Fish Room 64 Build Thread

[Jimmy]

Woke up early today and got to some tinkering. I grabbed some pothos clippings from the house and got to work. Unfortunately I won’t be able to have pothos on my bottom racks due to my toddlers but I will slowly start drilling holes for my starts. Here’s some of my progress 

You may see a hideous decoration. It was a gift from some time ago from someone who wasn’t a fish keeper. I of course graciously accepted and just sat on them. I threw two in this morning for giggles and secondly as simple as it may be I’m sure the kids will have a trip seeing the mushrooms and jelly fish lol. Not likely to become a permanent fixture.

[Hobbit]

Hehe I love that decoration! It’s hilarious!

[Jimmy]

On 9/7/2021 at 7:04 AM, Hobbit said:

Hehe I love that decoration! It’s hilarious!

I’ve been gifted many decorations over the years I’m pretty good at accepting them now lol. I will let the littles enjoy them for a bit

[Jimmy]

Started a new job so fish room progress slowed down. Honestly I spent quite a bit to get this room out so I’m not taking any stocking too seriously initially. I was able to get my inkbird controller and finally kick the heat on. Lows have got down to the 50s and the room holds a comfortable 75-76 and the heater doesn’t seem to need to kick on much. Interested in what stability I will have this winter.

With a room temp of 76 the tank temperatures seem to so far be stable. Bottom rack is 71.5+, 73~ for the middle rack and 74 for top. I may raise the room temp again.

Humidity seems to hold at 50-55 and I’m not certain if that’s due to the room or the ambient temp/humidity outside. I anticipate it dropping naturally with the colder weather that will be coming soon. I’m also uncertain if 55~ is concerning? I’m willing to monitor it day to day. Also worth mentioning that I have access to the insulation above the ceiling that I can monitor but I doubt any buildup will happen at this threshold. I’m no expert.

still have cord management to do please skip past that!

[lefty o]

55% humidity should be fine. over 65% i would be concerned. if you start to see condensation form on the ceiling in the corners, thats your warning sign its too wet in the space.

[Jimmy]

On 9/11/2021 at 10:28 AM, lefty o said:

55% humidity should be fine. over 65% i would be concerned. if you start to see condensation form on the ceiling in the corners, thats your warning sign its too wet in the space.

Thanks as always. I will make sure to check for that. Nothing feels moist and seems within range. I still might return my dehumidifier and upgrade. 75+ degrees and 50-55 percent on humidity isn’t the most comfortable.

 

going to LFS to “look” today

 

[lefty o]

going to LOOK, hahahahaha. we know better, there is no look!🤣

[Tihshho]

The room is looking great! Glad to see another potted bare bottom tank person in here. Maintenance for you will be cut down so much going this route if you decide to stick with it. 

On 9/11/2021 at 1:47 PM, Jimmy said:

going to LFS to “look” today

Good luck. I went for a 'look' today too and well I'm glad I played musical sponge filters and setup a quick QT a day or so ago.

[Jimmy]

On 9/11/2021 at 12:10 PM, Tihshho said:

The room is looking great! Glad to see another potted bare bottom tank person in here. Maintenance for you will be cut down so much going this route if you decide to stick with it. 

Good luck. I went for a 'look' today too and well I'm glad I played musical sponge filters and setup a quick QT a day or so ago.

I will run substrate in my Cory tanks but probably won’t run a whole lot of substrate otherwise. There’s so many approaches. 

[Tihshho]

Did you make it home from the LFS emptyhanded?

[Jimmy]

On 9/11/2021 at 3:44 PM, Tihshho said:

Did you make it home from the LFS emptyhanded?

So close 

grabbed some guppy female and a single male. Got 11 white clouds(1 extra jumped in bag) and 6 goldens. It appears I landed a good mix of males and females. Goldens in there own tank, and split the normal stock into 2 10s

 

neither of these fish will be my focus but I’m waiting a bit on the psuedomugils, tetras and corys. I intend on breeding what I got today. Both are kinda just put in water plug and play breeders 
 

 

[Jimmy]

 

[lefty o]

looks good. over all, the whole room turned out fairly nice, and actually looks a little larger than the size would suggest.

[Jimmy]

On 9/13/2021 at 9:06 AM, lefty o said:

looks good. over all, the whole room turned out fairly nice, and actually looks a little larger than the size would suggest.

It’s not cramped at all, just no room for any more tanks. It’s a nice laboratory 

[Jimmy]

Update

Got to play in the fish room today a little. I was able to start cleaning some play sand, I know how exciting lol. I only cleaned enough to get a dusting of sand in 2 of my 20s and 1 ten gallon. 
 

Side note, I was able to view some Sterbais for the first time. I assume at 8 bucks each they were a common aquarium strain. Let me tell you they were gorgeous. Dark bodied with that little bit of orange on pectoral fins really popped. I don’t know if my room will be warm enough for them but it’s still on the radar.

 

This planter is SPICY!

 

Didn’t spend countless hours working on this room for non aquatic inhabitants!
H E 🏒 🏒  NO! Lol

[Tihshho]

I see the spiders moved in. I have this issue as well and I've slowly started to deal with it. Per another users recommendation (sorry I forgot who it was, but this credit goes to them) I placed some peppermint oils in the room and it seems to have caused the population to drastically decrease. 

[Jimmy]

On 9/14/2021 at 6:23 PM, Tihshho said:

I see the spiders moved in. I have this issue as well and I've slowly started to deal with it. Per another users recommendation (sorry I forgot who it was, but this credit goes to them) I placed some peppermint oils in the room and it seems to have caused the population to drastically decrease. 

Interesting I will look into it

[Hobbit]

I use Vick’s vaporub to keep wasps away from any corner where they want to establish themselves. It may work for the spiders, too. Learned this from my neighbor, a local lady who was country born and raised and is full of good tricks!

Oh another trick for dealing with spiders—get a chicken. But then you have to deal with the poop. 😉 

[Tihshho]

On 9/15/2021 at 11:42 AM, Hobbit said:

Oh another trick for dealing with spiders—get a chicken. But then you have to deal with the poop. 😉 

Fish room chicken... Now this would be a new thing.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Jimmysalt and pepper, panda and barbatus would be better choices if you’re worried about temps. But yeah sterbai are gorgeous! 

[lefty o]

i really hate to be the bearer of bad news with the freshly built fish room, but once big nasty hairy spiders move in, there is only one solution.  take a flame thrower to the place, only way to ensure spiders are eliminated.

[Jimmy]

On 9/15/2021 at 11:13 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@Jimmysalt and pepper, panda and barbatus would be better choices if you’re worried about temps. But yeah sterbai are gorgeous! 

Paleatus was certainly on the radar. I do like panda and baebarus too

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Jimmywe have lots of choices it’s just time in finding them, the money and all the rest of the process we have to deal with. I have 15 pandas coming tomorrow. Wish me luck! 

[Jimmy]

Update

Started new job recently which has taken precedence over updating my thread. Few aquariums have inhabitants and is going relatively well so far.  
 

I believe I already updated this but one aquarium has a single male and three female guppy’s. I believe all three females are gravid but I’m not certain. I will have a better idea in a few days. They are super healthy but the male is kinda drab since I brought him home. I suspect it’s the pale aragonite substrate. I will play musical aquarium soon to test that theory.

Got a box from Dan! 7 corydoras rabauti and 7 paleatus! Got a slight ammonia reading in rabauti and it’s smell. Just following up with small water changes, added some pogostemon and monitoring my feedings closely. Not too concerned. May throw some carbon in passively today.

 

Still need to work out a better system for water changes. I intend on using utility pumps but currently I have to hook a second hose up to make it to the shop. I will likely drill for a port on the side of the shop to easily fill barrels in preparation for water change days. Secondly I will make a drain line low on the wall to easily drain into alley way. I will likely make a 2 inch hole.

 

 

 

[Jimmy]

I was able to grab some albino bristlenose babies with yoke sack in tact out of my main display today. Generally they grow to good size in my aquarium until the other female lays a clutch and the babies get eaten by the male, or so I assume.  I’m not sure if grabbing this small is good or bad but if I do nothing they will become food. 
1 of my 10s has a bunch of diatom algae in it so I covered the top to dim the aquarium and moved them in. Wether I’m successful or not it’s a fun experiment. I don’t care to breed these BN but it’s fun to work on something for the time being.