PlanetCatfish.com

Hi, I’m going to be building a fish room in the shed out in the garden, is there any tips/advice that can be given for heating, aeration etc. it will be roughly 8ft x 4ft and aim to have around 20 tanks. I was thinking about going down the diesel heater route instead of an oiled filled radiator for cost effectiveness. It will obviously be insulated. Can anyone advise or help with anything they’d do differently or have done that’s helped.

Have a look at the "jools fishroom" and also MarcW's fishroom threads - there are several others but both have long and regular updates on fishroom builds. Give me a shout if you can't find them.

Jools

Perfect thanks

You could also consult with Fishman Dave from the UK on the Monster Fish Keepers forum. I am not sure if he is a member on here too. If memory serves, his fish house shed is unheated though, if memory serves.

Will you be breeding? Keeping a large fish species collection? Photography? Aquascaping? Maintaining species only tanks? Primarily bottom dwellers or keeping a mix of different water types and habbitats? These will determine the best size tanks and consequently the best room layout.

There is a wealth of fishroom setup information online across various forums, youtube and webpages.

* If you haven't poured the concrete slab yet, floor drains allow neater filtration. Include a sink and a large bore water tap at each end.
* Several isolated electrical circuits so critical equipment can be isolated from the typical electrical safety trips and easily power backed up or quickly connected to a generator during emergencies. Extra power points. Several overlapping lights on adjacent wall switches, intensity of room light can be varied by turning more lights instead of dimmers.
* Air conditioner inverter is the most economical to run, having the advantage of cooling, heating, timer or digitally choosing a temperature change should you wish to trigger a spawn. Some having excellent COP conversions so one kilowatt of electricity will produce many times more kilowatts of heat/cooling.
* Large skylights in the roof covered with 20mm polystyrene sheets allows insulation and diffused natural light.
* High walls/ceiling permits extra vertical tiers of tanks or gravity assisted water storage tanks
* Planned location and aspect can capture breeze, longer day lengths, natural sun heating etc.
* Openable windows at each end (or door and window) permits cross ventilation, venturi air flow, reduce humidity - mould, termites, sunrise for spawning, etc
* Central airline to run sponges, two large air pumps on the same central air circuit equals the redundancy of having 2 sponges in each tank.
* Fridge/freezer for food storage above and fish chemicals below. Even a dead fridge provides an insulated roach and rodent proof storage solution
* An outdoor sump or pond can be an excellent bog filter/plant source/live food reservoir.
* Depending on your requirements, a fish bagging station, net collection area, desk for microscopes, water tests and books etc.
* I would also plan for expansion ahead of time.

Thanks for all the advice! It will be mainly for keeping and breeding L numbers and corydoras

For heating, I'd personally recommend infrared heaters. They've been pretty cost-efficient for me.

I got the KMH-30 3KW Infrared Wall Mounted from Castle Heaters, and it did wonders. Each one only set me back 90 pounds, and I was lucky enough to snag a 50% off deal. Found it on dontpayfull.com. You might search there for other deals and discounts to save up some money on your fish room.