My fish room and new 300 gal aquarium

OK, this is the start of my blog on my new fish room. Right now I have 2- 135gal and 3- 55gal tanks in my garage. But keeping the temps up has been a chore this winter. So, I am turning the back of my garage into my fish room/office. I will update my progress. I recently had another back surgery so this may be a slow process. I am going to have to rely on my boys to do most of the work. I have a 2 car garage, so I am building a wall across the back. I should still be able to park my car in one side of it.

The 300 gal tank, I am getting from a gentleman out here by me. A screaming deal I might add. It includes a beautiful breeding pair of Dovi. The male is about 14" and the female 8". Since Ike @ Aquarium Paradise isn't spawning anymore, I figure that I can take over the Dovi breeding in the area. I will be getting about 100 of their fry also. Did I say, "A SCREAMING DEAL"

So I will start by taking pictures of the tanks and my garage now. And then update as I go. Hopefully being ready to atleast move the 300 in, put it in place, set it up in about 3 weeks or so, and then finish the room. I think I am going to do it that way to make it easier to get it in. NOW, if I have to remove it some day, I'm going to have to plan for that one.

If any of you are interested in some Dovi, You know where to come.

Sweet! I will be tagging along!

Give a yell if you need ideas or a helping hand

Wow finally got in to the big tanks, right on. Im my opion I would ditch the Dovii and put your Amp. collection in there or even your Parachromis collection, just my opion. Great score though!!

This is gonna be such a fun project. Good luck!

Oh ya I am Bassman Matt , the 300 is getting my collection and switching places with the Dovi. The Dovi for now will get the 135 all to them selves.

Here are a couple pics of the disaster I call, my garage.

Doing a quick water change today, and decided to take a couple pics of what it looks like now. Boy, with my recent back surgery, I have not been up on my water changes. They really needed it and a good cleanin today.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

What kind of system do you use to get water back into the tank?

Adonijah wrote:What kind of system do you use to get water back into the tank?

Right now I use barrels, I add chemicals and salt to the barrels, fill them up, and let sit for a day, then fill up my tanks. I am in the process of designing a way to do it differently once my room is built. I am going to have a 275 gallon water container that I will use along with a pump and other things. Still trying to design it. I'm going to install drain pipes and a water spigot. Still really trying to design the easiest way possible.

Storage shed is being delivered next week. Picked up insulation and some rock today, and picking up the wood on Monday or Tuesday. Can't really start till the shed gets here so that I can get this crap out of my way. (well, out of my kids way. They are going to have to do most of the work) I'm stoked and ready to go.

And thank GOD for Craigslist. I can't believe how much you can save, and what people give away. I am picking up 110 - 2 x 4 x 8', 12 - 4 x 4 x 8' all for less than $100. The insulation and rock I got today, 240' of wall insul and 10 sheets of 1/2" rock for $50. If you look long and hard enough, you will find almost anything.

Next post I hope to have sheet rock on the existing garage walls, and half of the new wall built and rocked and painted. Then I will build the shelf that the 300 will go on, along with my 135. Once those are done, it will be time to move the tank in. I will keep updating as we go.

Time for an update. Thanks to the weather, my shed didnt show up till this past Saturday. And my boys are learning, so it's moving a bit slower than expected. Since I started this blog, I have acquired/traded for, a 210 gal to go next to my 300.

The boys have cleaned out the one side of the garage, and have insulated the walls, and ran new electrical for outlets and lighting. Hopefully rock will be up on exterior walls by Friday, along with part of the new wall.

I really need to get this going. My fish are getting restless in my 135. I think they know that they are getting a new home.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

You gotta a Screaming deal on those construction supplies!! Looking good.

Time for an update. Since the last pic, I have completed the rock, mud, and paint. Built the stand to hold both the 300 and a 210. (this table could hold a truck, I know I went to beefy, but this baby is not coming down in any earthquake) lol

I only have about 4' of the dividing wall done cause I have tanks in the way. So I will be installing the 300 & 210, getting them up and running and do a big fish relocation adventure. Then I will move the existing tanks out of the way, and finish the remaining wall.

The 210 is now up in place, and today I will be putting in the substrate and filling w/water. Will be picking up the 300 next Saturday, (any volunteers? Could use about 3-4 people and a large truck. The tank comes with a stand that I will be putting in storage for a while)

Well time for some updated pics:

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Here's a pic of the 300 that I will be picking up Saturday. And my new wild caught Dovi.
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

thats totaly bitchin dude.

cant wait to see it completed.

drooling, i would LOVE to have a fish room like that!!

dual FX5's. reminds me of twin turbos on a V8!

Well got the 210 up and going. Time to clear some room to bring in the 300 this weekend. Also picked up a 120 acrylic, to put under the 210. Nothing fancy, it came with some beautiful umbee youths, ranging from 2" to 5". So I stuck my 5 in with them. Also came with a breeding pair of RTM's. The male looks OK, but the female is beautiful. And so red, almost Festae like.

The challenge now is, what fish to stick in what tank? Hmmmmm

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Time for an update. Moved in the 300 last weekend. Used an existing Fx5 that was already running on another tank, and temporarly hung an AquaClear 110 that was on an existing tank on the front, to help cycle the tank quicker.

So now my 135 is empty, and removed my pikes, Kraussi, and Salvini from the other 135. (they were getting to big for the grow out tank) So here is how I split it up. I put the larger more aggressive Cichs in the 300 and the lesser aggressive in the 210.

Here is the breakdown.
300 gal. Avg size 6+"
2-Amph. Hogaboomarum M&F
1-White/Org Red Devil M
1-Red barred Red Devil M
2-Cich Grammodes M&F
2- Para Loisellei M&F
2-Caquetaia Kraussi sex unknown yet
3-Cich Urophthalmus 2M&F
2-Texas Herichthys Cyanoguttatus 2M
1-Herichthys Carpintis F i think
1-Striped Raphael Catfish
1-Pleco
2-Org Pikes
3-Red finned Botia loaches

210gal. Avg size 3+"
3-Vieja Argentea sex unknown
2-Vieja Regani sex unknown
3-Vieja Maculicauda sex unknown
4-Astatheros Nourissati sex unknown
4-Amph. Rytisma sex unknown
2-Tomocichla Sieboldii sex unknown
2-Paraneetroplus Gibbicep sex unknown
2-Cich Salvini M&F
2-Herichthys Carpintis (escondido) sex unknown
4-Tiger loaches
1-Choco Pleco

Will add pictures later.

Here are some pics. Hopefully!!!! My computer has been running real slow lately.

Finally emptied out the 135 that is in the way of my wall, so tomorrow I will be relocating the 135 to storage, and start building the wall across the garage. Still have 2 55gal tanks in the way of another section of wall. DAMN!! Who's idea was this anyway? lol I should finally be done and ready by next Winter.

My male Hoga spawned with my Red-Red Devil the other day. Will upload some pics of them later. And I also hope to get pics of my new Nourissati's, they look real nice. Also will try and get some pics of my Festae pair. The male is still smacking around the female, so they don't come out much. I picked these two beauties up from Chevylife. Soon I will get pics. Also will try and get pics up of my mated pair of RTM's. Right now the female is in quarantine. She got the BLEEP beat out of her by my Uro.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Just spent some time taking pictures. You can do this when your recovering from surgery, and have absolutely nothing to do.

I wont post many pics here of my fish, cause this is a blog of my room. The remainder of my updated pics will be at:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Male Hoga and female Devil w/eggs
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
Male Festae
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
One of the Nourassati. It is the one at the bottom.
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
Male Dovi
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
One of the Tiger Loaches (these guys are a kick to watch. Constantly chasing each other. You have to be careful though, if you have fish that are easily stressed, these guys will drive them to death. Not to mention, these loaches are very aggressive and will hold there own.)
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
Veija Argentea
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Thanks for following along, and hope your enjoying this right along with me.

A few more pics showing progress. I should have the door wall painted by this time tomorrow, and beginning to build my tank shelf on that wall. I will be putting my 135 gal on top and 2- 55gal on the bottom. Then all I have left is to tie the 2 walls together at the corner. (which sits directly in the center of my two 55's. So I need to relocate them, before I finish. I think by next weekend I should have the room completely inclosed.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]\

Here is a pic of my new RTM pair. The female is beautiful. I just had to show you all.
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Wow that is quite the set up. I would love to have a whole room dedicated...

OK. So all of the walls are up and rocked. Since the last post I have rocked, mudded, painted and built the table for either one of my 135's. I will be finishing the mud on the remaining 2 walls tonight, sanding tomorrow and hopefully painting tomorrow. Then I am going to build a table/stand that will be 8 1/2' long by 32" deep, directly across from my 300 & 210. This will be for another tank in the future. Hopefully one that is 96" x 24/30" x 30". But thats in the future a ways. Then its time to clean up everything, put all the tools away, and put down the indoor/outdoor carpet, and then install my air system that will supply all the tanks from 1 pump.

Looking for a good, fairly new and inexpensive dehumidifier if any of you have one and are looking to unload it. Or if you know of where to get one. There is a few on CL I may check out next week.

Its amazing, the temp in the garage this morning was 47 degrees. In the fish room, just on the other side of the wall, was 65 degrees. Thats one of the main reasons for the room. Looks like its paying off already.

Here are some updated pics. Still a bit messy.
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Awesome! Looking good! Now that we have moved into a house we put all the tanks in the garage and we have to leave the door to the inside to pretty much heat up the garage, going to get a little pricey. Although we don't park the cars in the garage so there is no opening and closing the garage door to the outside! My bf is going to insulate up in the rafters so that will help a lot!

Nice work! and love the red terrors

Oh and where is the 300gal, do you have pics of that? I want to seee

Here is are some updated pics of the 300, and its inhabitants.

Close up
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
Grammode 8"
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
Hoga 10"
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
Texas 10"
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
Kraussi 10"
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
Tank from a distance
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]
And a pic of the Festae
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Nice! I don't like cichlids at all but yours are my favorite for sure! Maybe I just don't like africans!!!

that 300 looks good man

Thanks Ashley and Aaron. I have completed the room, painted all walls, and built my stands. So now I need to get my 135 set up and cycled. (for what? not sure yet) I also will be hanging pvc pipe for my air system to the tanks. Will take some updated pics tomorrow.

Time to catch you all up on the room. I have completed the walls, and painted. Completed the tables for the tanks, still have to put down the indoor/outdoor carpet, and will be installing the piping for the air system for the tanks. But all-in-all, the room is complete and i have right now a 300, 210, 125 x 2, 135, & 120 in it. The empty table you see in the pics is the future home to my 400+ tank. I want a custom acrylic built, and if I eventually do, it will be 526gal.

I have also got to install the 300gal water tank that I am using for water changes, pipe it and get the pump installed.

While taking pictures of the room, I also took some pictures of some of my little aquatic friends. Some that you have already seen, and some of my new additions. I will post these pics in the show-n-tell section. You've got to check them out. Awesome pictures of my new Festae, my Dempsy/flowerhorn hybrid,(this fish is really looking sweet), my unknown pike and my sand eating Rhytisma. Plus others.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Tiger Loach looks killer! Nice room Madness! :O)

/me jealous

Thanks Larry & Censeoflife. It was a fun project. I only wish that my garage was larger, so that I could have made the room larger. Thats OK though. I am looking to add on in the future, so I am really contemplating adding onto the back of the garage. My house has an odd design. I could add on to the back another 140 sq ft room. 280sq ft if I add a second floor. But thats in the distant future.

Well its time to update and expand the fish room project. Since my last entry, I have added 8 x 40 gallon breeders w/ 6 of them on a breeding/fry rack all filtering through 1 wet/dry filter. A stack 75 gallon rack with 2 x 75gal. And have recently picked up a 300 gal and 400 gal that will be up and running soon.

So I am going to turn the entire garage into my fish room. I need to insulate 2 more walls and throw up some drywall, then paint. The 400 will be my new grow out tank, and my current grow out tank will become a breeding tank.

Took some rough pics of the rest of the garage as it looks now. Will post before pics soon, then soon after will post the after pics.

I could have swore there was a drooling smiley lol.sooooooo jealous madness.

wow, where do you keep getting your large tanks. i have been looking around and its hard to find anything over 125 or 150?

Connections.

sounds like some big things are happening in the madness fishroom. cant wait till i can get up there and see it.

what are the dims of the 300 and 400?

The 300 Is 96x24x30, the 400 is 96x48x20

awesome. when does the store open?

you should hook me up with your connections.

fishman09 wrote:awesome. when does the store open?

Soon. lol Zonatus have about 3000 fry swimming, the Cubans are about to spawn, Hogas are close (hopefully), my WC male devil is about to spawn with my WC blue barred female, Dovii have fry, Hartwegi's are getting reacquainted and it looks promising, Blue/red head Fenestratus are about to spawn. Have RTM, Umbee, Hoga, fry all ready to go.

On the African side, (yes the African side) I have Ruby red peacocks ready to go, and Christmas Fulu just spit out 30 fry. Oh and may have a 100 or so Jewel Cichlids. I think thats it. And Brichardi fry various sizes.

Nick_87 wrote:you should hook me up with your connections.

If I gave out my connections, then they wouldnt be connections any more.

looks like its time to start shipping

Soon

I have finally started re-doing the fish room. I am in the process of expanding, and turning the entire garage into my fish room. I Temporarily put the 300gal in the middle of the the main area so that I could put a bunch of the fish in it while I remodel the smaller side of the garage. Here are a few pics of the process.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Should have the exterior wall rocked tomorrow, and all of it taped a muded. The 2nd and 3rd photos show the wall with the rock removed, while the last 3 photos show it rocked again. I plan on cutting the sheet rock out in the area where you see the back of the rock. This will give me another walk way into the other part of the fish room. The area that you see in the photos will soon be where I set up my 400gal. That 120 will come out and the 400 will sit smack dab in the middle of the room. More photos tomorrow.

look forward to more photos. keep it up. gonna be killer when all done for sure

Wow, I have never seen that corner empty before!

Looking forward to seeing the new fish room/store!

i just might have to overtake my husbands garage now lol

Almost ready to move in the 400 gal. I have completed the drywall, and taping. Painted walls with primer. Just completed putting together my LED lighting. Now I am trying to design a way to hang them so that they can be raised and lowered, for when the garage door is open or shut. I completed cutting open the door way from the old fish room, into the new.

Tomorrow I will be relocating the fish in my 120 acrylic, moving it out of the way and bringing in the stand for the 400. Then I will install the wet/dry. Then install the tank and complete the plumbing. Hopefully have water in it by tomorrow this time. My garage floor drops at a pretty good slope, so leveling out a stand that size could be interesting.

The first 3 are of the area where the 400 will go. Looking through the doorway into my existing fish room:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

These last 2 are looking from the existing fish room into the area where the 400 will go.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]