Re: The founding of a fish room and Apisto feeding

[Randy Carey <carey@spacestar.net>]

You are very fortunate to take over a room with the sink, cabinets, and 
(wow!) a bathroom.  With such a room, I agree with your wife -- make the 
fish/aquaria display look at finished as possible.  I went that route when 
I rebuilt my fishroom.  It took more work, but I find my room is much more 
enjoyable to be in and to show than it was before.

Because my project involved rebuilding from an established room, I faced 
the same issue you seem to:  How does one replace the flooring in an 
established room?  I segregated the room into two sections.  I tore down 
(or partially tore down) the tanks of the first section.  With the racks 
moved out of the way, I tore up the old flooring and then put down the 
new... ceramic tile.  ( I also repainted the walls and performed other work 
with the racks out of the way.)  Once done rebuilding the first section, I 
repeated this process with the second.  You should be able to do the 
same.  I was able to move 29's with the wet gravel in it. Each tank was 
heavy, but moveable, and this kept the cycled tanks cycled.  Actually, you 
should be able transfer wet gravel to some container during a tank 
move.  As long as the gravel is returned to a tank within an hour or two, 
you should not be losing much bacteria.

So, don't give up on getting out the carpet.  It will take time/effort, but 
once you do it, you'll have years of enjoyment ahead.  (You do plan on 
being in the hobby for years, don't you?  :-)

--Randy


At 11:28 PM 2/23/2003, you wrote:
> There was one BIG bonus to moving however.  The house we bought in Wasco had
> a complete mother-in-law quarter attached to the back of the house.  The
> room had a sink, stove, cabinets, and a 3/4 bathroom.  It was soon declared
> to be my fishroom by the local Executive committe (aka, my wife).  The
> original tank rack is in there, as well as room for a few more tanks.  My
> tank rack is designed to hold up to 8-10 gallon tanks, 3 old pet's mart
> tanks of 30 gallons each, and a 29 gallon tank.  My wife requested, and I
> tried my best, to make it look like a nice piece of funiture.
>
> The only bad news was my wife was 8 months pregnant when we moved, and she
> is due as of today.  So I didnt get a chance to pull the carpet up in the
> room before I placed my tank stand in it, and started loading it up with
> 4-10 gallon tanks.  Those 4 10 gallon tanks are nearly cycled, and in a few
> weeks I hope to find 3 pairs of A. cacatuoides to start cutting my teeth on.


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