Fish room Vs. Tanks in a regular room

[Peter McFarlane]

Ok guys I need some advice..

I've just bought 2 x 4ft tanks (each divided into four bays)

The tanks are divided by glass partitions... Which I know is good for disease not spreading... But in terms of heating and pumps etc I know this will be more tricky and more expensive on my monthly bills.

Planning to run under gravel filters, what kind of air pump will I need? to run all 8 bays? Also will I have to have individual heaters in each bay?

I have thought about building some sort of fish room, as I know this way you can heat the room rather then the individual tanks... But ideally I 'd like these setup in my room where I can enjoy them more...

But if it's gonna be too pricey to run then yeah I'll have to build some sort of room?

I work a crappy job so have a tight budget, but have access to 2nd hand items from people locally who have upgraded etc and also I don't mind searching through online ad's/ebay etc... So if you can recommend ideas regarding how/where to setup these tanks (fish room or bedroom) and also any sort of equiptment that will be suitable that I can start searching/hunting for I'd be very very grateful.

Thanks guys,

Mac

 

[Dr Joe]

Nice little find.

Can you find some Styrofoam insulation (.5") thick? Put it on 3 sides and bottom.

Depending on the fish your wanting to keep, you may only need a heater in the two outside tanks then they will in turn heat the center ones. Your room temp. also comes into play of course.

If you have the wherewithal to make a manifold or gang valve ( http://www.aquacave.com/searchresult.aspx?CategoryID=564 ) for the air supply.

Air pump...how many tanks in the same room?

If any of the tanks are deep water you may have to have multiple pumps.

http://www.aquacave.com/searchresult.aspx?CategoryID=564

Calculate out your usage, then decide.

Have you considered using sponge filters for these small tanks? A whole lot less work.

Don't know if you use this link before, just a heads up.

Dr Joe

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[Peter McFarlane]

Nice one Dr.Joe! Reliable as ever

I'll look at them links now and report back later.

Tanks are gonna be for raising fry from outdoor pond as the baby koi never last the cold winters. Also going to have a few pairs of random fish, only small stuff (kribs at largest). Some other small cichlids... Got some Belonesox coming finally and hear they cant live together males and females etc, so yeah the tanks will be very lightly stocked.. Few tanks for feeders etc, I got the whole lot for less then 40 pounds, so even though Ideally next tank was gonna be a monster tank... That's been postponed (gonna have to make do with monsters in the garden for now...)

Will look into those links and post back shortly.

Thanks again..

 

[Mystix212]

Is it possible to remove the glass in the middle and drill a small section in it? If you can, you could just throw on a single canister per tank. And 1 heater.

 

[Ianab]

Tanks are gonna be for raising fry from outdoor pond as the baby koi never last the cold winters

Well that solves 1/2 your heating problem, the Koi will do fine just being inside away from the winter ice. No heater needed for them.

Get some heaters for the tropical species, put them on the lower shelves. That will keep the Koi tanks above a bit warmer too.

Heating the tanks will allways take less power than heating a room, but it will take more heaters. At some pont it becomes sensible to heat the whole room, rather than running say 20 tank heaters. But it will take more actual power to do so.

Cheers

Ian

Master of budget fish keeping