Bettarazzi Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Some of you are already aware that I’ve just moved house but I’ll just quickly summarise the situation for everyone else. In short, I’m demolishing my house and rebuilding. In the meantime I’m renting a house close by and the selection criteria included: no carpets and a spare room for the fish. Now it turns out that the temporary fishroom is very close in size to the fishroom in the new house. This is good because I can get a feel for the space and plan out the future tank layout. It’s BAD because I realise, too late, that this is way, way, way too small!! Never mind, it will still be nearly three times more tank space than I had before. And probably 10 times more than I can really cope with. I thought I would show you some pics from the move and temporary setup. I am trying not to buy any new stuff and making sure I keep in mind that this is only temporary. But I also wanted to the make maintenance a little easier. Here are some pics of the tanks before the move. The 2 ft tanks holding a breeding pair of bristlenose, swordtails and guppies. The 20 cm tanks holding my breeding stock of bettas. The barracks and collection of 20 litre tanks. This was the biggest challenge. I didn't want to keep the L shape and I also wanted to be able to get at the beanie boxes from behind. So simple in theory. Just remove one of the wings and attach it to the other end. In reality it was a nightmare of buckets, cleaning and moving tanks, catching fish, etc. I thought I should measure the different racks and made a rough floorplan on my iPad. One week before the main house move I started moving the fish. Was crazy busy at the time and knew I would have to do it in chunks a bit at a time before and after work. The first tank getting stripped down. That was the first and last of the step by step photos. After that it was getting up at 4 am to try to move some stuff before work and then after work I'd get home, make some dinner and continue moving till midnight or till I dropped whichever came first. So making a photographic record was a low priority. But I do a few more pics as each bit was set up again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davo Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Hi Michael. Have you considered on using Google Sketchup? I used it to draw my fish room in 3D space and instead of just imagining it I could visually see it..and walk around it as well Just a thought ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Yeah I just find Sketchup a bit time consuming. And I'm a bit challenged when I'm using it. Also not available for iPad. I did most of the drawings on the train into work. 24 March, 2.30pm The first rack has been moved, fish in it, filters on. See the floorboards? No more mouldy carpets. Just as well since this is a rental house. LOL 25 March, 7am The breeder tanks are done. This took much longer than I expected. Worked on it till late the previous night then got up again at 4am. By this stage I was too stressed and tired to think about taking pics. The next few days were a nightmare of very little sleep and hard physical labour. It wasn't just moving the fish that had to happen. We also had to pack the rest of the house up. We'd lived there for 25 years so you can imagine the amount of stuff we'd amassed. The next couple of pics were taken well and truly after the move was over. Actually a couple of weeks after the move. I decided to set up a 3 foot tank that had been sitting idle, despite my resolve not to ADD anything more to my temporary setup. Oh well, so much for good intentions. It houses the remains of my b. patoti spawn. They are doing much better now with more tank space and reduced numbers after I sold 12 at the EDAS auctions. Some of you will have seen the nicely coloured up male on my Facebook page. (click the FB icon in my sig if you're interested.) Back view of the reconfigured L shaped shelving. Front view. The beanie boxes are simply sitting on the shelf with no heating or filtration and no easy way to do water changes. They've been like that for weeks now. I have had to heat the whole room just for them. And 100% water changes every few days. But I have taken steps now to improve that situation and I'll put up pics of that once it's finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumofthehoarde Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 How do you find the maintenance on the tanks low to the ground? I use a syphon but it is really hard. Any tips???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 It is quite painful. The siphon I use is one of those that have a bulb to help start the siphon action. I just keep pumping until enough water comes out. I also have a battery operated siphon pump thingy that I bought from an LFS. I think I chucked out the box when I moved so can't tell you the brand or even its name. It's basically a hand held pump with an extendable tube attached. Unfortunately it needs a minimum water depth of around 20 cm. It's ok for the larger tanks but I find I get bored stuffing around with it. Don't remember how much it was but I don't think it was cheap. Or maybe it was don't remember. In the new fishroom everything will be raised at least 40 cm of the floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 It looks GREAT, 'Razzi. Hope you feel better soon and can relax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melbournebetta Posted May 11, 2012 Report Share Posted May 11, 2012 Mammoth effort moving house - let alone a whole fish room, I recall my 80cm wide shelving setup relocation program taking DAYS. This is looking great Razzi, seems really efficient, it's really handy to see how you've set up... so I can plan my dream fish room, that i'm moving into, in a million years time.. nyuk nyuk Chin up mister, I know the name of a great Chiro! x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zui Posted May 11, 2012 Report Share Posted May 11, 2012 I just showed my wife your pics Battarazzi and I quote " Don't get an ideas" Thank god I have my shed lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 HI Razzi Will you bubble wrap that window that the tanks are up against. It might kep the room more even temp. Big job you have going on but I am sure it will be worth it in the long run. Just remember moving house is up high on the stress chart at the same level as building one so you are haveing a double wamy. Take time out and be a little self indulgent and that should keep the blood presure down. Dont forget pics of the demolition and new house as its built are a must as well. No presure . Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 The plan WAS to bubble wrap the window. But I didn't do it before the tanks were put up and now I think it will be a lot harder. By the time I muster up the motivation winter will be over and it will be time to move again. LOL. My priority this week was to do something about automating water changes in the beanie boxes. I had this idea, which didn't seem at all silly when I first came up with it, of using the existing tubing from the recycling drip system to set up a permanent siphon to drain the tanks and then refill. Not entirely silly since I'd seen this done in another fishroom although it was done with much larger tanks. Why did I think it would work on beanie boxes? Well, when it was a recycling system, every time I turned the pump off the water flow would reverse and the beanie boxes would start to drain, rapidly filling the sump and spilling onto the carpet. I soon learnt to break the siphon action by lifting the dripper tubes out of the water. But it was quite a juggling act because I needed to get at least 4 of them out of the water to successfully stop the siphon. Anyway, remembering that this used to happen I thought I could use this to my advantage. I didn't want to set the drip system back up in this temporary fishroom because I wanted to change the layout of those L-shaped shelves. Plus the gutters I was using had to be ripped apart in order to get them out of the room and I didn't fancy gluing them all back together again. So I thought, no problem, use that siphoning action to your advantage. Set it up as essentially a permanent siphon which will allow me to fill and drain whenever I want. It's taken quite a bit of effort to get the drip tubing back up, convert everything to the new layout, put heating cords down, etc. Today was the big day for doing the first water change. And yep, you guessed it, you knew where this was leading, IT DOESN'T WORK! I couldn't get it primed. No matter how hard I tried, the siphon kept breaking. SIGH. Back to square one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 AH man I was hopping after getting half way through that that it was going to work. if the pump is turned off and the drainage hole is not to low on the benie then the pump shouldnt over flow or are you not using the gutter system now , couse i thought that was what you started out with??? I think I may have mised a post or two on your system set up. I recon dont worry about the bubble wrap you can get the thermo line for curtens fron Spot Light and just hang that over the window and it will have a better result than bubble wrap. Sham you are not in Perth as I have two roles of it hear. Chears Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 Yeah, not using the gutter, drip, sump system. My complaints about the old system are that it leaked often and there was a great deal of evaporation which increased the humidity to unacceptable levels in the small, closed room. I thought I would just try to make the water changes easier. So they only have shared heating, not worrying about filtration. Water quality was going to be maintained only by regular water changes. But I thought I could make the water changes less manual. I might have to go back to manually siphoning each beanie box and use the tubing that's been set up only to fill them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lachie1998 Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 nice setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brettc777 Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 Did you get this all sorted out? The new house should have taps coming into the fish room and a draining pipe to go outside lol. You could even hook the setup to a water tank! I tell you what if I ever got back into bettas I would be trying to make everything automated! How much stuff did you throw out? Thats one good thing with renting and moving every couple of years, you get to de-clutter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted July 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 It's not sorted. I hate doing water changes at the moment. Such a drag. The new fishroom will definitely have a sink. So there will be taps and drain. But the plumbing in and out of the fish tanks will be my problem to sort out. I'd love to have a large water aging tank in the room but I feel it will take up valuable space in an already small room (3 x 3 metres) which would be better used for aquariums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNgo2006 Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 How do you find the maintenance on the tanks low to the ground? I use a syphon but it is really hard. Any tips???? Get one of those battery powered siphons from ebay...I just got one, haven't received it yet but will let you know how it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 Hi Razzi If the room has an external wall then could you not plumb to an ageing tank on th out side maby one that has captured filterd rain water from the roof? The same could be applied to the waist water leaving the room plumbed out to a veg garden. these could be adapeted after the house is built quite easerly. I like the idea of a sink for the fish room I am so sick of carrying boiling water to the garage and it is such a great idea it will save you so much time. how have you planed the electric for the room? and what is the floor surface and drainage like. Good luck and I hope the builders get the hurry on LOL Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadoh Posted July 14, 2012 Report Share Posted July 14, 2012 Hey Les, why don't you grab a cheap kettle and keep it in the garage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted July 14, 2012 Report Share Posted July 14, 2012 Hey Jarrod Thats not a bad idea. The only prob would be finding a vacant power outlet that has easy access with all the tanks in the way but i will give it a go Cheers les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted July 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2012 All drainage will have to go to the sink. The floor will be tiled and there will be a waterproof membrane. Couldnt fully plan the electrics because I hadn't fully planned out the room or decided on heating the room or the tanks. There will be power points at chest height on every wall but I'm sure I'll have to use a lot of powerboards. The disadvantage of using one of the bedrooms as a fish room seems to be that I have to make some decisions prematurely. I suppose a lot of things can be changed later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted July 15, 2012 Report Share Posted July 15, 2012 Hey Razzi Sound like a great idea water proof membrain we used a two part sealer made by Bostic under our Jarrah floor boards that are directly on top of the slab and have had no probs with damp, my Nephew didnt and he has had a hell of a time with them . If the walls are external and have a cavity it souldnt be a problem at a later date to put in power points If the floor is tiled remember to use a realy good grout sealer, I sealed mine and it has definatly given me a longer life of the grout. Good luck and I hope it all goes well Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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