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New Fish Room


Noddy65

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  • 3 weeks later...

Things are coming along slowly

The tank prices are because Im buying so many. :)

One wall of racks is up, just waiting for the tanks now...once that side is done I can move onto the other side of the room.

I ordered a big box of pumps, filter material etc recently.

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Mike

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After visiting on Saturday night it looks great and will be amazing once the tanks are in! It is nice and warm in there as well...........

Keep on posting updates Mike and see ya soon....

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  • 3 weeks later...

Another fishroom project, Great effort allways hard to find the time to do things after a day at work.

Project looks great good to see all the wiring done and insulated walls. Are you going to sheet the walls ?

That pallet racking you have is awesome its neat compact and goes together easily and will have no problems holding a group of tanks.

Keep the pics coming great work !

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Hi everyone

Theres been a slight delay while I wait for the tanks to be made...Ive been promised the first lot this coming Friday so SHOULD have some update pics early next week (hopefully)

Mike :)

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How are you heating the room Mike? Sorry if it's already been mentioned.

I was going to use an airconditioner but both the family cars died a few weeks ago so that has had to take a back seat...Im just using normal tank heaters at the moment...the volume of water in there keeps the room nice and warm.

Mike

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Sorry to hear about the cars!

At the moment I'm using a little 1000w fan heater, but there are numerous problems w that approach.

It has no inbuilt thermostat that turns off the heat when a certain temperature is reached, and it can only maintain about 12 degrees above ambient.

I think the solution is to insulate better so temp is maintained. That is clearly what you have done very well.

That'll also help in summer. I lost fish for the first time ever, and en masse really, due to heat. That's where an AC would be a huge help too. Not cheap tho...

Looking forward to the updates!

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The first lot of tanks were delivered yesterday. Fifteen 24 long x 18 wide by 12 high tanks....theyll be used to house small shelldwellers.

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The tanks are drilled at the back right and will have 32 mm bulkheads draining to a common sump.

The backs are painted. Prepared by removing as much loose silicon as possible, cleaned with warm water and detergent and then primed with ESP.

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Three coats of paint applied with a roller was enough. I left 3 hrs between each coat. The dog in the background was a constant companion.

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Todays job is to move them down to the fishroom, adjust the pallet racking shelves and start on the plumbing...Im still waiting for the sump to be made

Mike :)

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Ok...I spent the afternoon working on the plumbing...I thought it was going to be difficult but as it turns out it was pretty straight forward. A wise member here once told me to put do the plumbing BEFORE you put the tanks on the shelves so I layed the tanks out, front down, oriented how they would be setup on the rack

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I attached the 32 mm bulkheads Ive gone a bit overboard on the piping, maybe a little too big but my thinking was that if I want, I can reduce the pipes, I cant really increase the pipes if I decided the flow was too slow. I also really wanted to move some water through these tanks. All the smaller tanks have holes drilled for 32 mm bulkheads and plumbing, the larger tanks will have 40 mm bulkheads.

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I then screwed on an elbow.

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and then a male piece, threaded on one end only

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and then either a tee piece or an elbow

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I then simply joined them all up with the correct size pipe

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I then pulled off the completed piping, moved the tanks to the rack and then popped the plumbing back on again. I havent glued any of the fittings yet, that will be the last thing I do when Im happy its all going to fit.

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I left about 30 cm or so behind the tanks for me to squeeze into. Im pretty tall, I wish Id left a bit more space as it was difficult getting my arms and legs in there...the wife cant help as she's preg and cant fit behind there at all :D

Heres a pic of the inside of one of the tanks...Im using stainless steel bulkhead strainers

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And finally of the almost completed rack...Im just waiting for the sump now, it will be going on the ground tpo teh left of the rack. Ive got a little space on the rack on the right hand side, just enough to squeeze in a 16 inch wide tank on each row....

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Mike

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Hi Mike,

Looking good mate. :thumbup:

Are the tanks touching each other?

The reason I ask is that pallet racking (due to the span) will sag (only minimal) in the middle under the weight. This is normal and on large tanks (6 or 8 footers) is not a problem but when loading with several tanks if they are touching the middle tanks will receive undue pressure on them from the tanks beside them and will break (maybe not in the beginning but I have seen it happen).

If they are and I can see you have plumbed them up but I have another suggestion which will solve the problem anyway.

I have seen several set-ups plumbed the way you have and all suffer the same problem. Water just cant escape quickly enough due to the air that is sucked into the overflow plumbing trying to force its way back out the bulkheads. My suggestion would be to put in a few breather sections in your plumbing. Will only cost you a few extra T's and some off cuts of PVC.

If it was me I would be putting T's on the back of the bulkhead so that air has an easy place to escape however its a bit late for that. What you can do (try) is to cut out a section between tank one and two's overflow and install a T with a off cut of PVC that is long enough to be above the water level of the tank that feeds it. This will allow the air that gets trapped a lest restive path to escape than back through your bulkheads. This will allow you to increase the water flow through your tanks with less chance of overflow.

My suggestion is to (if the tanks are not touching) fill the bottom row up and see how you go. If you find what I am trying to point out a little hard to follow seeing it first hand will make my gibberish clear :lol3:

Best of luck.

Ben

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Thanks for the info Ben

Yep they are touching each other, although no glass to glass contact...the little black edges are touching keeping the glass a few mm apart. Ill take your advise and just fill one row first. I can then either replumb (its only a bit of pvc piping) or even remove the black edges?

I like your idea about the air bleeders, your explanation makes perfect sense. I havent glued any of the joins yet so changes should be pretty easy. Is the air problem close to the tank near the bulkheads? Would it help if I was to put a Tee at the end of the row befor the water drops down into the sump or is this too late in the plumbing to have any affect? Or could I drill a breather hole in the elbow piece that comes out of the bulkhead?

Regards

Mike

Hi Mike,

Looking good mate. :thumbup:

Are the tanks touching each other?

The reason I ask is that pallet racking (due to the span) will sag (only minimal) in the middle under the weight. This is normal and on large tanks (6 or 8 footers) is not a problem but when loading with several tanks if they are touching the middle tanks will receive undue pressure on them from the tanks beside them and will break (maybe not in the beginning but I have seen it happen).

If they are and I can see you have plumbed them up but I have another suggestion which will solve the problem anyway.

I have seen several set-ups plumbed the way you have and all suffer the same problem. Water just cant escape quickly enough due to the air that is sucked into the overflow plumbing trying to force its way back out the bulkheads. My suggestion would be to put in a few breather sections in your plumbing. Will only cost you a few extra T's and some off cuts of PVC.

If it was me I would be putting T's on the back of the bulkhead so that air has an easy place to escape however its a bit late for that. What you can do (try) is to cut out a section between tank one and two's overflow and install a T with a off cut of PVC that is long enough to be above the water level of the tank that feeds it. This will allow the air that gets trapped a lest restive path to escape than back through your bulkheads. This will allow you to increase the water flow through your tanks with less chance of overflow.

My suggestion is to (if the tanks are not touching) fill the bottom row up and see how you go. If you find what I am trying to point out a little hard to follow seeing it first hand will make my gibberish clear :lol3:

Best of luck.

Ben

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Hi,

If it was me I would be putting T's on the back of the bulkhead so that air has an easy place to escape however its a bit late for that. What you can do (try) is to cut out a section between tank one and two's overflow and install a T with a off cut of PVC that is long enough to be above the water level of the tank that feeds it. This will allow the air that gets trapped a lest restive path to escape than back through your bulkheads. This will allow you to increase the water flow through your tanks with less chance of overflow.

I add a single snorkle on each level of the racking and find it enough so there are no flow issues. Also 32mm bulkheads have been used which is more than enough for a tank that size. This is only a pre-caution though, other setups where I have three tanks plumbed together (with a 11,000ltr/hr pump) has no snorkle and works fine - no flow issues.

I also agree with the saging comment, but on small tanks like this where the total weight on the beam (and spread evenly) is only about 400-500kg, imo is less of an issue. The beams handle 2 tonnes? You'd need to make sure the foam was even and pressed together at the join then the tanks would just sit straight on the foam.

If you are planning on mulitple larger tanks on the same beam I would space apart a little to accomdate sag as Ben has suggested.

Great looking setup, I bet you can't wait till its done and running...

Cheers

Grant

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Hi,

If it was me I would be putting T's on the back of the bulkhead so that air has an easy place to escape however its a bit late for that. What you can do (try) is to cut out a section between tank one and two's overflow and install a T with a off cut of PVC that is long enough to be above the water level of the tank that feeds it. This will allow the air that gets trapped a lest restive path to escape than back through your bulkheads. This will allow you to increase the water flow through your tanks with less chance of overflow.

I add a single snorkle on each level of the racking and find it enough so there are no flow issues. Also 32mm bulkheads have been used which is more than enough for a tank that size. This is only a pre-caution though, other setups where I have three tanks plumbed together (with a 11,000ltr/hr pump) has no snorkle and works fine - no flow issues.

I also agree with the saging comment, but on small tanks like this where the total weight on the beam (and spread evenly) is only about 400-500kg, imo is less of an issue. The beams handle 2 tonnes? You'd need to make sure the foam was even and pressed together at the join then the tanks would just sit straight on the foam.

If you are planning on mulitple larger tanks on the same beam I would space apart a little to accomdate sag as Ben has suggested.

Great looking setup, I bet you can't wait till its done and running...

Cheers

Grant

Thanks Grant

Ive copied much of it off you (as you know :) )

Ill add a breather Tee before I glue everything together. Just as a precaution.

Its been a long and frustrating wait for the tanks. Im really iching to get water in there and some fish in another month or so... :)

Mike

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