to rip it out when I move out. As the room is right now with one whole wall not installed it stays around 24 with just the dehumidifier running.


----------



## pyrrolin

sounds promising


----------

