57 replies to this topic

[humbug]

Lol - I'm driving a small hatchback so not much room for bringing stuff back, let alone tanks, but I'm yet to walk into a LFS and not learn something. I find visiting new shops a great way to get ideas and renew the enthusiasm. I was over in New Zealand a few weeks ago and visited a stack of shops while I was there.  Its was brilliant - I wasn't tempted to spend a single cent   This will be a great opportunity to get away from home for a few days, get an idea of whats around in Victoria, and lets be honest, if something really nice showed up I'm sure I could find somewhere to put it  

[dicky7]

Coming along real nice Kathy  keep up the hard work and keep the updates flowing please

[LexAgate]

As dicky7 said above, the bake house looks amazing great job, very keen to see what's next so keep the updates comeing One who throws dirt is loosing ground ~Confucius

Edited by LexAgate, 25 September 2015 - 11:06 PM.

[benno87]

Awesome, should be a fun weekend for ya, bet they got some sweet shops and good quality fish over there. Good thing too it doesn't take too long to drive there either from little ole Adelaide.

[humbug]

I’m just back from a quick road-trip to Melbourne where the intention was to do the rounds of the aquarium shops.  We started off at Keysborough . . . . . . and basically didn’t get any further.    The best part of a day and a half was spent chatting to Meng and drooling over some awesome fish.  I brought home a handful of fish to add to a couple of existing colonies, so no new species, but will certainly be heading back there again once the fishroom is operational.

 

In my absence the build has progressed.  It had to go backwards before it could go forwards.  The removal of the lintel above the second opening left the place looking like a bomb site, but things are moving ahead nicely now.  Now that the buttress walls have been removed from the front wall the whole building somehow seems to have taken on a much larger, more imposing presence in the yard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dicky7]

Ya bombsite is true but I can see a good thing arising out of the rubble Keep up the Photos please very interesting to follow

[BengaBoy]

great blog

given all the DIY I am surprised you didn't build the tanks yourself?

[humbug]

A further progress report.  We have seen the stonemason intermittently, but things have moved along quite well.  The second doorway went in.

 

 

 

 

 

The brick quoin at the left of the front face had been damaged by the big heavy cement lintel, and removal of the lintel had bowed it further.  The stonemason suggested we should rebuild it, so things moved backwards again before we made more headway.  Down came the old quoin . . . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

. . . . . and up went the new.

 

 

 

 

 

Along with one of his cohorts, they have also done a significant number of repairs of loose bricks, cracks, etc, and made good the lands which will support the roofing iron.  They have repaired the top of the internal wall in readiness for the internal gutter to be installed. 

 

Just before they knocked off for the week, they removed the remaining pointing on the front wall.  It’s starting to look rather more attractive than what we started out with!

 

 

 

 

Now we lose the stonemason for the next week while he goes off to another job.  In the meantime we will attempt to jackhammer out the rock in left hand room in an attempt to lower the floor level to something approaching the level of the right hand room.  Once that is done we can look at arranging to have the floor poured.   The week after next the stonemason returns to do the pointing to the entire front wall. 

 

We would love to continue with the repairs to the left hand side wall, but it will have to wait until a later date.  The section which has an old opening which has been bricked up will become a window, and the stone work of this relatively visible wall will be repaired to match the front.  But that can wait for now.  It won’t impact what I’m doing with the fishroom at the other end of the building.

 

great blog

given all the DIY I am surprised you didn't build the tanks yourself?

With everything going on in our life at the moment, building tanks just wouldn't fit into the equation!!!!  With what I paid for secondhand tanks, and the tanks Abyss built for me, I wouldn't have saved that much money anyway.  Better for me to put my energies into all of the other work that goes into setting up a fishroom.  Until you do one, I don't think people really understand just how much time and effort it takes to even put together a modest room! 

Edited by humbug, 10 October 2015 - 02:30 PM.

[dicky7]

Dam fine work there Kathy looks awesome by the time it is finished  it will be a sight to behold .... keep up the work and the updates

 

Cheers

[LexAgate]

Dam fine work there Kathy looks awesome by the time it is finished it will be a sight to behold .... keep up the work and the updates

 

Cheers

 

Enough said...


 

[humbug]

A handful of new photos.  Despite investing a lot of time on the build, I don’t seem to have that much in the way of visible progress to show!

 

My husband got stuck into lowering the floor level of the smaller room.  It took a jackhammer to break through the sheet limestone, but the ground level has now been dropped by 300 – 400 mm.  That doesn’t sound much, but that’s a hell of a lot of rock and dirt!

 

Replacement roof beams have been installed, and the new gutter constructed. 

 

 

 

 

A milestone today - the first sheets of roofing iron went on.  We have started with the roof over the smaller room.  Eventually this part of the building will have a ceiling installed, and insulation will be sandwiched between the ceiling and the iron.  When we roof the room which will become the fishroom, we will be placing an insulation blanket directly between the iron and the timbers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still a long way to go!!!

[dicky7]

Lookin Good kathy

[LexAgate]

Slow and steady Kathy, looks great actually no it doesn't...

It looks awesome!!! Well done great job

[MrLeifBeaver]

Are you going to insulate the inside of the roof? As that room looks like it might get hot?

[humbug]

Both rooms will have ceiling insulation, but we are treating each of them differently.  The part which we have already roofed will eventually have a ceiling, so we will install batts between the iron and the gyprock when that happens.  The larger room which will become the fishroom won’t have a ceiling, so we are using 110mm thick Bradford Anticon which will be sandwiched between the iron and the roof beams.  It’s effectively a foil backed insulation blanket specifically designed for situations like this.  As well as providing thermal insulation, it should help guard against condensation forming under the iron roof, and provide good acoustic insulation.  I’ve always wondered how well fish fare under an iron roof in a hail storm.  The Anticon has been ordered and we hope to pick it up on Monday or Tuesday.

 

A while back we replaced two of the three roof beams in the fishroom section of the building, but looking at the remaining original one today, decided that it too should be replaced.  So the old one has been pulled out and a new one ordered.  That may not arrive until later next week, so that's now likely to be the hold-up for continuing with work. 

 

I’m currently looking at possibilities of installing Foamboard insulation on the walls.  The racking we have is going to be a very tight fit in the room, which doesn’t really leave room for wall insulation in some places, but we are thinking that it may be possible to insulate at least parts of some of the walls.  Still umming and ahhing there. 

 

That does remind me.  It’s a very long time since I’ve had a fish jump out of a tank, and because it’s not happened recently I admit I’ve become slack.  When I’m being lazy I tend to leave lids a bit ajar so it’s simple to do the feeding rounds.  About a week ago I had four jumpers from four different tanks on one night.  One ended up in another tank, but the other three perished.  Makes me wonder what caused it.  They must have been frightened by something – a loud noise or power going on and off.  We were home and didn’t notice anything with the power in the house.  That fishroom is VERY well insulated, so it seems surprising to think it could have been a noise outside.  Intriguing!

Edited by humbug, 30 October 2015 - 08:41 PM.

[dicky7]

Fishes playing chasy in middle of night also night drags and the brake chute failed ?? maybe

[Buccal]

I had a similar thing for a while,,,,, still not sure on exact Identification it may likely be your problem.
A big bloody rat,, or type of marsupial/possum.
Bloody running up and down the racks when then last dim lights turn on as the main lights shut off.
Dim lights stay on for hour before total darkness.

But yep enough to make fish swish around and hit lids,,,,, I can tell you.

[25GTT]

Update? one of my favourite threads I keep an eye on!