# The new Fishthoughts Hatchery. Update: 11/27/05! Pics/Video!



## Fishthoughts

Well, we finally got a nice break in the weather this weekend, so we decided to start what was coming...

Phase 2!

Here are some details and pics. We are taking over our garage. We need more room, and 80 aquariums is not enough! So, we sectioned off about 80% of the garage, leaving us with a space of about : 23' 6" long by 13' 9" wide and 10' 6" tall. We started constructing walls, and have one wall done and framed the others (mostly) this weekend. Ran some electrical, insulation, and got the plans ready as to what tanks are going where and about how many there will be. I will be posting pics each time we make progress. The expected completion date will be sometime in June of 05, and running at full capacity hopefully by early 2006. Full capacity being an estimated 200-250 tanks, depending on how we decide to lay them out. We will not have all of the tanks right away of course, we'll probably only be starting off with closer to 100-125 or so. Anyways, here are some pics! Enjoy!

















We have a lot more of the framing done, will post more pics next weekend! (and that board came down, too!)


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## mkoloj

I don't believe that you guys did that all that yourself.

There is not nearly enough beer bottles on that table.


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## Vitaliy

You are insane! Can I move in?! :lol:


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## Fishthoughts

hahaha... it was cold in the garage... I work for Ford, and do some construction type stuff, electrical, plumbing... Also run Fishthoughts, ALSO design web sites, and somewhere in there still find time to sleep 

We're both pretty handy, but I promise when it gets warmer outside there'll be more beer bottles on the table :lol:


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## mkoloj

If its cold why are you drinking beer ? 
You need a bottle of Johnny Walker to keep you warm and to influence creative thoughts.


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## PedroPSK

mkoloj said:


> If its cold why are you drinking beer ?
> You need a bottle of Johnny Walker to keep you warm and to influence creative thoughts.


yeah...I tried that once. I gets hard to get good 90 degree angles when you keep falling over.

Very nice work Fishthoughts! Keep it up and keep us posted!


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## Fishthoughts

Thanks. Ill keep putting up pics when we make more progress.

See, whiskey would keep you nice and warm, but I prefer the nails to go into the studs and not my hand


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## Orion

Yeah, but if you hit your hand, at least your not going to care much. 

Looking good. I will deffintaly be following your progress in this.


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## CodeRed82

and I thought me and my friend was the only one that would haul off and do something like this LOL


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## Fishthoughts

Well, for one the moisture is taking its toll on some parts of the house -- 76 aquariums in the basement is getting to be a bit much....

The garage was perfect, we jsut have a few mowers and bunch of other **** we dont ever use, and in the 8 years we've had the house we never put a car in the thing! So, why not? We're doing good, but with an updated and nicer larger facility, we can do even better, plus what would be cooler than walking into a room with 200+ aquariums 

If everyone in the hobby had the time and chance to do something like this, Id recommend it! Its a ton of fun, both building the room and raising the fish


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## iceblue

Ahhhh...... Beer and fish, when can I move in?  (Won't take up much room only need a cot. :lol: )


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## mkoloj

With the size of that fishroom you could rent spaces for cots and offset the cost of the upkeep of the fishroom. :wink:


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## iceblue

Will clean glass for beer. :roll:


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## Justim

Imagine,

Rack of fish tanks
Rack of bunkbeds
cardtable
tap
racks of fish tanks.......

Tim


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## Fishthoughts

Well, more pics will come tomorrow, Easter Sunday...

We got the last 2 walls done and bought most of the drywall (the expensive water resistant kind, of course... and by the way that stuffs HEAVY! -- as the **** cart tipped and fell on me!) we need to finish the walls.

We are running the rest of the electrical tomorrow, hanging the door, finishing some minor details with the framing, and putting up drywall and we should have about 40% total completion after tomorrow!!

So, keep checking back, more pics are comin soon!

Happy Easter!
Steve


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## FeatherfinFan

Lumber $300
Electrical $200
Insulation $150

Doing what you want w/ a hobby you love (and a spouse that loves it too)
PRICELESS!

Killer plans, we're all drooling


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## Fishthoughts

:lol: I'm only 23 (almost 24...) No spouse as of yet  Its 2 am, Ill post tomorrow.


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## Fishthoughts

PICS PICS PICS!
Okay. Well, here's the pics!! Guys, I have to say this is bigger than I thought it would be... We estimated room enough for almost 350-400 TANKS!!! I dont think we'll have quite _that_ many... but  :lol:

Here's a pic of the front wall (wall 2) framed in.









And here's a pic of that same wall insulated.









Water-Resistant drywall going up now... (eating dinner and posting pics!)









A view of my handy-work... 









And finally, a quick view of the room from the door going into the house. Its not much yet. I get my new camera (Verse914's old one - Cybershot 828) Tuesday, so I will just go ahead and shoot video or something and show you the whole room...










ENJOY!!! More updates coming later. Before we do much we have to do the plumbing and the bagging station 
Adios!


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## mkoloj

Remember to staple that Romex within 12" of those boxes. :wink: 
It is looking very good you are going to be making a lot of people green with envy here.
I think there will be a sudden surge in construction of fish rooms. 
I can't wait for the pics of this room up and running. 
What kind of filtration system are you planning for the 400 tanks in this room ??

I have to give it to you, you are absolutely out of your mind and need to be checked out by a shrink. 
But I can't lie I love it!!!!!!!


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## Fishthoughts

LOL! Well, we can "fit" 400 or so in there... we are planning on only operating with between 200-300.

we have to finalize everything as far as the fine details go (wiring and what not) but thanks for the input 

As far as filtration we are thinking all air... we run the current hatchery on a 1/8hp sweetwater and it does nicely... Now, I know Ill need a bigger blower than that, so what I think Im going to do is the outer perimeter will be all the breeders and a few show tanks. The inner rows will be all 10, 20, 30 gallon tanks setup for fry growout. Im pretty sure we're going to run all air powered filters... centrals would be too much work and have too many risks involved for a project like this.

Probably about 50% of the room to start will be all acrylic tanks which have air powered filters built into them, so that'll be nice. All black back too.


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## Fishthoughts

Just a few updates this week... got the back wall, or 'wall-2' done. Got started on the other wall, got the door in... moved some junk out of the way -- nothing too much as of yet, another 3-4 weeks we should have the walls and electrical done and the plumbing, too!




























Im out of town for a few weekends now, so Ill post more soon!


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## mkoloj

What are you doing for the plumbing in the room ??


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## ronv

Great looking fish room!!! I would be interested in your tank layout. 300 tanks seem like a lot in that room. I've built a couple of fish rooms in my past. One common mistake is stacking tanks to close together vertically. You will need room for maintainance. Please keep us posted.


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## Fishthoughts

We're going 4 high leaving 10-12" between racks, staggering them to boot... You'll see. Itll be okay  Our current fishroom is about half the size with no tanks in the middle (cept a big 125 show tank) that holds 84 tanks right now... We're goign wall to wall 4 high and then buliding racks in the middle of the room as its big enough to do that now, dont really know how many we'll end up with, just going to play it by ear for now and wait until the room is done and layout the racks and see how many we'll have 

In any instance, its going to be fun!



> What are you doing for the plumbing in the room ??


We have to run water up from the basement (separate hot water tank too) thru the part of the garage that isnt going to be included (so itll be freezing in winter time) to the room which is insulated... thing about it is the section of the pipes that will be exposed will freeze, so any ideas would be great!! We were thinking of using that pipe-wrap tape that they have at home depot that you can actually plug into the wall and it heats the pipes enough to keep the water free-flowing... Not too sure if we have any other options so any suggestions would be great!


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## mkoloj

I used some of that heat trace cable on some pipes I had freezing in my house, they do the trick. Supposedely keep water flowing to -40


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## Fishthoughts

Yeah I talked to the plumber here @ work and he said that since its only 4-5 feet of copper that would be exposed to the cold that the best thing to do (cost wise) would be to build a trace and just cram it with insulation to keep the pipes warm, since there is no direct wind on it and it should be fine.


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## mkoloj

"It should be fine" <famous last words
Did you mean build a chase ? 
If you cover that pipe and it does freeze somehow you will have a hard time getting at it if has something built around it.


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## Fishthoughts

trace, chase, brace... lol all the same  Good thing someone was paying attention becuase I wasnt! I often type in a hurry since Im at work and often have customers in front of me hahaha... I dont knowwhich way Ill go yet... Someday Ill figure it out


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## CodeRed82

any updates??


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## Fishthoughts

Yup.... didnt take pics tho. GOt a new camera (Verse914's old one) and cant figure out WTF i did to it -- it wont focus auto or manually now... LOL! ANyways, new pics comin this weekend hopefully, we are going to try to get the last wall and ceiling put in this weekend, so i shoudl ahve some good pics.


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## Fishthoughts

sony Cybershot 828 -- I cant figure out how the **** to get the flash to work again... so I have pics but they are dark as ****, im goin to try to photoshop them brighter, but until the new flash comes later in teh week then I wont have pics 

An update anyways though... got 100% of all the electrical done, electrician coming out in 2 weeks (hopefully) to run the 100A service (only 50A to the house now, its an older house!) and put the box outside. All four walls are completely drywalled, top to bottom. New exterior door is in place, and room is almost empty, as we are getting ready to put up the ceiling over the next 2 sunday's.

Pics to come.


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## cichlid85

Hey, I cannot see the pic!


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## cichlid85

nevermind, I see it


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## mkoloj

Bump for the sake of curiousity as to how the pimped out fish house is coming along.


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## Mandalawi

Hi there fishthoughts, anyway i was reading your post and it looks like it's coming along great. I noticed you mentioned you would need a larger blower. I don't know if your familiar with this place or not but you may want to check their air pumps out. http://www.wetthumbaquatics.com
They are very near where i live, i'm not sure how their pumps stack up to others because i have no need for something like that yet :wink:

Keep up the good work, it's looking great.


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## in_flight

can't wait to see pics of the finished product


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## Marshes

Can i ask why so many tanks ?.
I take it your a breeder ? and if your not why dont you just have 4-5 big kick arse tanks.


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## fade2black

He is a breeder.


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## Fishthoughts

Okay pics are coming in about 4 mins...


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## Fishthoughts

* HERE's what you've all been waiting for!

Sorry for the delay... its been crazy busy around here, but its worth the wait! The pics are awesome!

On with the show....

Here's a shot of the room. Decided to go with a Glidden 'Key Largo Blue' color for the walls, textured, and stucco'ed the ceiling and did that in white. Installed three 8 foot shop lights, 150W output each with Philips Daylight Deluxe bulbs (Its bright in there!) so we can see waht we are doing. 




































Those are a few good shots of what we're working with, and yes you see a stand! Here's some detail of how all of our stands will be....




























Each stand will be designed to fit a certain number of tanks. In this case, we're doing 3 40 gallon breeders on the left and on the right side we'll have 3 acrylic 60 gallon tanks, split in half for smaller breeders. The 40's will house something, definately our L007 breeders, dont know waht else. Each stand is going to be notched and double-walled for maximum strength, and each stand will have its own light above each tank. These lights wont be on all the time... They are actually hardwired into the electric of the room and on separate switches, one siwtch per wall of tanks. The overhead lights provide enough light for during the day and when we are working, the tank lights are just for showing the fish when people come visit.

We are going to finish the corner next to the stand today, and do the back wall also. Over the course of the week we will be finishing the long wall and hopefully within 2-3 weeks we will have all racks built and ready to start moving tanks out to the new room. So, we are going to come very close to our projected 'June 05' completion date!

We decided against central filtration. It will be safer and easier to just get another blower and run two blowers into the room with sponge filtration, as its been adequate enough with our 80 tanks. We are going to wait until the perimeter is done before we decide how we are going to layout the tanks thru the middle of the room... whether or not we go lengthwise or widthwise is undecided. The perimeter will be 80% breeders, and the middle will be solely for growout.

We are also picking up a few 300 gallon tubs for this summer hoepfully, so we'll be able to triple our growout rate on some species... Look for us to breed and carry close to 60 different species of cichlids over the next year!!

Keep checking back, Ill be better about pics soon!!

Steve & Gregg
The Fishthoughts Crew*


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## mkoloj

One word..... IMPRESSIVE!!!!

One question, how does the stucco hold up on the ceiling compared to regular paint with all the moisture a fishroom produces ???
I have seen some pf the LFS in my area with peeling paint from the ceiling.


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## Fishthoughts

Thanks!

Well, its not "stucco" per se... we werent sure how to do that, so we just did our seams then used a bit of drywall compound (the plaster stuff) mixed real viggrously (made it soupy) adn used a 1.25" nap roller and put it on to look like stucco... Then, we just used a waterproof/resistant primer and finished with a thick coat of water resistant exterior grade white glidden paint. The walls are the same, water resistant exterior paint too, and we were told it should provide enough protection against the moisture... Only time will tell I suppose


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## dogofwar

I see a window that is open. Any plans to add an exhaust fan to keep the humidity under control?

I have a similar set up (although with far fewer than 300 tanks) in my garage and... it gets muggy without some ventilation...


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## Fishthoughts

we dont know waht to do with that thing... I think Im going to get a glass cutting tool and cut out a nice area for a twin style exhaust fan. Plus the big door we're putting a screen door on to keep open in the summertime, and will have ceiling fans installed soon to keep the air moving about. I think it wont get too awful bad, but we'll see. Might put a small box fan in the window or something... havent gotten taht far yet. Im wiring in all the GFI and lights now to the stands that we have build, just takin a few min. break :lol: Any input/feedback/ideas would be great!

ANd we are plumbing in a water drain system... not too sure how to do a multi-tank fill, so we might just fill tank to tank with a few hoses...


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## dogofwar

I keep the door open and put a small industrial fan blowing out. It gets very hot here in Sacramento but not humid. Ohio heat + humidity could be a bear in the summer.


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## Namor

Please keep those pics coming...
This project is way to cool...
8)


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## Fishthoughts

Got another stand done (except top run -- ran out of wood haha) that will hold 18 - 20H tanks (primarily growout and temporary holding for fish while moving tanks)... Ill get pics up tonight!

We can only carry so much wood.... in a Chrysler Sebring


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## yellowfox

sweet room!

Just a couple weeks ago i went to a breeders house to pick up some apistos. His water maintanence system was INCREDIBLE. He drilled a hole in every tank he had (3/4" the way up on the side) and then installed pvc for an overflow. The overflow from each tank ran to a main "drainage" pipe and out of the room. Then he had 4 150g rubbermaid holding containers for his RO water system and a submersable pump that ran water to every tank. Above each tank was a tube from the that pump with a valve that only allowed 4ph of wate throuhg it so he could monitor how much each tank recieied. He had the submersed pump on a timer so when the timer came on it started filling up all the tanks which obviously would overflow and drain away making all the water changes automated. It was pretty slick.


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## Keemen

I have seen a Drain System for removing tank water. I will try to explain it as best as I can.

4" PVC pipe attached to the stand infront of the tanks, running down hill at about 1" per 5 feet. All piping running togather into the floor drain. (you do not want to much slope since you will want the solid waste to makes it way to the drain)

Cut 1 to 1 1/2 inch holes into the top of the PVC to stick your siphon hose into the PVC pipe.

You can use 3" pipe but if draining multi tanks at the same time you will be glad to have 4" pipe.

I have a drawing, and can Email it too you if you like.


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## Fishthoughts

What we're doin is drilling the tanks about 70% of the way up (30% water changes) and plumbing in bulkehads, onto which well plumb in a ball valve and pvc drain down to a larger pvc drain, which will be plumbed thru the walls (low) in 2 places... opposing corners. The reason behind this is there is no drain in teh garage, and it just worked out that those corners have the downspouts for the gutters (ill take pics!) so all our water will just drain out into the city sewage system planning on 2-2.5" PVC main drain with 1" overflow (maybe bigger) drains.


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## yellowfox

what are you doing to cycle in new water?


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## dogofwar

Are you drilling the tanks yourself, having them done, or buying pre-drilled?


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## mdownsonu

Oh Steve....so amazing!!!  
If only i had the resources....maybe someday when i'm no longer a poor college student... :lol:

I'll def. be checkin' your website frequently for more fish!!
Good luck I hope it pays off...i'm SURE it will intrinsically and extrinsically!!


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## Fishthoughts

> what are you doing to cycle in new water?


We're moving a rack at a time... going to use the existing water (via a submersible very large pump :lol to fill up 18 20 gallon tanks with existing water to move the fish into during the move. We'll use the same method to pump existing water into the tanks about 50% and then fill up with new water, as if it were a large water change.



> Are you drilling the tanks yourself, having them done, or buying pre-drilled?


The acrylics will come pre-drilled. The glass tanks are goign to be tough, we're goign to buy the special bit and attempt to drill one ourselves...


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## dogofwar

I was looking at submersible pumps the other day at Home Depot as a faster way of refilling tanks from a large holding tank. The ones I was looking at are used for basement sumps (or draining swimming pools).

Sounds like you are using one so I'm assuming that they are safe (i.e. won't put anything like oil into the water). Correct?


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## fade2black

Steve, the room is looking good! Let me know if you need any help with the acrylic tanks. I would be happy to stop by and help you out.


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## iceblue

My original offer of cleaning aquarium fronts for beer is still open. ..............whoops, never mind, the wife said no.  Awesome job anyhow.


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## Fishthoughts

:lol: We'e ready to move.

Tonight we prime all the stands we have done, then we can paint them tomorrow night. The plumbing is going to be done probably Thursday or Friday, and this weekend we move most of our tanks out to the new hatchery!

Pics will be posted! All the tanks we have now actually w*ont even put a DENT in the new place... its freakin huge!!!


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## Fishthoughts

Okay. This project has been underway for a few months now, and all I can say is its been really fun to do! The last few weeks we've been building new racks to hold some tanks and got hte water change system setup (pics of that tonight) and are starting to move tanks out there next weekend after the stands are painted! Here are a few update pics...

This is a rack that isnt done -- we ran out of fasteners and 2x4's last weekend :lol: sooo itll be done this weekend. Itll hold 25 10 gallon tanks.









Here's another one that's designed to hold 18 20H tanks. These will primarily be used for growout (along with the 10's and a few other tanks).









Here's the rack thats going to hold 3 - 40 breeders along with 3 60g acrylic tanks, with one 5 section split acrylic tank above the new bagging area.









And now one of the three bohemoths of the room!! This will hold 12 tanks... The bottom 3 are goignto be custom built acrylic tanks that will beused for like, growout or maybe putting a smaller MH light on to grow some swords or something... They will only be about 30 gallons each... The upper 9 will hold 60-75 gallon acrylic tanks for breeders. The racks **** near 13' long, and is built quite well. Notched out legs and extra bracing make this stand really really strong.... the following pics show the detail of the joints.













































Well Ill post more pics this weekend. Its Thursday the 16th of June, and we're priming the racks we have done tonight, painting tomororw, and setting up a few tanks on a smaller Jehmco pump until the new blower arrives!
Enjoy!


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## mkoloj

All I have to say is sweet and don't forget to leave room in one of the corners for my bedroom. :wink:


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## Namor

Thanks for the detailed pics of the joints!
Keep them coming, I need details like these as I am working an very similar (much smaller) project in my basement.
Sometimes pictures can be much more informative than words.


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## Fishthoughts

===============================================
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
===============================================
Just moved about 30 aquariums to the new hatchery (Well, in the process of doing so!) Then we have to move the blower and put the lil Jhemco in whats left of the fish room.... Pics to come later tonight when the tanks are running!!


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## maylandi

Hey Fishthoughts!

Very Nice Project! Keep posting those pics! I just did something simular, however its only around 80 tanks and I dont do much with cichlids. I was suprised to see how very close you and I both built our stands. So Close I was amazed.

Keep us updated!


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## Fishthoughts

THanks! Yeah its insane we got about 30 tanks or so out last night, only took till about midnite or so becuase the one rack was 1/16" of an inch too freakin short! Talk about being pissed off  Anyways, its up and running 30 tanks on a new manifold with a tiny Jehmco pump thats overworking itself but until we move the blower out and the rest of the tanks, its working good enough. We're planning on having the new room out there by this weekend!!

The stands, however, are strong as **** built the way they are, so Im glad we have a similar design! Ill keep updating as we go.


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## dogofwar

What kind of submersible pump are you using?


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## septopus

Simply amazing.. I've only got 3 tanks as of now, but I feel the urge to convert my spare bedroom.


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## Scarlet33

Holy %[email protected]$! that is awesome! 8) 
I have something to aspire too.


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## Fishthoughts

Thanks guys!

Submersible pumps, for now, are small 800 ghp pumps that pump water from the basement tanks out to the garage, but arent powerul enough so we stil lhave that lovely "bucket and muscle" method 

Anyways... more pics!!

Here's the drainage for the 1/2 of the room (we can only accomodate 1/2 of the room on this drainage system!!) Its just hte drain part... we're putting 1.25" bulkheads (maybe 1" we dunno yet) in the acrylics on the last 2 racks (About 30 tanks, all 70g acrylics for breeders) and running a 2" drain pipe from this drain that will have "T"'s on it with bulkheads as well, and sinec we cant measure exactly yet (tanks arent done) where the outlets will be, we're just oging to use overflow style tubing (flexible) to connect the tanks to the drains, so all we have to do is flip a valve and it drains these tanks. On the other side of the room, we have to plumb in the drainage yet, but that's going to only be a drain standpipe (like some of you've probably seen in your LFS's) that leads outside. Both drains are plumbed thru the wall out to our gutter downspouts and exits to city sewers.










And one of the done racks.... It holds 25 ten gallon tanks, and just looks down right cool! :lol:










And another done rack, housing 3 40BR tanks and 3 60G acrylic's divided in half. We are still waiting to find another 40BR for the bottom!!









As we finish painting the other stands and move everything out, ILl keep posting more pics


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## Fishthoughts

PS - There will be two rows of tanks down the middle, 10-20 gallons each tank, back to back so we're planning on having almost 150-180 tanks depending on how nuts it is, just in the middle... they will be stacked 4 high and be about 25 tanks long (thats between 60-100 tanks per rack times two!) sooo dpeends, if we get nuts, then we'll do that 

Total tank count will be somewhere between 180-250 for the room, just depends on how well business picks up for one and two how much time we want to spend in the fish room per night  We both work full time still!! ALthough... with this being done I dont think that'll be the case much longer for one of us! hahaha!


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## in_flight

very nice, what do you guys breed?


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## Fishthoughts

Mostly african cichlids, getting into some catfish and south american stuff in the new place. I will PM you more information as I cannot advertise here


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## maylandi

PM me some info too 

I wouldnt quit my job to do it full time, I wouldnt want to take the fun out of it haha. Could become a JOB if you do it day in day out to survive.

Looks great though! You will have a ball valve for each tank to drain them, or just one on your 2 inch pipe to drain them?


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## Namor

I WOULD quit my job to breed fish for sure....

Isn't that the dream? To do something you love?

I am wishing you guys the best of luck, keep the pics coming and send a pricelist my way as soon as feasable!


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## mkoloj

I have 2 things to say to this thread:

Cheers!!









and








and I have to throw this one in just because it is cool


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## yellowfox

fishthoughts,

shoot me a PM, i'm in akron and and go to cleveland pretty frequently. I would love to stop by and check it out!

I'm sure you have heard of something fishy inc?


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## Fishthoughts

Ill shoot you a PM... lol... No comment on the rest :lol: :lol:


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## Matt B.

hey fishthoughts....
the fish room looks GREAT so far .....when will you be posting more pictures and updates????


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## Fishthoughts

Well, we just put up another rack of tanks(not full but we're out of tanks almost LOL!) so Ill clean up and get some more pics up tonight if possible 

Thanks for all the great feedback! Its much appreciated!


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## Fishthoughts

Tanks are everywhere!

We have the entire room except for the four 55's moved out now. Those will come into play later!

The perimeter is all setup with everything we have for now. We need to build one more rack for the back wall that will hold 16 tanks that are goign to be 70 gallons each (acrylics that IM making, yeah, finally!)

The MIDDLE of the room will be the most impressive we think. Its goign to be a massive rack, 12' long by 4' wide (roughly) stacked with *72* twenty gallon tanks (20H's) and *12* 55's!! Its going to be quite a site, especially seeing 84 aquariums in just the middle of the room!!!

But for now, here's the most recent pics taken just 5 minutes ago!

Steve & Gregg
The Fishthoughts Crew

PS - the wide angle lens on a few of them was foggy from being in the a/c then in a hot fish room!























































We have a 20L / 40H setup on the back wall too for now. More pics to come, thanks for all your support and feedback!!


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## Feniin Mantra

Looks great!


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## CichlidAndrew

OH MY GOSH :!: :!:

WOW  That is amazing. Good luck with that room.


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## Fishthoughts

:wink: Thanks!

There's a post here on CF that's calculating your total gallons, seeing how many gallons everyone has and taking a cumulative total.

Our setup now is only 2,473 gallons, but estimated when we're done over 6,000 gallons... in our house. :lol: !!!

Everyone should check it out! heres a link!

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=87674&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Post, even if you only have a single 20 gallon tank!


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## Namor

Thanks for the link. Very fun!
I love it when you add new pics!!!
 
Keep em' coming!


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## ichthius

It looks like a great room.

Did you put up a plastic vapor barrier between the drywall the and the studs?

Do you have a way to control humidity?

Best fishes
David


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## Bravo

Very impressive. I wish I had the space you have because I am all out of room and I need some more tanks!


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## Fishthoughts

> Did you put up a plastic vapor barrier between the drywall the and the studs?
> 
> Do you have a way to control humidity?


No vapor barrier -- spent for the green board drywall -- the waterproof stuff. Plus, we used exterior grade house paint on the ceiling and walls and racks, will do the same for the floor paint. Paintin the floor when all the tanks are setup. So in 6-10 months.

Humidity control?? LOL! Whats a fish room thats not humid :lol:

At this time we're workin on something... we dont have a way right now, but I want to plumb a dehumidifier into the drains we have so that we might jsut run that 24x7, and also might bust out the window we have on teh back wall before we build a rack there to install a window mounted fan to blow outside (blow from the inside out) to maybe help control it.. It is mighty humid right now being it has all that water with 85-90 degrees outside.

Anyone have any input on this??


----------



## Doug

Fishthoughts said:


> It is mighty humid right now being it has all that water with 85-90 degrees outside.
> 
> Anyone have any input on this??


I have started putting 3 millimeter cover glass on all my tanks to keep the water in the tank.

A fan blowing out sounds like a good idea. But aren't you going to waste a lot of heat that way?


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## Fishthoughts

Well, the fan wont hurt much like now, in the summer time when its 90 here. We wont be running that in the winter though. I thought about an exhaust fan like the bathrooms have, but am not sure yet... Right now we leave the large outside door open


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## ichthius

The reason I asked about the vapor barrier (which green board is not) is that large amount of vapor can move into your wall and attic that can cause extreme amounts of mold and water damage. I'm speaking from person experience (~2,500 gallons in a 2 car garage) of having black oozing liquid dripping off my the under side of my roof, soaking insulation and lovely black mold. It was a real bummer, I had to take down 1/2 the ceiling I just spent taping, finishing and painting.

As to humidity control this can reduce the amount of vapor significantly. I installed a Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV air exchanger). Turn the thing on even in winter and it brings my relative humidity from 73% down to ~50% in half an hour of running. Your result will vary based on outside conditions but over all it gets rid of that lovely stick feeling in the fish room. The windows stop sweating and makes working in the fish room a better place.

They are expensive but I would say it's the best $500 bucks I've spent on the fishroom. You can get them at www.jehmco.com or on the net/ebay or from your local heating supply company.

When the weather is nice and hot I run it a little bit in the heat of the day to keep the room at ~80F. This allows me to not heat the fish room from mid May to mid September.

It's a great room, have fun. What are you going to breed?

<}}}><


----------



## Fishthoughts

We breed mostly Africans now. A lot of peacocks, and mbuna. More haps to come, but until we get the new larger tanks for them Im limited to haps. Do a few tang species (leleupi, juli trans. pemba, black and white calvus, juli marleri).... All together about 40-50 species of fish Id say right now.


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## Guest

I love following this link! Thanks for the updates! My biggest fear is that this is exactly where my husband and I are headed if someone doesn't reign us in quick!

Kim


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## Bravo

How is the fish room coming along these days?
Do you have any new photos?


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## Fishthoughts

The room's coming along great. Just too darn busy to start the next rack  Working a lot at the full time jobs, but I have this weekend (after 3pm today anyways) off so Ill take some pics when I get home and post them up.

Sorry for the delay!


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## baysideben

man, wish i was still in pittsburgh. would definitely love to drive and visit. looks great!


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## shortydogg1

wow most people i have over think i am crazy because i have 30 tanks! man one day i will have my garage converted to a fish room too!


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## Fishthoughts

I know that *** been promising pics for a while now, and since we spent the entire day yesterday changing water and such, I dont have much to do today so Ill wake up here and get some new pics up...

Ill take pics of all the breeders if they cooperate and be nice for the camera and of the room, so itll be a healthy upload and probably take a while for the pics to load, so all you non-cable'd viewers out there beware! :lol:


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## Fishthoughts

*DIALUP BEWARE! LOTS OF PICS!*

Okay. Now that the dialup users have been warned... here's the pics!! Taken fresh just about 20 minutes ago. We put in more CGFI plugs today so we can have the heaters on a constant power source without having extension cords everywhere, finished some cement work, other miscellaneous electrical work, and so on.

We are going to draw and design the rack for the middle of the room during the week and build in mid september. The rack will take place of the table you see in the photos, and will be approximately 48" wide by 12' 6" long and hold *72* 20 gallon (High) tanks on the top three rows (36 tanks per side) and *12* 55 gallon tanks on the bottom long ways. So that's going to be another 2100 gallons of water by the end of the year 

ENJOY THE PICS!

==============================================









^^ Lets start off with our Sweetwater 1/8hp blower that runs the filtration.









^^ Next, we'll move on to our rack of *25* 10 gallon tanks. These tanks hold most of our fry and fish we are growing out, we have 3 of these setup for hospital tanks, if needed.









^^ This rack will eventaully hold all 60-70 gallon acrylic tanks, plumbed into its drain manifold (I will explain that later on in this post) but for now we use 60 gallon glass tanks, and other miscellaneous tanks that fit on the rack. We have a 30 gallon acrylic on the bottom taht is split into 5 sections, and works GREAT for the inital pull on small fish like Calvus, Leleupi, Julis, etc. until they are ready for a 10.









^^ Another rack with a few 60 gallon acrylics and a few 40 gallon breeder tanks.









^^ This rack has 6 29 gallon tanks on the bottom and 18 20 gallon tanks on the next three rows. Some of the tanks, as you see, are 15's and 29's as well, I have to get to the store to get 4 more 20's to finish the rack so it's symmetrical 









^^ Here's our sink and bagging station. The black nozzle is hooked up to our oxygen tank underneath the table for shipping. The sink is plumbed into a custom made PVC drain system that the room drains on for water changes. It goes directly into the city sewers via our gutter downspouts. See below. The sink also has a 60 gallon acrylic tank split up into 5 sections. We breed : Black Calvus, White Calvus, Leleupi, Juli. Transcriptus Pemba, and have one open section in this tank until I put the Marleri pair in there.









^^ Here's the drain that we put in. Its plumbed, as I said, right into the city drains. There are 2 in the room, one on each side of the house, so half the room drains in each one. Its really a sweet setup, and makes water change time REALLY EASY!!!

Our sink and drain pipes for the stands (pictured below) all drain out that way too.








^^ Water flows down here....








^^ and out to the city sewers!








^^ Standpipe / Drain on the rack with the 20 gallon tanks....








^^ And the 60 gallon rack next to the sink is drained right into the sink drain!

And on with the rest of the room... Sorry, got carried away on the drainage there!! LOL!









^^ Some extra tanks we put up... two 55's, a 40 XH, and a 20 long.









^^ Here's a 55 with a 40 long on the bottom. The shelf is one we used downstairs to keep the New Life Spectrum food on. We now use it for other storage!

Those are all the tanks, for now, except two 125's downstairs yet, a 72 bowfront, 35 hex and 30 long upstairs.

The back wall where the 55's and 40's and the shelf are wont be there much longer, becuase when teh middle rack is done we are putting SIX 240-260 gallon acrylic show tanks up on that wall in their place!!!!

And finally we have my excellent electrical work to show off! I am not a professional electrican, although will be venturing into that shortly, possibly. We did this entire room / project ourselves... 100% DIY baby! And I must say it has turned out better than ever expected! People visit and are just in awe at what we have done! I really hope everyone likes this as much as we do!!

















^^ These are the two CGFI plugs that I put in today. They are on their own separate breaker, constantly powered for the heaters and dehumidifier.









^^ This is our 40A service box. I wire the 6-3 Romex from our 100A service panel downstairs up and outside to this box, installed the box, conduit, and wiring all myself. I swear, I do not do electrical professionally!! :lol: :lol: Below this box is our freezer for our shrimp and other frozen foods. And beer and beverages, of course!

*And FINALLY the best part of the room!*

If you come over and visit the hatchery, the first thing you will see upon entering our place, when you look down, is the step up into the hatchery... but its not the step you will notice... its this!!










I just absolutely had to do that!

*Thanks for viewing and offering your suggestions, comments, and support throughtout this entire process! We had a blast doing it and hope you had a blast following along in our project's progress!!

THANK YOU!

The Fishthoughts Crew
Steve & Gregg Vavrek*


----------



## Fishthoughts

PS - Thank You for helping this post get OVER *10,000* views!!


----------



## baysideben

sweet baby jeebus..


----------



## xxxlenxxx

jhfhf


----------



## Fishthoughts

HEY GUESS WHAT!?

We're going to start our next rack real soon here. I need the following tanks, preferably used (cost factor of course!) but in GOOD shape and holding water...

Total of 72 - 20 High Aquariums! (Yes, seventy-two)

8 more 55 gallon tanks

9 more 75 gallon tanks.

Preferably all black trim. They must be All-Glass tanks if possible, becuase that's the size tank these racks were built to fit. Perfecto/Oceanic are slightly different in size, example for the 20's the Perfecto's are 1/4" wider than the all glass, thus they won't work for the rack.

With the 55's we have now, this will complete the room adding these 93 more tanks, for a grand total of *203* tanks for breeding/growout!!

That's not counting our plans for putting six larger (125 - 180 gallon maybe?) tanks on teh back wall for show tanks!

Thanks for your support and if you HAVE used tanks and are close to Ohio, please call me at 216-526-5880 or email me at [email protected]

THANKS!
Steve


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## brian3

man fishthoughs you must be loaded with greenbacks


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## chumpp_308

one thing i noticed about your tanks is that you use the hydrosponge or equivilent in almost all of your tanks, i was jsut wondering if that is the only filtration that you use in your tanks and how effective it is in removing large particles of solid waste. also, how often do you do your water changes? tahnks.


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## Fishthoughts

Yes, we use sponge filtration as the primary means. It works pretty well for removing most of the **** that floats around (clings to the filters).

The most important two things are feeding and water changes. We typically do 50% changes once a week on every tank in the room. We feed twice daily (more for fry) and we ration the amount of food we give each tank so that there is little to no waste that can sink and decay on the bottom. On a few of the tanks, however, we do have some power filters and wet/dry's on the larger tanks for much better filtration.

Usually once every other week on the larger tanks, and sometimes weekly yet (weekly for fry tanks and our angelfish) we clean the sand bottoms with the python that we modified to make MUCH MUCH better than their design.

This has proven to work real well for the last few years and have had no trouble. We did experiment with a small rack of eight 10's on one central wet/dry and caught somethin in one of the tanks from new fish that we picked up and lost the entire rack -- thus we decided against central filtration for our room. That little deal happend about 3 years ago, really sucked!! :lol:



> man fishthoughs you must be loaded with greenbacks


A wise man once told me... "Its not the amount money you have... Its how you spend the money you have..."

And that's all I have to say about that


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## iceblue

A reiteration from early on in the post. You can't get anymore aquariums because you won't have enough room for the cots and the people willing to clean your glass for beer and whiskey.


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## sman91wing

Fishthoughts said:


> the python that we modified to make MUCH MUCH better than their design.


Do you have any pictures of this? I'm curious...


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## Fishthoughts

> iceblue - you won't have enough room for the cots and the people willing to clean your glass for beer and whiskey.


:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:


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## finman57

WOW.

You need to charge for tours.


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## Fishthoughts

Improved Python 

ALL we did was said forget the water usage... Got a 79.99 Flotec centrifugal water pump from home depot and put one end on the pump, the outlet hose in teh drain, plug it in and it drains @ about 200 gph while cleaning the bottom (on a 25ft python) at the same time, and works real well.

I think Im goin to spend teh 200 bucks and get a 5000 gph centrifugal self priming pump next spring and really get a good system setup though. We're working on converting to auto-water change systems for the racks hopefully soon or when we move into our brand new hatchery in a year.


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## Fishthoughts

By the way, would you guys like a tank-by-tank tour posted on here of the breeders and such?? Im going to mess with some video maybe too, we'll see.


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## sman91wing

That would be sweet to see


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## 328iGuy

Would love to see any updated pictures you may have?

Job well done!


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## Fishthoughts

I will work on that this weekend.


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## Fishthoughts

Will have some pics tonight...

JUST INSTALLED a new rack we got at home depot... This thing is very nice, I will put pics on here later this afternoon. It will hold 21 ten gallon tanks now but Im going to buy another set of beams tomorrow to hold 7 more, for TWENTY-EIGHT more 10 gallon tanks in the room.

So, after that the new hatchery's total will be : 128 tanks running.

Keep checking back!


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## Bravo

I am looking forward to seeing more pics.
I used to think I had alot of tanks at 25. You are my hero!


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## tzembower

Incredible Project!

Posting to get on the mailing list!

Todd


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## SCARF_ACE1981

i think i'm gonna quit my job and come work with you for free.


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## Namor

More pics soon??

Please?


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## peptidbond

Totally awesome and really insane. I too am in Cleveland, but just a beginner. I would love to personally see your setup sometime and maybe buy some fish from you. Good to know we have another local retailer/hobbiest that does a good job!


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## Bravo

Fishthoughts said:


> Will have some pics tonight...
> 
> Keep checking back!


We are still waiting for those pics. :wink:


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## vniem618

wow...i only live 5 minutes away from u...i'll be over :wink: ...i gotta see it, and maybe buy a fish, or two, or three......  :roll:


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## Fishthoughts

Hahaha.

I have the pics taken of the new rack, didnt waste the time with 28 - 10 gallon tanks... used six 40BR's instead... just made more sense to us. I will upload and update at lunchtime if I can.


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## finman57

No updates for a while. Everything okay?


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## iceblue

You should post some pics soon. You don,t want this to happen..... do ya. www.ultimatereef.net/forums/index.php?s ... 613&st=360 Scroll down to Marineboys' frustration.  :wink:


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## Namor

Ok..

I am going to shoot all three of my cats if we don't have more pics by the weekend (thats Friday night)!!!!!!

disgruntled.....

:wink:


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## Fishthoughts

LOL Its a good thing I dont like cats then!!

Just kidding. I really dont like them but dont want them shot so Ill have some pics probably tomorrow since we're getting a break in our shipping schedule!! Plus I think I might go buy the next rack for 6 more 40BR's tomorrow too!!


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## iceblue

Cats aren't my favorite either. :lol: :lol: :lol: But you got to love the pic. :lol:


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## finman57

I do like cats and still like the picture.

One of my cats loves sitting on my shoulder while I am feeding the fish.


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## Namor

Well...you win.
The cats are dead,hopefully this thread is not.
:wink:


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## Fishthoughts

We are getting ready this week for the Ohio Cichlid Association's Cichlid Extravaganza (2nd largest show in the country!) so because I didnt put up any pics, I have the camera plugged in and powering up ... Ill not only post pics after we're done cleaning tonight -- Ill shoot some VIDEO and link it here for you to enjoy!!

PS - Sorry about the cat! :lol: :lol:


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## finman57

Maybe I will get to meet you there. 
Look forward to the new pictures.


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## MSUDawgs56

Cant wait to see some of your pics, 
please take some and post of the Cichlid extravaganza ..i would love to see something like that too!


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## Fishthoughts

*OKAY!!!*

Enough with the kittens!! :lol: :lol:

I pulled a "duh" today... we got the entire hathcery super clean for our OCA Extravaganza Open House today and... well, dopey me forgot to take off my close up lens taking photos.. hahaha. So, the pics are all blurry and I will reshoot those tonight.

I did, however, take the lens off (yay!) to shoot an awesome walk-thru video!!! I am not going to repost pictures now becuase I am going to listen to Ingo Seidel talk about some Catfish then Mr. Ad talk about Malawis!!!

The Video is 37 megabytes, and will take about 10 minutes to download if you have DSL or Cable Internet. If you have dialup, it might take up to an hour, but its worth it!!

Hope you guys enjoy it and I will put some pictures on tonight!!

Steve!

The Fishthoughts.net Hatchery - Live and in Color!
http://www.fishthoughts.net/hatchery/fishthoughts.mpg


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## Bravo

That is a cool video. I wish I had the room to do something like that.
GREAT JOB!


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## MrBiggz

Darn nice video fellas,... Also nice shot of the reflection of the guy drinking a beer!! I guess after all that hard work, it`s miller time!!

MrBiggz


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## cdjunior24

have to say...heck of an operation you guys've got there...now if i could get out of this condo and buy a house w/a 3 car garage...1 for me, 1 for the girlie and 1 for the feesh...


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## Fishthoughts

HAHAHA! Yeah, gotta reward yourself! Being 80 degrees year round with decent humidity... takes its toll on ya!


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## Fishthoughts

Pics coming in about 20 minutes....


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## Fishthoughts

*And finally got around to adding more pictures -- just taken on Saturday (Nov 26th). Enjoy!*









A view of the room from the front.









A view of the room's bagging station/split tank.









18 20H's and 6 29's. Mostly for Angel breeding/growout.









A view of the room from the back.









Rack with breeder tanks.









10's for growout.









Back wall with breeder tanks.









Some tanks, shelving, and a dehumidifier plumbed into the drain system.









The racks we got from Home Depot... fit six 40BR on them wondefully. We have not setup the last 4 yet, so we put a few 20H's in their places.









Another view of the same 40BR racks.

Thats all for now, until we get the rack in the middle done in January, I wont be posting more pics probably. Thanks!


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## Bravo

great pics! Thanks for posting them.


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## dunky

HOLY ****!!!!!!!!

That is absolutetly amazing. I am truly inspired. and I think that as soon as I get out of school and get the money I think I want to try something like that.


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## Namor

What are you using to heat the room? I saw what looks like a oil filled radiant heater in one pic, is that all you are using, or do you have some other means of heating as well?

Thanks for all the pics!


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## RustyNut

What size is that room? It look really tall!?!? 8ft+ cielings?

The room itself is just awesome, very well thought out and clean design. I have been insired by it!


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## xxxlenxxx

nice


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## OG Raskal

Hey Steve! How you Been Buddy! Any updated pics??? ~OG Raskal


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## Fishthoughts

Okay. We use two 1500W floor radiant heaters (40 bucks a piece @ WalMart)... R13 to insulate all four walls and the thicker "attic" stuff to insulate the ceiling. The temp's now about 74-76 degrees in winter time here...

The ceiling is 10.5 foot high... We just used the already existing garage rafters for the ceiling, and we do have tanks that high and YES you do need a ladder for two of the racks HAHA! We may or may not be taking the top row of tanks down, we do not know.

As far as more pics, its now March 1 of 06, and we're going to be updating our website with the hatchery photos, video, and a tank-by-tank walk through. We now advertise here, so I can tell you all to go check it out at www.fishthoughts.net !!! (full update to be done this week!)


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## Fishthoughts

Well, thought I would shoot out an update again. Its now June 13, 2006. We have successfully made it through lovely Ohio's winter months! The fish room with those two heaters never really dropped below 72 degrees F. The water, on the coldest side, was about 68 degrees, and in the bottom tanks we put a few heaters in to help bring it back up. Everything lived great! Now that it is warmer, it is about 82 degrees in the room and everyone is doing well.

We decided against having all of the 20 gallon tanks in the middle of the room becuase it would have been way too much to take care of on a part time basis, so we put a few 55's in the middle with a few other tanks and that finished the room off. We are at a steady 130 somethin aquariums and going to hold it there for a while.... until we grow again (soon!).

I would like to thank everyone for their comments and input throughout this post and thanks for supporting us during our move! We will keep you posted as we move into our larger hatchery in the near future!
*
Steve & Gregg
The Fishthoughts Crew*
www.fishthoughts.net
Part of the PetThoughts Network


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## fishboy11

Hey steve, i am wondering if maybe you could get tank shots of your breeding groups. Like your ngara, albino ngara, AER's, and as many as you can, as i am really interested to see them. Also, maybe some new close ups of fish like your AER and albino ngara and ngaras


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## Fishthoughts

Actually, that's what I did a lot of today and will finish up tomorrow. I am working on a totally new photos section where Ill have a handful of photos of each type of fish probalby, and recent pictures instead of pictures from last year or the year prior. We've got some things in the works now so I'm pretty busy but should be done within a week's time I hope.


----------



## fishboy11

Cool Steve. Well, i sent you a pm. I am building a rack containing 12 10g tanks. These will be for fry and show males. After this, a rack for 6-8 40g breeders. The breeder rack will be a while. I am only 15 and i pay all my expenses. Yuo have some nice fish. I might need to get an albino ngara male from you someday when my colony is grown out, OK


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## Fishthoughts

Sounds good. Might I recommend, if you setup a rack with 6 40BR's, go to Home Depot and ask the person in Storage/Shelving department to see their Z-Beam 6ft grey metal racks. The racks cost 125.00 but they are setup in about 5 minutes, and hold 6 40BR's perfectly, and its so much easier than making your own.


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## fishboy11

Ok, i will see about that. WE decided to do 15 10g tanks. I am going to do sponge filters on them. I will get the sponges from jehmco, but i have never setup a sponge filter. How would i do it for 15 tanks. Thanks for replying, and get those pics. Hope to see you at 2007 OCA. You will see my AER male, ngara male, eureka male. And, eventually my lwanda and albino ngara male. Also, you should check out the MCA expo. This year it was the first one, AD spoke there. In 2007 it is in March. I will be showing my ngara. For yuo it would be an easy top 3 in the peacock class


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## Fishthoughts

Well, the easiest way Id say is get a small linear pump from Jehmco and get one of their manifolds for it with 20 outlets, or buy the valves and tap some 1.25" PVC pipe and plumb your pump up to that... I'll take some photos today of our setup and while its a larger setup, its still the same principle. Or you could probably even get a very large (Not sure on model number) TetraTec air pump and run 5 tanks per outlet since they are not deep tanks.


----------



## fishboy11

Ok, thanks steve. Do you think 2007 OCA you could get me an albino ngara male at arounf 2.5 inches from your strain if yuo have one. Maybe we could do a trade off for something. My ngara and AER strain are really good, especially ngara,coming from Erik


----------



## Fishthoughts

Erik's Ngara took 2nd place at the OCA Extravaganza last year I believe. You going to come from Kansas to Ohio for the OCA show in 07?


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## fishboy11

Yep, i am coming in 2007 for sure. Erik said my AER male could easily take top 3, he my male is incredible for a 1.75 inch male. Have you seen it. I am really excited. I am 15, so i have a lot of years ahead of me, LOL. We are driving to Des Moines in March for the MCA Expo. Only my ngara will be ready for show then. I have 2 small air pumps, would these work fine for the sponge filters? I could probably only run one sponge on each. BUt it will work until i save up for a $200 dollar linear pump.

Yes, you are right. At 2004 OCA, erik's ngara male took 2nd. He beat out Ron's super orange maleri and Ron's lwanda that year, Ron's AER male won. Erik said my male could easily be as good as Ron's AER male. Mine's fins are crazy long. But, enough talking about me, i want to see new pics of all your fish and tank setups, did you get them?


----------



## Laxison

I spent all morning and part of the afternoon reading this thread and am absolutely engrossed! I've been so inspired by this ongoing project and look forward to new updates!!


----------



## Fishthoughts

Yes. In fact, I did put up a separate post on our hatchery...

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=122491

Lots of photos and a longer video too. We just built another rack on top of another rack last night to hold only 3 more 10 gallon tanks for guppy babies... we're just about out of room!!! Check it out!

Well we will look forward to seeing you and everyone else in November for our OCA show! Its a ton of fun if you haven't been there yet! Ron's a tough cookie... He has a lot of experience, a lot of years, and a lot of really really nice show fish... If you can best him then you're doing something right! You will have some competition though in the Peacock class... I've got a few "toys" I will be showing, something that will give Ron and others a big big run for their money! I dont know that its ever been shown before at an OCA show... in 4 years I've yet to see these guys! 8)

See ya there! If you want to stop by and visit too, usually that Satruday night we have an open house, I'm pretty sure we're going to do it again this year, so check the bulletin board for more info.

Steve


----------



## Laxison

Clearly this project/business of yours is quite an investment; if you don't mind me asking, how much do you think you put into building the fishroom (stock, tanks, equiptment, building material, etc)?


----------



## Fishthoughts

Honestly I have all the receipts but I was afraid to add them up! :lol:

I don't know where to even guess at... It took about a month of construction and painting and building racks and about a week to move the old tanks and setup new tanks though, I know that much off hand. I know that the hobby/business paid for everything in the room though.


----------



## fishboy11

Steve, i plan to come in 2007. I plan to show my Ngara, AER, Eureka Split male, hopefully an albino ngara male. I too have something up my sleeve even for a 15 year old. I do not have it, but i will be getting it, and it is hot!!! I can't wait to see ya in 2007. I am excited to meet u and Erik. My goal is to place top 3 with my AER male, i can't ask more for him. Soon here i will be getting a new AER male that is not nearly as good, but will take over breeding duties so i can start conditioning my AER male. Eureka male is already in his own tank, i got to get his fins ultra long. Also, next August 2007, 10-12, there is the MCA Expo in Des Moines, which will be my first show. I plan to take at least my ngara and eureka male, if my AER male is 4.5 inches, he will go. I know he will be small, but it is good experience for me, plus it is only the 2nd MCA Expo.


----------



## TheeMon

Fishthoughts said:


> Tanks are everywhere!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> quote]
> 
> i notice you dont have any braceing for the length of the tank.(2nd row, the gap in the tanks, the take to the right).. i take it then that its fine to only have 2 sides connecting? i always wanted to know if i could let my tank hang over the stand a few inches(less then 3-4")


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## TheeMon

first let me say i totally envy you... you might have a new stalker!... id like to do this some day


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## Fishthoughts

Thanks. On the longest rack we have supports, yes, but the shorter ones (up to 7 foot) do not have any supports like that, they've been up for a few years now and still sturdy, no bowing, its working great!


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## TheeMon

actually.... i dont care about the wood... i was worried/curious about the tank... i thought all 4 sides of the tank had to be ontop of something, not just 2 sides(the shortest sides too)


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## Fishthoughts

Nope. For acrylic, yeah... for glass, typically, up to 75g, no... On the rack w/ the 75's on it and the larger tanks we do have runs for the short sides. 40BR, 55's, etc, don't need the support if you have a good enough stand.


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## TheeMon

your serious? can i have forreal proof? like i belive u nwhatnot but i cant trust my stands/fish/money to just any wack job online, ya know?

thats kool


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## Fishthoughts

First off.. I'm almost certain that I'm not a "wackjob"....

Secondly, if you bothered to read (maybe a new concept for you??) and look at the pretty pictures here:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... &&start=30

and here:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... &&start=45

You'll be able to clearly see the construction of the stands... It doesn't get any simpler than that. If you'd like, Home Depot has these very nice "Z Beam" brand steel racks that are $125.00 per rack, they are 72" long by 18" deep and have three rows w/ adjustable height.... they house many different tank arrays, and they setup in about 5 minutes with one person... Each row will hold up to five 20 gallon tanks, eight 10's, two 40BRs.... you can fit a nice amount of tanks per these racks, and they look okay too, each row holds 3500lbs so... plenty strong enough...

In fact if we'd have found these racks sooner, we'd have more of them in use. Plus you can plant a face on the racks that is made of wood and nice finishing material to be flush w/ 20's and use it for a very nice display setup, housing drains and lights for each row making a very professional looking display.


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## TheeMon

i was not critizing you or your work, dont get me wrong  its just your the only person *** heard say (and show me) that only 2 sides need to be toucheing the stand, the smaller sides at that!


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## Mcdaphnia

TheeMon said:


> i was not critizing you or your work, dont get me wrong  its just your the only person I've heard say (and show me) that only 2 sides need to be toucheing the stand, the smaller sides at that!


 I've seen tanks supported only at the ends up to six feet long and although I would not have tried it, it does work -- if all four corners are evenly supported. This was at a guy's fish room in Cleveland. It must have been twenty years ago and he was in the local aquarium club. I think his last name was Lee. The verticals hung from the rafters and most didn't even touch the floor. The horizontals that supported the tanks were carriage bolted to the verticals, all 2 by 4's. Of course the joists in the ceiling above were unsanded full dimensioned hardwood in this older house. The basement floor was probably a thin layer of concrete as an afterthought so the ceiling was likely the best choice.


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## TheeMon

this just blows my mind...


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## Cole1309

wow......great job...I know your sick of hearing that but jeez, look what you have done! I know you have probably already said this but is this your occupation? or just a hobby? This is what I would love to do for an occupation! Own my own fish shop. 
I just have 2 questions.
*- What kind of peacocks/mbuna do you breed?*and 
*- Are you going to the minnapolis fish show in january?* It will be my first time being at a fish show so im sooooo pumped.

Thanks for ALL of your [/b]_*inspiration*_!!


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## TheeMon

any updates?


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## TheeMon

hey i read this whole thread a few months ago, so it might allrdy be asked but i dont remember seeing it so...

how much money have you sunk into this?

how much money do you make a month now?


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## malawimaniac

Hi, i was just wondering how you heat this fish room? Electric baseboard, gas, or what?


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## Mcdaphnia

I was over there (he lives a couple miles from me) about six months ago. I know there's a new fishthoughts website, but visiting a fishroom in person is always better. Once a month as a local fish club officer, I get the opportunity to see a different fish room each month while each officer hosts the board (business) meeting once during the year.


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## medinabob

I live near these guys and have been to there place. Got my Ngara Flametails from them. HIGHLY RECOMENDED. Great fish- great guys. :thumb:


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## Mcdaphnia

medinabob said:


> I live near these guys and have been to there place. Got my Ngara Flametails from them. HIGHLY RECOMENDED. Great fish- great guys. :thumb:


I called Steve of Fishthoughts, and they are in the process of moving, so some other state will get a great fish place once that happens.


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## pkut

Where did Steve move to? Is he going to open Fishthoughts again?


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## Mcdaphnia

This is a tough economy to re-open a business in. Love is not enough. You could tell he really cared about and was proud of his fish. They were not "pieces" to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYwQMF0a ... re=related


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## Fishthoughts

:thumb:

We're not out of it... no worries 

With life coming at me, personally, fast with a wedding that's now done and over with, moving (still NE Ohio), and deciding what to do with 200+ Aquariums, we've only taken a mere break. We still have, at the house the hatchery was at, about 25 aquariums and I have one large one at my house now, and will be setting up probably within the next few years again. So, sadly not sooner, we will be back! This time when we come back it's going to be a MINIMUM of 400 aquariums, so it may take me a year or two to plan it all out!!


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## Deeda

Good to hear you are still around. Congratulations on your nuptials!!!


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## Mcdaphnia

Yes, congratulations and glad you are still around. It would be great if you could powerpoint a presentation on what you have done in the past and what you plan. I'm sure there are any number of fish clubs in NE Ohio that would be interested in such a talk at one of their monthly meetings.


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