Outdoor Fishroom/greenhouse

Hey all I have a pretty small house (~700sq feet on the main floor, the downstairs is a garage, my husband's office, and a laundry room). Ever since I caught MTS (Multiple Tank Syndrome), I have been thinking about places I could actually have a real fishroom. Right now I have a 7.5g tank in my son's room, two 10 g in my office, and one 37g planned for the living room...and I think that will do it for the house. BUT we have a massive backyard. So I was wondering how many people had their fishrooms… outside?

I live just outside of Seattle, Washington, so Zone 8a. It rarely gets down to freezing, and almost never into the negatives, but for most of the year it stays around 50F (In winter that's the upper temperature, in Summer that's the lower/night temp). I've been watching lots of Rachael O'Leary's channel lately, and the idea of setting up aquariums in a greenhouse is intriguing me. Has anyone done this, not just to house/breed fish during part of the year, but as a year-round place to house fish?

 

If you think along the lines of a shed/outhouse, it would probably allow more control/options.

 

Hey all I have a pretty small house (~700sq feet on the main floor, the downstairs is a garage, my husband's office, and a laundry room). Ever since I caught MTS (Multiple Tank Syndrome), I have been thinking about places I could actually have a real fishroom. Right now I have a 7.5g tank in my son's room, two 10 g in my office, and one 37g planned for the living room...and I think that will do it for the house. BUT we have a massive backyard. So I was wondering how many people had their fishrooms… outside?

I live just outside of Seattle, Washington, so Zone 8a. It rarely gets down to freezing, and almost never into the negatives, but for most of the year it stays around 50F (In winter that's the upper temperature, in Summer that's the lower/night temp). I've been watching lots of Rachael O'Leary's channel lately, and the idea of setting up aquariums in a greenhouse is intriguing me. Has anyone done this, not just to house/breed fish during part of the year, but as a year-round place to house fish?

I've had the fish keeping bug since the age of 7 and I'm now 56...49 years. So be it far from me to discourage multiple tanks. My concern is your heating situation. Unless you going to keep goldfish, your going to have to keep the water temperature at least 74 degrees. With an ambient temperature of 50, it puts a lot of stain for aquarium heaters to keep tanks raised by 24 degrees. If you set up a 30 gallon tank, you'll need a heater that's 150 watts. If it runs most all the time, that's like burning a 150 watt light bulb 24/7 which could get costly...alonk with the filtration and hood lights. Even if you decide on fancy goldfish, the biological filtration would convert ammonia and nitrites very slowly at low temperatures. This is not to discourage you. I actually encourage you go ahead and enjoy your hobby as much as you can. I just wanted to offer some food for thought about heating set up before you get started.

 

But going from above, a decrease in temperature does decrease benefitual bacteria from converting the nitrogen cycle from ammonia to nitrate, but it also decreases the metabolism of your fish... which many reccomend not feeding anyway. So that would lead to a decrease in ammonia production.

 

Over the years I've heard about and seen a huge variety of ways people have created and managed fish rooms. Garages and sheds by far seem to be most common for year round out of the house fish rooms. Coming from. Up north myself and having been near Spokane/CDA up until a few years ago (yes much colder winters) I can't imagine doing it in a greenhouse year round for tropical fish. Seattle areas have more mild weather and having lived there a few years in my 20s I see the temptation but would still think something as weather dependant as a greenhouse wouldn't be worth the hassle. Insulation keeps temps much more controllable, greenhouses don't offer that luxury.