Hi Markus and all-

I recently browsed your diapteron page and your fishroom photos, and it brought up some questions I've been puzzling over for sometime.

I have multiple tanks in my home, a 2.5 gallon beta tank, a 40 gallon community tank, and a 10 with my pair of quickly growing and coloring up killies. I'm trying to consolodate my workload, improve my setup, and build for future additions of both tanks and killies.

My problem is one that most starting hobbiests have: How do find tanks like in your fish photos (they don't look like 10 gallon one's in my LFS)? What equipment do I invest in, and is there a source with some manuals/instructions to follow to setup a multi-tank, multiairline, semi-automatic fishroom?

My goal here is not to be a world class breeder. My goal is to have several 5 to 10 gallon tanks next to each other to house, breed and efficiently clean without overrunning my garage, my house, and my mildly amused wife! I'll probably always have one large tank for display in the home, but I'm finding it almost impossible to juggle many of them in my current arrangement. Let alone trying to breed some more!

Do you have tips on good resources on buying tanks, pumps, filtration, and stands that layout how to setup something like you have in your photos? Building stands for my garage, building airline tubing etc I can do, if I have some plans to go off of. Can you give me a push in the right direction?

Thanks!

Hi Brian, man lookslike your hooked! You will have to check out www.jehmco.com they are a longtime sponser of the AKA and have fishroom supplies so you can build your own fishroom. As far as tanks are concerned you will want to consider plastic tupperware typ containers instead of tanks because they can be easily drilled and you can setup systems to make cleaning and upkeep much easier. ALso there is allot that has been written about this in JAKA the magazine of the AKA. ALso check out the archives of killietalk as allot has been discussed regarding fishrooms. STart there and then come back with any specific questions as the topic is a big one as you will soon learn. Good luck Brian hope you continue in your love for killies. In my case I have too many tanks and I am attempting to scale down and specialize in one or two species, we will see how that goes as there are just too many killies out there :)

Dave

Like Dave said I use many plastic container but dislike them as they are not totally clear(rubbermaid, sterilte, and other brands) as they are cheaper and easier to work with. So I use glass tanks. I hate to say it but Wal-mart has the best price on glass 10 gallon tanks. 5 gallon tanks cost me more than 10s so I use 10s for my racks with only the short end of the tank facing the walk way. I do not have my tanks drilled and such as I do not own my home and can not plumb the bedroom. I bought a simple gravel vaccum and a long piece of hose for it. For the upper 2 rows of tanks I syphon one or 2 of the tanks into a 5 gallon bucket sitting in a chair with my gravel vaccum with a normal length of hose(actually cut short down to about 7 foot). Then start the long one syphoning from the bucket to the bath tub. Then get to work cleaning my tanks in the top 2 rows. I have a hose attached to the washing machine hook up(a Y with valves on the faucet). There is a shelf above the 2 rows of fish that the bottom of is about eye level of just above. On this shelf I have 2 15 gallon tanks and a 10 gallon tank. I use these for conditioning my water and letting it get to the proper temp.. Then I put the short gravel cleaner in one of these and syphon the water needed to fill each tank. The bottom row of tanks can be gravel vaccumed but you have to dump the water when the bucket fills but it has 3.5 gallon plastic containers on it. My next rack will have more space though between the tanks and the shelf above. 8 inches is not quite enough. I think 10 inches will work but this will cause me to have one less shelf per unit.

If you have descent carpentry skills, building the racks are easy. Just do plenty of thinking before you make it. My father said I built mine to hold the house up. I know I would trust it to hold a ton(2000 pounds), and it is holding 2 15s, 11 10s, 7 3.5s. Which come to about 1500 pounds when everything is full of water. Take the weight into consideration when you do this. My next rack is for 15s and I have enough drilled 15s that I am thinking about doing more of a central filtration. But to do so would have to have the long side facing the walk way which eats up more space.

Later, John

Hello there Brian!

Sorry to be so late in responding to your question! I just didn’t realize I hadn’t until now! The advice given to you from Dave and John is great! Research, research and more research will give you ideas so you can decide what is best for you! I have to admit I am doing some myself and this will be about my 20th fish room I have designed and built! It is all about stream lining and efficiency for me. I figure I like feeding and wiping down tanks, but the water changes are best left to an automated system for me!

I can tell you I am a believer in central systems for several reasons. I believe that ease of maintenance creates a better experience for me with keeping many tanks of fish. Anything that can decrease the work and increase the fun is something to always consider. But as my pop’s would say, always K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid) the design. Always have a way to control your system manually if necessary. Pumps and electronic and even hydraulic controllers and valves and actuators can fail, so constant monitoring and the ability to switch to a manual system is best!

There is a way to have a system that has an automated water changing system on it with out the use of a standard drain. I have a recirculation system for my diapterons and I change 16-20 gallons twice a day out of it. I have a sump that has an over flow on it. When the new water is slowly trickled into the sump, the water rises and overflows into a condensation pump. I used a 2 gallon reservoir/ Little giant condensation pump and have it rated to push water at the height(head pressure) that I need to push the water out side on my elephant ear lily’s. This has to be the first thing in my fish hobby my wife really appreciates! My lilies are about 80 feet tall thanks to the dirty water being pumped on them all the time!

I believe that the fresher the water the better the growth rate and less chance of disease transmission or infection.

There is a DVD that can be purchased from the AKA that summarizes central systems! Also there are many JAKA articles regarding Wright Huntley and Barry Coopers experiments with a single pass system. These cats are wise to the fish game and should be listened to carefully!

Hopes this helps!
Markus