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On 8/24/2021 at 6:50 PM, Tankseeker said:

@Odd Duck  I don’t get why people cut corners like this ,if you want to do something don’t do it half heartedly 

Not sure I know what you mean?  I’m just looking at a way to save the OP money in the long run since he’s building from scratch but currently watching his budget.

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On 8/24/2021 at 6:52 PM, Tankseeker said:

But anyway back to the question you can add a drain if you want but it’s not necessary 

I think he’ll be able to decide on his own.  He’s gotten plenty of input and he seems like a pretty bright human.

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On 8/24/2021 at 8:06 PM, Odd Duck said:
On 8/24/2021 at 7:52 PM, Tankseeker said:

But anyway back to the question you can add a drain if you want but it’s not necessary 

I think he’ll be able to decide on his own.  He’s gotten plenty of input and he seems like a pretty bright human.

And whether he decides to put in a drain or not, we’ll all respect his decision.

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Thanks for all your input so far guys!

Well I didn't think I'd need drainage but seeing how many people seem to wish they had I will talk to the shed guy about it and see what he says! If it can't be done for whatever reason I'm sure I can live with it though. 

With a drain literally in the floor do you just let the water splash straight onto the floor and just drain away? I was more imaging a sink (without a faucet as I won't have water supply connected) that drains into the garden outside? Is that not as good? With the floor drain I assume I couldn't store anything straight on the floor. 

Other than the drainage is there anything else I should be aware of? Like I've noticed a few YouTubers have their fish room windows blacked out, should I ask for no windows? If I didn't need windows I could get a double door, which might be easier with getting things in and out. Not sure if I will need anything that big though.

Also the shed guy asked if I wanted a pitched or flat roof, does it make a difference? 

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I think putting some shades or curtains on your windows would be a better call than having no windows. A lot of us looooove what natural light does for aquariums, but I’m sure you’ll want to be able to cut that off if you need to. Plus if you have windows you can open them on nice days! 😌 

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On 8/25/2021 at 2:27 PM, Hobbit said:

I think putting some shades or curtains on your windows would be a better call than having no windows. A lot of us looooove what natural light does for aquariums, but I’m sure you’ll want to be able to cut that off if you need to. Plus if you have windows you can open them on nice days! 😌 

True, probably a good idea to have curtains and get the choice of either. I think a standard door should be big enough

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Just my two cents, but if I was in your situation, here is what I would do. Find out if you can do a concrete floor, if so, and can afford, do it. If can't afford and have to go with a wood floor, I would either drill all the tanks and connect them to a drain system made out of vinyl and PVC piping like pretty much everybody does with auto water change systems, but instead of it running to a floor drain, just cut a hole in side of building that the pipe can go through and have it run into a spot in garden or yard, if need be, put in a gravel area so water doesn't erode the dirt and grass away. If don't want to drill tanks, I would take some PVC pipe, at least 2" and make some drains making sure to have slope so it will drain and do as above draining out into garden, but instead have several places where you can just siphon water from tanks into and it will drain. If able to go with concrete, you can either install a floor drain, and trench line to a French drain type thing out ion garden, or if don't want a floor drain, go with something like described above for with wood floor. I would figure out a way to get water into the shed, if not able to trench in a line, I would at least get a 50-100 gallon barrel and put in a corner. I would then use a hose to fill and then heat and treat the water as needed, then just use a pump to pump it into the tanks when I do water changes. 

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On 8/26/2021 at 11:32 AM, Andy's Fish Den said:

Just my two cents, but if I was in your situation, here is what I would do. Find out if you can do a concrete floor, if so, and can afford, do it. If can't afford and have to go with a wood floor, I would either drill all the tanks and connect them to a drain system made out of vinyl and PVC piping like pretty much everybody does with auto water change systems, but instead of it running to a floor drain, just cut a hole in side of building that the pipe can go through and have it run into a spot in garden or yard, if need be, put in a gravel area so water doesn't erode the dirt and grass away. If don't want to drill tanks, I would take some PVC pipe, at least 2" and make some drains making sure to have slope so it will drain and do as above draining out into garden, but instead have several places where you can just siphon water from tanks into and it will drain. If able to go with concrete, you can either install a floor drain, and trench line to a French drain type thing out ion garden, or if don't want a floor drain, go with something like described above for with wood floor. I would figure out a way to get water into the shed, if not able to trench in a line, I would at least get a 50-100 gallon barrel and put in a corner. I would then use a hose to fill and then heat and treat the water as needed, then just use a pump to pump it into the tanks when I do water changes. 

Yeah I like the barrell idea, my 'fish guy' who I buy my fish from does this for his tanks. 

I will definitely go for concrete if it isn't too expensive! 

I might do the pvc pipe through the wall thing to drain into the garden, I don't imagine it would be too complicated or expensive, just pvc pipe with parts fixed to the wall plus some sort of funnel to siphon water into? 

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On 8/26/2021 at 7:09 AM, KentFishFanUK said:

 

I might do the pvc pipe through the wall thing to drain into the garden, I don't imagine it would be too complicated or expensive, just pvc pipe with parts fixed to the wall plus some sort of funnel to siphon water into? 

Yes, you could probably use something like 2 or 3" PVC as main drain lines and get an adapter piece to go from 2" to 4" or even 6" and glue it on the end to make your funnel shape. 

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On 8/26/2021 at 5:32 AM, Andy's Fish Den said:

Just my two cents, but if I was in your situation, here is what I would do. Find out if you can do a concrete floor, if so, and can afford, do it. If can't afford and have to go with a wood floor, I would either drill all the tanks and connect them to a drain system made out of vinyl and PVC piping like pretty much everybody does with auto water change systems, but instead of it running to a floor drain, just cut a hole in side of building that the pipe can go through and have it run into a spot in garden or yard, if need be, put in a gravel area so water doesn't erode the dirt and grass away. If don't want to drill tanks, I would take some PVC pipe, at least 2" and make some drains making sure to have slope so it will drain and do as above draining out into garden, but instead have several places where you can just siphon water from tanks into and it will drain. If able to go with concrete, you can either install a floor drain, and trench line to a French drain type thing out ion garden, or if don't want a floor drain, go with something like described above for with wood floor. I would figure out a way to get water into the shed, if not able to trench in a line, I would at least get a 50-100 gallon barrel and put in a corner. I would then use a hose to fill and then heat and treat the water as needed, then just use a pump to pump it into the tanks when I do water changes. 

Very smart ideas!  
 

@KentFishFanUK Any way you can drain without having to haul buckets is a bonus.  I probably would rig some type of funnel rather than just splash onto the floor, but you can let your funnel system run a host into the floor drain.  I would also try to minimize storage of some things on the floor of a shed, no matter what type of floor, unless it’s inside plastic bins.  There’s always a chance of insects or mice getting into a shed, so keeping consumables off the floor and inside bins is smart.  It doesn’t have to be a long ways off the floor, they recommend 6” up for bulk storing pet food, for instance.  But you could also do bins up high for your fish food.  Higher than you’d want to go for tanks so it might be otherwise wasted space that you could utilize with a simple shelf.

I like the idea of a barrel, or two, if you have the space.  How many you want and how big would depend on how much water you change and how fast you can heat it to appropriate WC temps.  Might even want to have space for stacked barrels depending on the style of barrel you get.

Flat or pitched roof would depend on your weather.  Any chance of snow load means pitched, or if your shed will be under trees that drop a lot of leaves or create a lot of debris.  Pitched would also give a little more head room where you could put up shelves for storage.  You know, that spare 10 gallon for a “hospital” tank. 😉 😉 

Edited by Odd Duck
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On 8/28/2021 at 4:21 PM, Odd Duck said:

Very smart ideas!  
 

@KentFishFanUK Any way you can drain without having to haul buckets is a bonus.  I probably would rig some type of funnel rather than just splash onto the floor, but you can let your funnel system run a host into the floor drain.  I would also try to minimize storage of some things on the floor of a shed, no matter what type of floor, unless it’s inside plastic bins.  There’s always a chance of insects or mice getting into a shed, so keeping consumables off the floor and inside bins is smart.  It doesn’t have to be a long ways off the floor, they recommend 6” up for bulk storing pet food, for instance.  But you could also do bins up high for your fish food.  Higher than you’d want to go for tanks so it might be otherwise wasted space that you could utilize with a simple shelf.

I like the idea of a barrel, or two, if you have the space.  How many you want and how big would depend on how much water you change and how fast you can heat it to appropriate WC temps.  Might even want to have space for stacked barrels depending on the style of barrel you get.

Flat or pitched roof would depend on your weather.  Any chance of snow load means pitched, or if your shed will be under trees that drop a lot of leaves or create a lot of debris.  Pitched would also give a little more head room where you could put up shelves for storage.  You know, that spare 10 gallon for a “hospital” tank. 😉 😉 

Thank you, some very good ideas here I will be referring back to this thread when the time comes! Plastic storage bins etc is a great idea. Funnel system is probably how I'd do it I think. No trees and no particulary heavy snow load so if it's a lot more expensive then I'll stick to flat roof, otherwise pitched for more space. 

Thanks!

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