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Dazalea's Shrimp Rack & Mini Fish Room Build


Shrimp Life

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Hi Everyone! 

 

Happy New Years to all! I just moved into my new place just after Christmas, and with that comes a Mini Fish room and Shrimp Rack Build. :)

 

This is going to be a very simple setup and will be running one pump for multiple tanks, and a few hang on filters. There should be 12 tanks total in this mini fishroom! :)

 

I used to have the metal racks but I am converting so that this fish room will have two custom made wood racks to replace the old metal ones.

 

My father made this first built in unit using lumber and reinforced it using the beams within the wall. We have tested it for strength and its stronger then any shelf I've had so far (and I've had many strong shelves). We are going to also reinforce it abit more on the bottom shelf and sides for just a little more peace of mind!

 

I stained the rack for a "rustic" look. Then I sealed it with waterproof varnish... I wanted this to look a little more warm then the industrial look of the metal shelving, because this fish room is located in a small room in the back of my house. It was likely an office or den before I moved in! So it suits the house perfectly and will have a serene look.

 

For this shelf, I have 2 x 20 gallon tanks on the bottom, and 2 x 15 gallons on the middle, and 2x 15 gallons on top. The 15 gallons will all be shrimp tanks. The 2 x 20 gallons will likely house guppies or plecos.

 

My next shelving unit (still to be built) will be free standing *not a built in* and will be the same style as the other. It will be smaller as it is intended to hold 30" wide tanks

 

I am using sponge filters on the shrimp tanks and hang ons for the guppies and plecos.

 

I will update as I add my tanks and transfer the tanks to the shelves (they are being stored at my moms for now) As most of you know moving tanks is extremely complicated and time consumning....

 

I will update my progress as I go,,,, thanks for following along :)

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Very nice setup! I always enjoy seeing the process of rack builds. How are your shelves mounted to the wall?

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Very nice setup! I always enjoy seeing the process of rack builds. How are your shelves mounted to the wall?

THANK YOU :)

 

The shelves are mounted on the back, using a wood ledge that has been screwed into the beams within the wall. I hope I explained this right, my dad is the craftsman and located the wooden beams behind the wall, so that those act as the support.

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I found an old church they were tearing down loaded with oak. Got alot of pieces of trim and stuff, will be making stands out of some of it.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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I found an old church they were tearing down loaded with oak. Got alot of pieces of trim and stuff, will be making stands out of some of it.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Thats pretty awesome! You will definately have to share your builds on here so we can see it!

 

I like the rustic look of stained wood... It fits into my house nicely. I do love the sleek look of the metal and black stands people are also using/building... but I wanted to share my mini fishroom so people could see something a little different! And done on a very small scale and budget!

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Things are very S L O W L Y coming together. I have a second free standing shelf still to be built. It will match the other shelf. Hoping this weekend I can get around to it! The Second shelf will be all LED lighting. Led is just fine for growing simple mosses.

 

 The shelf pictured, the two 20 gallons on the bottom will share a 48" Led light as well. Just waiting for it to arrive via Mail.  My only T5's will be on the 4 15 gallon tanks

 

Took a few pics while I was in the room! Hope you like it

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Looks awesome! Definitely envious, I wish I had a room I can build a few beautiful stands.

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So is this going to be completed with perhaps a couple of terrestrial plants and a rocking chair? Perhaps surround sound for classical music? A complete shrimp relaxation room...

HECK YEAAA Wygglz! You got it! I have a white rocking chair...and I will be relaxing to some ambient tunes whilst kicking back and enjoying the scenery. And good idea about the plants. Thinking something like cactus... or a fern. Who knows, the possibilities are endless. Thanks

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HECK YEAAA Wygglz! You got it! I have a white rocking chair...and I will be relaxing to some ambient tunes whilst kicking back and enjoying the scenery. And good idea about the plants. Thinking something like cactus... or a fern. Who knows, the possibilities are endless. Thanks

I love this idea! I've been telling my other half we need to keep citrus trees in our next fish room since the temp is pretty constant and the humidity is relatively high. I can watch my shrimp while I pick and eat an organic Montana grown orange !

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Things are very S L O W L Y coming together. I have a second free standing shelf still to be built. It will match the other shelf. Hoping this weekend I can get around to it! The Second shelf will be all LED lighting. Led is just fine for growing simple mosses.

 

 The shelf pictured, the two 20 gallons on the bottom will share a 48" Led light as well. Just waiting for it to arrive via Mail.  My only T5's will be on the 4 15 gallon tanks

 

Took a few pics while I was in the room! Hope you like it

What is that shrimp on the lower right hand corner. Nice shrimp.

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I love this idea! I've been telling my other half we need to keep citrus trees in our next fish room since the temp is pretty constant and the humidity is relatively high. I can watch my shrimp while I pick and eat an organic Montana grown orange !

Its a very cool idea you got, looks like we are on the same page here... Its nice to just sit back in your shrimp room and hang out.. MMMmmmm Montana Oranges. This sounds like one kick arse shrimp room idea you have!

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  • 5 weeks later...

Well as in life things can often change, so did my shrimp room plans. I initially wanted to have 2 matching shelves but its been over a month and my dad was not able to make the next one due to his very hectic schedule.

 

So I can't really wait anymore :skydive:  soooo I'm taking the plunge and used an existing edsal shelf. This shelf I swapped out the flimsy particle board it came with and used 1/2" thick plywood which was cut to fit perfectly. This shelf is very strong however it does need reinforcement to the wall because of its height and to add more stability to it to keep it from wobbling.

 

This is my "mini" fishroom. I do have other tanks running at the moment in other rooms of the house but I'm prepping these tanks for new arrivals and they for also moving my existing stock to these tanks. So the goal is to keep all the shrimp in one place in the house!

 

I used led lights on the second shelf. They do grow mosses nicely and the clarity for viewing shrimp is good. The 20 gallon with the amazonia substrate is still cloudy. The bottom tank with the white sand will be for tiger shrimp. I'm using Fissidens in both tanks as well as I will add stones, cholla and another type of moss in each. I do not want to overcrowd these tanks.

 

I'm also using my new RO unit from purewaterclub as recommended by alot of other users and so far so good! I am new to RO water and so this has been a learning experience for me.

 

I can't wait to fill all my tanks and get them cycling and ready for the shrimp!

 

Also - I don't want to have anymore tanks in the house except for these, and the one rimless nano in my bedroom and I have a show tank in my living room.  So I hope I can stick to this plan :)

 

Oh and the new edsal shelf- I'm going to make a tank to fit in the top section. it will be 30" x 12" x 8" with the same LED light and I will be making that tank myself :startle: This shelf is built in such a way that I don't have room for the 20 gallon long tank on that top shelf. So it needs to be shorter so I have room. so I think it will be a shallow 8" tall tank with 12" depth and 30" width.

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