The following tips were all gathered from our members. If you would like to contribute then please read and add to the thread on the Forum.
Water
Drainage - bear in mind that thee will no doubt be a build up of sand/gravel and any other debris over time from your water changes etc., so the drain needs to be fairly easy to access afterwards. yo ucould add some kind of filter/trap somewhere along the system to reduce the build up.
Water supply - very useful, probably only need a cold water supply
Water storage - needed for things like water changes in general and especially for fry or delicate species where care has to be taken to use water of the same temperature
Heating
Heating - various methods, space heating the room using oil filled radiators seems to be popular. Space heating in general is more economic that heating manmy indivdual tanks and reduces atmospheric moisture resulting from aquarium water being warmer that that of the surrounding air.
Consider fitting a plug in thermostat to space heaters to act as a fail safe to prevent boiling of the fish in case of a thermostat sticking on. You may even consider as with large fish tanks fitting two smaller wattage heaters so should one stick on the temperature will not rise as quick and hopefully you will notice before any damage is done.
A good buy is a min/max thermometer to record room temperatures. Remember hot air rises so lower tanks will be cooler that top row tanks to prevent this think about installing a desk fan near the ceiling on a timer to circulate the air every so often.
Power
Remember water and electricity kills so be carefull!!!!!
Local regulations state that all electrical works which include more than an extension running from the house should be done by an qualified electrician. You may be able to carry out most of the works yourself if you feel confident, but get the final check done by an electrician. This will work out cheaper than paying for all the works to be done.
At a minimum the fish house should have its own RCD breaker in the fish house and also be wired to a separate fuse/RCD in the main house board. Ensure sockets are placed as high as possible to avoid splashes of water from tanks.
Always plan socket layout for the future with room for expansion fish houses always seem to increase with the number of tanks.
Construction
Lighting
Lighting - consider the height of your fishhouse when selecting light fittings and locations. Often fishhouses are outbuildings with lower ceilings that rooms in a house.
Fish don’t like being dropped into sudden darkness or light, if your fish house has no windows for natural light consider fitting a night light, this can be anything from a red bulb to a “blue moon” light tube. If the lights are fitted to a timer, plan for the night light to come on 5 mins before lights out and go out 30 mins after main lights out. This also allows you to observe night time behavior in the fish house and is helpful to watch nocturnal catfish. For sunrise the night light should come on 30 min before “lights on” and can be switch off just after the main lights come on.
There is a selection of timers from plug in timers to hard wired central heating timers that are all suitable for switching of the lighting and all dependant on your own lighting wiring arrangements.
Insulation
There are a number of excellent products available for insulating your space.
Costs
You can try and keep costs down by recycling materials. I reclaimed the majority of insulation from building site scrap, which at the time was a van full of it heading for the tip!
Time by Accufish
Ocean Blue
Blue Ocean Aquatics Ltd
Now open!
Previously Aquahobby at Heeley, Sean has moved to bigger and better premises in Attercliffe.
Over the last eighteen months we have expanded our tropical fish house, extended our outdoor pond area and recently opened a new Marine Department. Work continues as we look to double our retail space.
Simply Aquatics is a new store with an emphasis on real quality, quality hardware, quality livestock and quality support. We pride ourselves on thinking differently.
Contact: 0845 33 11 464
84 - 86 The Common, Ecclesfield, Sheffield, S35 9WN
