Very Ruff Sketch of my proposed Fish Room

[ebman74]

Attached is a very ruff sketch of my fish room being built next weekend. Here is the info:

 

DT: 220 gal. (amay121's old tank) with glass holes overflow drilled for closed loop.

 

Sump: 90 gal. (amay121's old tank) with custom bubble trap and reefigum, drilled.

 

Lights: Custom rack with Three Luminarc IIIs, four 36" T5 reflectors, Two 250 watt Icecap MH ballasts (Sides), One 400 watt Icecap MH ballast (center), One Icecap 660 for 4 T5 Actinic.

 

Skimmer: Hope to get amay121's Orca 200 when he gets back in town! See a theme here!

 

Calcium: Korallin C4002 reactor, PH controller with Co2 Solenoid

 

Return: Reeflo Dart

 

Circulation: Reeflo Dart to OM 4-Way to closed loop

 

RO: Spectrapure 60

 

ATO: to be added.

 

Sketch of top view of fish room being built next weekend (can anyone can help with sketch-up):

 

[rocko918]

looks good, you should come over and see my system. I have a 210 with everything plumbed behind the wall.

[ebman74]

I believe I contacted you awhile back about comming over and checking yours out. If the offer is still open I would love to. I am not far.

 

looks good, you should come over and see my system. I have a 210 with everything plumbed behind the wall.

[Origami]

Looks good. I have a couple of observations, though.

 

Make sure that your skimmer is placed so it's serviceable. I notice that you have it back in the corner. I'm sure it's still comfortably reachable, but just wanted to note that.

 

Also, it looks like the skimmer is totally external. You might consider whether or not putting it in some sort of safety tray gives you additional comfort in the event of a skimmer overflow.

 

I like the service drain that you have to support water changes. It looks like it goes to a drain that may be used for venting the hot water heater. Is that correct? Does this drain into your municipal plumbing or does it just vent under the house slab? Personally, I don't know how my builder plumbed this in my house but I have a feeling that it goes to the sub-slab drainage which ultimately heads for my sump. Since I know that my sump pump operates periodically, dumping water into my back yard, I'm somewhat reluctant to dump saltwater under my slab because I figure eventually it will wind up in the soil there.

 

If you anticipate having multiple things in QT at one time, it's better to have multiple smaller tanks rather than one big one.

 

I love that you have a room AC. It's going to pull a lot of humidity from the tank, though, and is going to need to drain it out. Make sure the drain stays open with regular servicing. Otherwise, you'll have water on the floor.

 

Speaking of floors: Wouldn't it be nice, if we were able to plan our fish rooms from the ground up, if we put floor drains in?

 

Other things you might consider are racks for equipment and dry goods, and some sort of table top work bench for inspecting equipment, fragging, etc.

 

By the way, I don't see a frag tank.

 

Oh, and some people like their refugium to gravity drain into their display so pods have an easy trip there (to be eaten later). I don't do this myself, but thought I'd pass it along.

Edited August 22, 2009 by Origami2547

[rocko918]

I believe I contacted you awhile back about comming over and checking yours out. If the offer is still open I would love to. I am not far.

anytime, Shoot me a pm.

[ebman74]

Thank you for the recommendations.

 

The drain can either go to the hot water heater drain like you mentioned or to a sink drain in my ruffed in bathroom. I am not sure where the water heater drain goes, that is a good point. I all ready have a hard enough time keeping my grass growing! I am sure the sink drain goes to the city/county water.

 

I thought about the QT tank thing and am going to get a 20 gal in addition. I figured that I could also use one for fish and another for corals, just in case I ever need to treat the fish with copper.

 

I may have the contractors put a counter with cabinets where the 55 QT is in the picture. I ultimately want a large wash sink installed, however I'm not sure how much room I have for it.

 

The room AC is just an idea. I am definitely installing a large exhaust fan with a Humistat (spl?) I am planning on using a few fans for the light rack and at least one over the sump return blowing down.

 

Also not shown in the picture is a rail system for the light rack to move it out of the way.

 

One question for anyone who has an in-wall:

Did you leave access from the front? I was planning to do everything from the fish room because I like the clean look from the front. If anyone has done this and regrets it let me know before work starts!

 

Rocko, I will PM you about checking your system out. I am off next weekend while they are working on my room.

 

 

Thanks again everyone.

 

 

 

anytime, Shoot me a pm.

[Origami]

Both Dave Lin (Davelin315) and Dave Sun (DaveS) have in-wall systems. They could comment on their systems. I believe that Chip (flowerseller) has a cabinet facade that makes his setup look like a built-in as well. Easy access to the front panel for cleaning is the one thing that I'd be concerned with - especially if it's an acrylic tank. If it's glass, then their are some good metal-bladed magnetic algae scrapers that can help you with this.

 

I think a deep sink is a terrific idea. You'd have that drain we're talking about right there. I wish I had one in my fish room. Instead, I have a bathroom down the hall about 20 feet. Not too bad, but not quite like having a deep sink right there.

[DaveS]

For my previous in wall, it was acrylic and horrible once I started getting into SPS. Cleaning was very difficult, tiresome and destructive to the corals. It was so bad that I was faced with a choice- quit the hobby or redo everything. Guess which one I chose...

 

It is still in progress but you can check out my build thread. All glass, rebuilt wall and room. I left the front wall intact but I built it in such a way that if it's still annoying, I can cut an access panel in the front and install some fancy trim work.

[ebman74]

My aquarium is glass. I love the look of a finished wall on the outside, but with all the closed loop plumbing and overflow plumbing and return plumbing in the back it may be a little hard to work from back there. I figure I can always do like you Dave and cut the access later if I find it too difficult to access from the back. Thanks for all the replys. I will have a build thread when I get far ennough to keep everyone's attention with pretty pictures!

 

 

 

For my previous in wall, it was acrylic and horrible once I started getting into SPS. Cleaning was very difficult, tiresome and destructive to the corals. It was so bad that I was faced with a choice- quit the hobby or redo everything. Guess which one I chose...

 

It is still in progress but you can check out my build thread. All glass, rebuilt wall and room. I left the front wall intact but I built it in such a way that if it's still annoying, I can cut an access panel in the front and install some fancy trim work.

[amay121]

Cut the access now so you won't have to worry about it anymore.

[ebman74]

Hey Guy,

 

How can I make access and keep it clean looking. I don't really want it looking like a cabnet, that's why I'm putting it in the wall.

 

Send pictures of that Orca already!!LOL!! Let me know when I can get it from you. I want to see your 120 also. I hope I am giving all your old stuff a good home!

 

 

 

Cut the access now so you won't have to worry about it anymore.

[amay121]

Sorry I forgot to take the picture before I left. I'm in Cali right now and my aunt just passed away (hence the reason why I'm in Cali). I'll be back this coming week and will get pictures out then.

[Sikryd]

looks good, you should come over and see my system. I have a 210 with everything plumbed behind the wall.

 

 

+1 - I would definetely stop by and check his system out.

 

While I am a fan of inwalls, I am an even bigger fan of a 3 sided viewable tank. It seems like you loose too much viewing if you can only do it from the front.

 

Bob has a VERY NICE, clean looking setup that is definetely worth checking out to get ideas from. Everything from plumbing, to electrical, lighting - including using an actuator to lift and lower the light canopy, to a frag tank - sump - refugium setup.

I have seen a lot of different setups and his is in the Top 10 I have seen that are done right from the bottom up.

It definetely gave me some ideas if I was going to run a bigger tank in my basement..........did I say that?!?!!? Lets just hope I don't take that idea too far.......

 

It definetely looks like you are doing your homework. I'll be following this to see how it is coming along!

 

Its unreal the amount of planning, time, money and effort we put into glass boxes!!!

[flowerseller]

Like Tom mentioned, my set up is now "in wall" with access from the back as well.

I don't have a fish room, I have a "fish house".

 

 

[ebman74]

Nice tank flowerseller!

 

I found a way to access from the front, but still look like just moulding that I like in this link about halfway down the page:

 

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...p;pagenumber=15

 

I also just ordered 2 of these light rails:

 

 

http://www.mcmaster.com/#1223A8

 

 

 

 

Like Tom mentioned, my set up is now "in wall" with access from the back as well.

I don't have a fish room, I have a "fish house".

 

 

[ebman74]

Check page 16 of the first post for a picture of the front open. That whole build is sweet. Plus the light rail is the same as what I ordered.

 

 

 

Nice tank flowerseller!

 

I found a way to access from the front, but still look like just moulding that I like in this link about halfway down the page:

 

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...p;pagenumber=15

 

I also just ordered 2 of these light rails:

 

 

http://www.mcmaster.com/#1223A8

[ebman74]

Here are a couple photos of my sump I just built. Don't laugh at my Silicone job! It is hard to get the panels of the bubble trap that are only one inch from another panel! This is a 90 gallon tank. Maybe! I am trying to attach!

[ebman74]

How am I supposed to attach a photo when it says that the Max. single upload size is 4.97K? I have tried to compress them as small as my software allows and they are still too big! I never thought I'd be "that guy"!!! It says that 55.03K of 60K of attachment space is used? How is that possible, or are you only given that much per whole thread? Please help! I know you all enjoy photos...

[extreme_tooth_decay]

How am I supposed to attach a photo when it says that the Max. single upload size is 4.97K? I have tried to compress them as small as my software allows and they are still too big! I never thought I'd be "that guy"!!! It says that 55.03K of 60K of attachment space is used? How is that possible, or are you only given that much per whole thread? Please help! I know you all enjoy photos...

 

 

That functionality is something that is utterly broken and confusing and has been for years. For the life of me, I don't know they won't remove it (or better yet, fix it). The question you asked gets asked over and over, as it should, because the current design is awful.

 

To post an image, you can host it somewhere else and then link to it from your thread, or you can click the "Gallery" link at the top of the page and find a way to upload it there (which is not obvious). Then you can include it in your thread by clicking the "Insert Gallery Image" button in the editor.

Edited August 25, 2009 by extreme_tooth_decay

[ebman74]

Ok, I will add a link for photobucket. I have never done this before so bare with me.....

 

http://s600.photobucket.com/albums/tt84/ebman74/

[Origami]

How am I supposed to attach a photo when it says that the Max. single upload size is 4.97K? I have tried to compress them as small as my software allows and they are still too big! I never thought I'd be "that guy"!!! It says that 55.03K of 60K of attachment space is used? How is that possible, or are you only given that much per whole thread? Please help! I know you all enjoy photos...

 

We only have around 60K total that can be directly embedded in ALL of your posts. Apparently, you have 55K worth of pictures in this and other threads. Alternatively, you can embed pictures using links to the pictures without limit. That's what we're forced to do for the most part.

 

Some people embed links to other online repositories, like photobucket. By copying the "IMG code" from your photobucket page and pasting them here, you can embed the image in your post. For example, here's your first picture:

 

And here's your second:

 

Alternatively, you can set up a user photo gallery here on WAMAS (use the My Albums link toward the upper right of the page) to store gallery images and link to them using the button in your post editor screen that looks like a picture with a number "2" in the lower right. (If you dwell over it, it will say "Insert Gallery Image." This brings up a window of your gallery images and you just select the one you want to insert in your post.) The gallery images normally have to have a small file size, so I use an XP Power Toy called Image Resizer that's available here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloa...ppowertoys.mspx

[ebman74]

Thank you. Here is a new link with more photos:

 

http://s600.photobucket.com/albums/tt84/ebman74/?newest=1

[ebman74]

Origami,

I was planning on using a window AC. Do you know if they have a drain I can run to my, well, drain? Is it ok that the outside part of the unit is just in another room, not outside a window? Anyone have experience with this?

 

 

I ordered a Humidistat and a fantech exhaust fan already.

[Gatortailale]

Two 250's a one 400 will heat your water a fair bit and I wouldn't trust a window AC unit to chill the tank. Since the AC unit is not venting outside, but in another room it's going to heat the rest of your house up quick. You be better off in my opinion to get a chiller and either exhaust that heat out of your house via fan you mention you are getting; or to make a long run on your plumbing and put a chiller in garage or some room that has exterior vent to get heat out of house.

 

make sure you plug return pump and closed-loop pump in on separate circuits.

[ebman74]

I was hoping I didn't have to buy a chiller!! I think that my basement stays cool enough and I will have fans galore plus an AC vent in the room and the exhaust fan. I thought that a window ac would put me over the top. I see what you are saying about the heat on the outside end of the AC unit. That was basically my question, what cons would this have. I know ultimately I will get a chiller, they are just so expensive, but what isn't in this hobby?!

 

Two 250's a one 400 will heat your water a fair bit and I wouldn't trust a window AC unit to chill the tank. Since the AC unit is not venting outside, but in another room it's going to heat the rest of your house up quick. You be better off in my opinion to get a chiller and either exhaust that heat out of your house via fan you mention you are getting; or to make a long run on your plumbing and put a chiller in garage or some room that has exterior vent to get heat out of house.

 

make sure you plug return pump and closed-loop pump in on separate circuits.