“up north”, outdoor, year round aquarium… is one step closer…

[Magnum Man34 148]

the stand is complete for a 55 gallon aquarium that is going into a screened porch area next to the house…

we’ve chatted about this previously… looking at a fish that may be unknown to many, and new to me… I’m looking at a small shoal of these…

 

[Magnum Man34 148]

bantam sunfish

bantam sunfish (Lepomis symmetricus) [state threatened]

dnr.illinois.gov

 

[Magnum Man34 148]

so, a few tank specifics… this will be a common sized 55 gallon tank, and will be placed in an outdoor roofed and screened patio area, that butts up against the house… the tank will be placed up against the house, so it’ll have one protected side… this is coincidentally up against the outside wall of my fish work area, so air will be provided by my large fish room sized air pump, year round… and air will be going to a pair of larger than required foam filters… it will be heated by 2- 500 watt heaters, one each in the back corners, with the controllers set at 50 degrees F. so they will not run during the summer, but keep the tank from freezing during the winter… placement is in front of a window, to our study, ( fish room is in the basement under the study ) so it will be visible during the winter, when we don’t normally use the screened room, we have a table we eat on, while grilling, during the summer, that is right in front of this tank, and I may place my small computer desk in front of that window, in the study… I already have several LED spot lights, that I’m thinking about putting up in the rafters over the tank, to bolster the natural lighting hours, for lighting… when the harsh winter weather comes, I’ll do what is needed to protect the tank, probably a glass cover to keep snow and frost, and evaporation down, yet let the light in, and I may foam insulation sheet, cover the front and sides for insulation, but may try to keep the back uncovered, for viewing through the window… during the summer, it will likely be open topped, with plants growing out of it, in hang on pots, that can be removed, when the cover is added for winter…

the stand is made of two rows of cement block, with planks on top, so if this is successful, a 2nd tank could go under the 55 gallon for breeding of a feeder fish if desired later…

 

[Back in the fold]

Yessiree Bob ! I like that . That’s going to be great !
Just as an idea . If you aren’t too far along already . What about insulating the bottom , sides and back with styrofoam or something to keep the heaters from having to work so hard this winter ?

 

[Magnum Man34 148]

I’m thinking about under, and raising the front trim board to cover the insulation, then adding front and side protection during the winter, but hoping to leave the back open, so I can see the fish, looking out the window…

 

[GaryE]

My rule has always been that if a fish is threatened, I only choose it if I plan to try to seriously breed it and share it out with other hobbyists. It doesn't always work, and you can't always find other hobbyists, as any Goodeid breeder knows, but I'd seek a less threatened fish if I were trying such a set up.

Heating costs versus return are what has ended every other attempt to do this by other hobbyists at our general latitude. It's okay for people whose climate stays around freezing or a bit under, but when it gets cold, it costs. I've considered a set up like that for my outside garage, which stays warmer than outdoors. For me, it would be Notropsis chrosomus, the rainbow shiner. It's showing up in stores here, but it needs a winter to hold its astonishing beauty. I haven't done it because I can't justify the energy cost.

Phoxinus eos is another - larger but really beautiful. I used to keep them after catching them in a beaver pond, and while they lived a long time, without seasons, they lost their vivid colours and just didn't thrive.

 

[Magnum Man34 148]

these fish have a pretty wide range, and are mostly listed as threatened regionally, not generally as a species…
that said, they may well breed in this tank, if it can be maintained… I will do my best, but admit, I’m most worried about the integrity of the tank going through the seasonal changes… and using a large plastic cattle tank would likely be much more practical, but I admit I’m looking forward to a tank at table height out there, to view while we eat out there during the summer, and the possibility of watching them from my desk through the window, during the winter months….
… and honestly the energy costs are least of my concerns, as they would be absorbed into the farm costs, we maintain a half dozen heated water tanks , during the winter, for the farm animals that are much less efficient…

 

[Magnum Man34 148]

I’m thinking a school of rosy minnows from the local shop, to get the filters percolating, once there is water in the tank… this will still be a pretty slow going project, as I’m still dealing with Mrs. illness, the dialysis schedule, and the parade of Dr. visits associated with her autoimmune disease…

 

[Magnum Man34 148]

I’m also liking these, however this variety sounds like it spends more time hiding…

 

[TwoTankAmin28]

I am curious if you have back up power for this tank in case the electricity goes out in a winter storm?

Many years ago when I had started breeding zebra plecos and had about 75 offspring plus the breeding group, I also had about 15 tanks overall plus we were caring for mom who had dementia and needed home health aides 14 hours a day, I realized we could could not survive some of the blackouts we would get from storms during the year. The house is in the woods and when the weather got really bad the electricity would go out when power lines came down when trees fell of huge branched did.

In the summer we would have many 90F+ days and a few into the low 100s. In the winter we had periods of cold below 20F and evry now and then we hit 0F. Neither mom nor the fish could handle a power outage at the worst temps. So we did the only sensible thing, we put in a whole house back up generator. This was in about 2009. In 2011 and 2012 when hurricanes came up the east coast and hit us in NY, we lost public power for 13 days each time. That gennie was a life saver.

We have had plenty of other outages not as long over the years since those two storms. When it is below freezing here the house can get cold pretty fast. Even if there were no fish and mom passed in early 2013, that gennie has prevented our water pipes from freezing during a half day or day long power outage in the winter.

I do not keep any tanks that are under about 76F and that temp is in only a single 15 gal. When I was cranking with the plecos most of their tanks were kept in the 82-86F range. During a dry rainy season simulation for spawning purposes I would have a tank in the low 90sF at the peak of the dry season. Tanks that warm had a bonus, During the winter they helped heat the place and the evaporation of tank water replaced our traditional need for having a humidifier built into the heating system. Of course in the summer this works in the reverse.

My point is I am wondering if you have a power back-up for the outdoor tank JIK.

 

[Magnum Man34 148]

I do have backup electricity… plus when they put windmills in our neighborhood, they buried all our power lines at least for several miles upstream, anyway we used to have power outages all the time, and haven’t had any in several years, since the buried lines… but that does make this tanks actual survival dependent on power all the time, during the winter

 

[TwoTankAmin28]

Electricity dependent is only bad if you do not have some form of back-up. We have two regular maint. visits to check and service the generator. They normally also can come fairly quickly if it goes down unexpectedly for some reason.

I do not like keeping cooler water fish. If I have to work in a tank, I prefer it holds warmer water.