Malta Aquarist Society

 Hi guys, as some of you know I'm planning to make my fishroom. I'm going to close half of my semi-basement garage with a partition to keep the car exhaust out. At the moment I only installed electricity and water in the garage.

Now I was thinking of making some sort of well to store water for the fish. In other words I want water storage under my fish room. How can I go about it? I prefer to do it that way to spare space because I prefer more aquaria then a big tank to store water.

Any ideas please? 

Once you need space there is no other solution .

Gan, is it possible to dig a well in your garage ????

If you can dig a small well or something like a car pit, then it would be great for water storage & it wouldn't take any space.

What are your ideas about water storage?. Did you plan or have anything in mind?.

I think he plans to use it for water changes right , I think it's a good idea  

 Yes I need it for water changes and so on. Another question; will the the water by any means be a bit heated if I heat the room above?

The change would be very small since hot air rises up cause it's less dense than cold air.

How are you planing to heat the fish room ? I mean will you use gas or electricity ? 

 I know that Charlon, but I didn't exclude the possibility that some hot air escapes from the floor, thus resulting in heating a bit the water in the tank underneath.

T3ddy, I don't like to leave a gas cylinder switched on 24hrs when most of the time I'm not going to be there. I prefer a fan heater to circulate heat around the room. I also have to insulate the room well.

 

Gan, you have been at my place and you know I have a well underneath my fish room and bare in mind that my fishroom is outside

 in the yard.  Yes the temperature of the water in the well is about 2/3 deg less then that in the aquariums. I cannot do any better

 but due to the fact that the new water from the well whilst donig a water change is poured slowly in the aquariums , the change

 in temp does not effect the fish that much. I switch on the gas heater round about 9pm and switch it off round about 7.00am

( depending on the outside temperature of course ) During the day the temp of the aquariums drops with approx 2/3 deg. I have

 been using this method for about 6 years now without any adverse effects.

Hi Martin, last time you told me that you have some unknown fish in the well, did you catch them? If yes what are they?

I sow that fish chal, it's some kind of peacock cichlid as I managed to cath it's figure by imobilizing it for few seconds with a torch!

I manufactured a D.I.Y fairly large net and let it in the well water for a couple of days.....weeks now so that the fish will acclimitize

themselves to it. However when I drop a little bit of food I see no movement in the well. I looked inside but did not manage to see

neither live nor dead fish. This year I am planning to clean the well so I have tro wait and see.

 Today a friend of mine came to see what I'm planning for my garage. His ideas were that the well ( for water storage) underneath the garage floor, must not be more then 3.5 feet. This will allow enough water for me for water changes and the water will not be that cold since it's not deep. The surface area will be 6.5 feet by 6.5 feet, leaving about 2.5 feet each side. He will give me an estimate of the works soon.