Can you tell what it is yet? Construction has started!

[Satan's Goldfish]

That's right, it's a flip flop!

Also, construction of the new home for my big cats and preperation for moving them has begun, i'll add updates as i go on here. There temp home is 440 gal paddling pool which should be up and cycling in my new house by the end of the day and hopefully before the end of the year their 1000gal+ windowed pond will be finished. I'm not sure what the total size of it will be yet as the design in my head changes everytime i think too hard about it. When i have a final design i'll throw it on here.

First time i've tried anything like this so i'm expecting lots of problems. The biggest one in my head right now is it's all going in a conservatory and i don't know how stable the temperature's going to be (and how the hell do you move 3 18"+ catfish anyway?)

It's all being done for as little financial cost as possible so won't be pretty! But for now, a teaser pic......

 

[robroy]

I found a conservatory tank a nightmare-overheated in summer, water actually went green and had a real job keeping a stable temp. in winter (kept getting outbreaks of Ich). Never again

 

[Satan's Goldfish]

I found a conservatory tank a nightmare-overheated in summer, water actually went green and had a real job keeping a stable temp. in winter (kept getting outbreaks of Ich). Never again

Hmmmmm, this could be a challenge then. There's blinds over every window and the roof glass, and it felt about right temperature today and it's been quite warm, the previous owner said there's not much variation in winter but i was going to put a few standby heaters in the filter setup anyway. I'll just have to keep an eye on it for over heating.

Just finished setting up the temp kiddy pool, no pictures yet and no fish going in until it's settled and i know what it's going to do with temperature.

 

[Satan's Goldfish]

Sorry, i've been slacking!

The kiddy pool is doing well, threw in some water lettuce and 10 small 50p goldfish in to help cycle today (if i remember, i'll take pictures tomorrow.) Picked up a pond net large enough to cover it and the permanent build when it's done to so there's less chance of finding my silver aro on the floor.

The pan-scrubbers that are going to be bio filter are just floating on the surface at the moment. I need more silicone for other bits of the project so will get another box for them at the same time. The box in the first pic is slowly turning into the rather large 'in tank' mechanical filter, i picked up the brushes and sponges for it today. A submersible pump will go in the end of this and feed the bio media box before gravity flowing back into the pool. The mechanical box is being built so it can be used externally and gravity fed on the permanent structure rather having to build another one.

Checking the water temperature today it felt quite a lot cooler than the air temperature in the conservatory despite having 3 days of sunny weather on it so i'm going to need to get some heaters before 'Fluffy', 'Cuddles', 'Whiskers', and 'Big-Fella' get moved. I'm hoping to shift them towards the end of next week (i'm going to get wet!)



On to the permanent structure:

The plan is for a good 1000gal+ wooden structure from 2x4 bracing and 18mm ply..... That was one idea anyway..... I've been paying more of an interest in the construction of public aquarium tanks than the fish in them recently, the 2x4 idea may be replaced by appropriate lengths of metal boxing. Having looked at the construction of the kiddy pool, i'm tempted to get something similar to that made up but to the dimensions i want and use the ply cladding around it to help hold things like viewing glass, bulkheads, etc in place. My other option is talking to guy i've been put in contact with who can work magic with fibreglass and also used to be a glazer (2 birds with one stone there!) The aim is still to do it as cost effectively as possible so i'd need quotes on that first. A couple of layers of pond liner over a tarp is more realistic.

For dimensions, it's going to be 3' deep but i'm undecided width and length, either 8'x6' or 9'x5' are my current favorites. I've been toying with 6'x8' or 9' and cutting the corner off that would be in the middle of the room to make it into more of a corner tank/pond design and free up more space in the room.

Most of the main edges facing into the room will be glazed and i'm thinking of going with a few 3'x2' glass panels and framing them in. from what i can figure, 20mm glass shold be more than up to it but if anyone has any thoughts on this then feel free express them!

What would be useful now is if i knew how to work graphic design packages so i could show you what i'm think, but instead i have a load of coloured tape and will be marking out on the floor tomorrow what i'm thinking and will post pictures when i can. I hope all that makes sense, i know a picture paints a thousand words so i'll start posting more. I do have a lot of unpacking to do as i've just moved, sorry if this takes longer than planned!

 

[PeacockBassMan]

Sounds like you have a lot going on with this. Cant wait to see the new pictures.

 

[deepdiverdanny]

Sounds like an exciting project to undertake.

Hope it all goes well for you, we'll be watching your progress very closely

...Danny...

 

[Satan's Goldfish]

Cheers guys, getting started seems to be the hardest bit so far.

So i taped out the floor today with the different designs and how much space they'd space out into the room, took some pictures to show you guys, and forgot to bring my camera back with me! pictures tomorrow i promise!

Picking up more silicone, box for bio filter, and heaters to help bring it up to temp. I want filters running and fish moved by Friday.

Fish to be moved: 18" TSN, RTCxTSN, Perruno, 14" Silver Aro, 2x 12" RB Pacu, and 2 Plecos (which ever ones get caught first for now but will be Albino Common and the Adonis when it's all done.) The RTC and Pangasius are only 7" each so staying where they are for now.

 

[PeacockBassMan]

Still waiting to see those pictures, slacker! LOL.

 

[Satan's Goldfish]

Less slacking today, i remembered to bring my camera back!

Mechanical media 'fitted' (it needs trimming) into the box to see if it'll work then siliconing in some half round guttering to help hold the three sponges in place. More silicone has also been put around the big pipe adaptor and hopefully it's now water tight but i won't find that out until it's adapted for the permanent build.

The temp pond in all its floating pan sponge glory! i did get the the box and bulk heads today ready for them to be bio filter but not started building that yet as i'm lacking a 43mm drill bit. Broken paving slabs placed on the bottom to sit heaters on so i don't risk burning a hole in the pool. The heaters will be going in the mechanical filter when it's finished.

And finally, i've taped out on the floor the foot prints of 4 possible permanent pond positions. The green and yellow are 6x8 with the 8 sides against different walls, i'm not liking either of those really. The Blue is 9x5 and the white is 9x6 with a diagonal 4x3 corner chop (makes another 5' edge.) Both me and my girlfriend are liking the blue, i've got a soft spot for the white but think 6' is sticking just a little too far into the room, and my parents both like the white one (well my mum said if i took the 5' of blue until it met the white corner then went with the green when it got to there.............i did point out that was far too small!) The blue will be a much easier and quicker build than the white too. Let me have your opinions! The mechanical filter box is roughly where it will go when all is done.

 

[Satan's Goldfish]

Stressful day today.

Woke up to find there'd been a tradgedy over night, was looking in the tank and suddenly realised i couldn't see my gt. On closer inspection noticed that my rtcxtsn had a rather large belly on him. RIP the most aggresive fish that was in the tank

So, today was urgent fish moving day. Knocked the filters together as quickly as i could so they're still not built to how i'd like but doing their job. The heaters have been moved into the intake pipe of the mechanical filter box. It looks more ghetto than i could possibly imagine due to lack of pipe to complete it (the fountain from one box to the next definatly adds something though!) The water was up to temperature so got the cool boxes ready and went fishing......

The plan was to use my small old net to herd the catfish into a suitable placed towel in the tank and lift them out with that. Seemed a good idea until the perruno/marble pim punched his way straight through the bottom of it. i somehow managed to catch the tsn and one pacu with it, moved them and then wasted an hour i didn't have going to the lfs for a newer stronger net. Took 3 runs in total to move all 10 fish (decided to move the Pangasius and the RTC now too) i'm now very wet and stink of fish water. All fish moved into the pool ok with the only drama being the rtcxtsn throwing the gt back up in the new pool and one of the pacu is not looking to happy about the move so i hope he's better by morning.

The net has been taped down, not 100% aro proof i don't think but it'll have to do for now. The aro seems calm anyway. The pump in use is just a small fountain pump and way way way underpowered, I have my eye on a 10,000ltr per hour pump but don't know when i'll get a chance to get it so regular large water changes for a while now which is why i've not topped the water up yet and left it at the half ay mark. That, and i've run out of bricks and slabs to stand filter boxes on!

I'm off for a shower, all this has had to be done whilst moving boxes of my possesions at the same time, hopefully i'll have time tomorrow to get the lid on the mech filter and neaten it all up a bit.

Enjoy pics of the fish settling into their new temperary home. Stock is:
2xpacu
1xrtc
1xtsn
1xrtcxtsn
1xperruno/marble pim
1xsilver aro
1xpangasius
1xL001 Pleco
1xAlbino Common Pleco
and 30xgoldfish........29xgoldfish..........28xgoldfish............27xgoldfish.....