Fish Stands / Project Ideas

[alexyay]

I've been given permission for a wee bit of a project  So, what do your fish rooms/stands look like?

 

Currently our apartment looks like this:

Lounge: 450L Community

My bedroom: 300L Breeder, 54L Killifish/Rainbow/Hara cat, 31L Dwarf Puffer, 120L Southeast Asian (ish) biotope, 60L Photography tank

"Second Lounge"/Office: 140L Killifish etc, 60-ishL Breeder/QT, 220L South American (ish) biotope, 36L to-be Dwarf puffer

 

The 31L Dwarf Puffer tank is moving to a different building (so I get to see my favourite fish all day at work) and the 450L Community is staying where it is (same goes for the Photography tank). Not sure what I'm doing with the 36L to-be DPF tank.

 

BUT I want to move all the tanks from my room into a more efficient system, where I can access all the tanks (exc the 450L) at once. So, I'm thinking:

Split the 300L breeder into 4 68L tanks (third-fourth shelving unit). I was initially going to sump it, but because I was planning on doing these two racks of display tanks when we move (so getting a stand for these would be more economical for me in the long-run - the 300L is quite tall and awkward, whereas with individual tanks I can change individual water levels - even if sumped). Either store the 300L or sell it.

Get a second 220L (was a plan for the future move anyway) and move the 120L SE-A biotope fish into this - either store the 120L or sell it. 

Keep the Killifish set up in their current tank (moved to the left shelf)

Move the breeder/QT into the second shelf - because I want these two shelves to go as display tanks, I'll likely have them made rimless. The first shelving unit (54L) will end up being a breeder unit when we move. 

 

However height looks to be a bit of an issue. I have 3300mm space available for width, but despite being almost 6", a height of 2m is a wee bit tall for me (especially if my plan is in order to make maintenance easier). 

I won't be employing the 1000mm long sump at the moment - I'll likely just keep the canisters currently running the tank. But I may make 4 of the 68L sumped (merge the bottom two tanks into one), and leave the top two as individual tanks in case of needing them for QT. The 3 left 54Ls might be sumped, or I might leave them all individual. The extras I really want to keep, as I was going to get 3-4 extra bays if I sumped the 300L (and I currently just don't have enough tanks to separate fish eg parents from fry). 

 

So:

- How much space do you think I should have above each tank? Considering that I love my riparium plants, I'd like to keep the 400mm between the two 220L tanks, but I don't know how much space I need above the sump. Do you have any other ideas on cutting down height? I'd like to make it a max of 1700mm if possible. I won't be doing this project if it means cutting back on tanks.

- I'll either make it 3 or 4 individual shelving units, as the setup will be different when I move so this can't be a permanent fixture. So - what kind of framing is recommended? Wood? Steel? Should I be able to get away without putting a bracing bar in the middle of the 220L tank to support the one above? Does the framing preference change if I want these to be relatively modifiable eg. being able to put a smaller tank in the space designed for a larger tank?

- Are there any businesses in Auckland who would be able to make the shelves? Due to our current set-up, I won't be getting all of them done at once - I first need to get the 220L shelf made, move everything around it, and then finally get the other 2-3 done. 

- What else should I be aware of? Any suggestions for setting up auto-water-changes without 1. drilling holes in the wall, and 2. taking up too much space? I have a feeling my desire for an auto-WC system won't happen, though. 

 

Filtration will be a mix of HOBs, sumps (hopefully) and sponge filters. The sumping is a while away in the future, but for those sumping fry tanks, do you prefer to use overflow boxes or a different system?

[Adrienne]

Jennifer has a nice looking wooden stand bank which holds quite a number of tanks.  Perhaps message her and ask her for a photo of it.

What ever you do, make sure you brace it against a wall.  

 

 

[Shilo]

You said you were in an apartment? If it's not a ground floor one can the flooring take over 1500kg of weight on only 3.5m?

For shelving I would approach a warehouse shelving manufacturer. Steel frame with adjustable shelves (like garage shelving on steroids), if the shelves length are split into 4 you should be able to stagger them to fit various sized tanks.

[Silverdollarboy2]

This is my setup on warehouse shelving: