Fish Room Layout?

[Plecodoras, posts: 39]

Hello All,

I am nearing completion of my fish house / room and have just started to have a closer look at the layout for my tanks.

Now like everyone I guess, i'm hoping to put in as many tanks as I can get in, and here lies the question !

What is ( now I know this is down to probably personal preference / experience, but I need some advice ) the best layout for my room?

Here are the stats. room is rectangular, with internal dimensions of 19ft ( 5.790m ) x 7ft ( 2.130m ).
The room height is 7ft 6inch ( 2.280m ) and drops to 7ft ( 2.130m ) with a 6 inch fall on roof.

I was hoping to split the room into two, the first room for preparation, water storage, cleaning, and a sink etc. this being 5ft 8inch x 7ft the partition 4 inch thick, with the remainder - 13ft x 7ft for the actual fish tanks.
I am wanting to keep and breed in the main, corydoras and plecostomus, hopefully having four 48 x 15 x 12 for my plec groups and using 18 x 12 x 12 for my cory groups.

For the record I have used 6inch of KingSpan in the walls / roof and under the concrete floor which is also 6inch thick, and also fitted a central 6ft drainage channel in the floor.

Any questions or help gratefully appreciated,

Thanks.

[Birger]

A few basic things...

First thing I thought of is why the partition, the wall and door will always be in the way? Is it for central heating of the tanks?

My personal preference would be to centralize the sink etc. depending on if it is possible, if not you may end up using tanks tops as work stations all the time.

When laying out tanks if you have some near the floor they will get the least amount of attention so make sure they are simple to work on...and allow enough working room overtop of each tank, depending on filters, furniture etc.

Have you searched through the forum...there must be a number of layouts I would think as there have been a few similar posts over the years.

Birger

[jp11biod, posts: 131]

As I will soon be building my first real fish room, I think it would be great if a bunch of PC members would share pics of their rooms and houses, especially what works well for you and what does not.

There is an awful lot of good experience here.

JS

[Jools]

There is an awful lot of good experience here.

There are an awful lot of good fishroom threads here. Here's mine.

Cheers,

Jools

[Plecodoras, posts: 39]

Hi and thanks,

Birger I did have a look through and I cannot find the right place, I thought too that there must be hundreds of post about fish rooms / houses, but like said couldn't finds them. I was even worried that I was posting this in the right place !

Jools - Hello,

Had a look at your thread on your fish room but it wasn't displaying the pics for me, maybe just my browser?

I started my fish house a year ago and have many photos that I have done along the way... I have sought info and advice from a few friends and they have guided me along the way, so I'm hoping that this my first attempt should be pretty ok..
I aslo have bought some solar panels to mount to my roof, to run my fish house from via battery banks, so anyone with some info on this - it would be most appreciated..

Thanks again.

[Jools]

Had a look at your thread on your fish room but it wasn't displaying the pics for me, maybe just my browser?

Nope, a lot of them are no longer publicly available. However, if you go to some of the later posts, there's more pics and videos.

Cheers,

Jools

[Shane]

I thought too that there must be hundreds of post about fish rooms / houses, but like said couldn't finds them.

Maybe a typo in your search? I turned up a 104 postings just by me on my own and other people's fishrooms as well as over 700 postings on the term "fishroom."

Regardless, and as stated above, lots of folks here have set up fishrooms and I am sure will love to discuss specifics.

Just some general points I would make:

1) Electricity - Have a set up (circuit breaker) that can handle the pull safely
2) Water - Have a good source handy AND a good drainage place for "used" water. I also wish I had a water storage tank for rainwater and RO. I just sacrificed a 30 gallon tank to be my holding tank
3) Light - Many ways to do this. Individual lights, lighting systems over racks, LED vs flourescents, etc
4) Heat - Heat the room or individual tanks? Pluses and minuses either way
5) Filtration/aeration - Central or individual system(s). Internal or external. Air or power driven?
6) Quarantine rack/shelf - Put it in the plans
7) Tank space - It is very easy to sacrifice work space above the tanks and behind them to squeeze more stuff in, it also always becomes a pain if a tank's hardware can not be easily accessed.
Number of tanks - Realistically with all your other committments, hobby, family, etc how many tanks can you dedicate time to maintaining? I have lots of free space in my fishroom and even a few empty tanks. I just know that the 15 I have running are about what I can juggle with my other responsibilities.
9) Floor - Needs to be non-slip. Ideally with a drain
10 Air Circulation - keeps out mold and rot and redistributes heat

I am sure others will come in with things I did not think about as well as things that might be more specific to the UK as far as costs, available equipment, and other ideas.

-Shane

[jp11biod, posts: 131]

good stuff everyone, keep it coming!

Ted Judy has some great advice on YouTube and his website too

JS

[Plecodoras, posts: 39]

[quote="Birger"]A few basic things...

First thing I thought of is why the partition, the wall and door will always be in the way? Is it for central heating of the tanks?

Birger, the reason for the partition is to keep the heat in the room, I thought in winter I would lose a lot of heat through the door. My preference would be for no partition and I haven't put one in yet, at the moment the room is just one.

My personal preference would be to centralize the sink etc. depending on if it is possible, if not you may end up using tanks tops as work stations all the time.

I was going to put a sink and worktop under the window.

When laying out tanks if you have some near the floor they will get the least amount of attention so make sure they are simple to work on...and allow enough working room overtop of each tank, depending on filters, furniture etc.

Good advice I will take on board !

Have you searched through the forum...there must be a number of layouts I would think as there have been a few similar posts over the years.

Again thanks for the advice but to be honest I have looked about but can't find no headings for fish house / room ?
I must be looking in the wrong places, any advice here would be good? !!

Thanks to everyone for the replies.