firecrackerbob May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 Long story short, Ive been in the aquarium hobby pretty much my whole life and have a huge collection of tanks and equipment. My wife and I are getting ready to close on a house in the country where we are currently planning on adding a mudroom and possibly a fish room area. Im pretty early in the process here, but I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with setting up a room? what design features should I include? what advice do the experts have? My general goals: Im planning on setting up my 120 as my main display. the room will probably have at least two other tanks running, probably 2x55s, and a sump. I will probably be using 2x250k MH for the main, and T5s for the other tanks. im planning for the display to be an in-window design with the living room as the viewing area. I would like a sink and floor drain in the room, probably will need seperate electric run with GFCI, and an area for water make-up... what else am I missing!? Any ideas or resources appreciated! THANKS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 Automatic Water Change System! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveS May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 Venting heat and humidity to the outside would be nice if possible. Lots of shelving and storage. Also, since you are expanding the house to have a room dedicated to fish, maybe consider a bigger display tank than 120. At the end of the day, the cost for a larger tank is minor compared to everything else you are doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott711 May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 where are you located? There are plenty of members that have built their tanks into the wall and have fish rooms behind them (myself included). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 Besides the GFCI, I would add Arc Fault breakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantum Aquaria May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 Venting heat and humidity to the outside would be nice if possible. Lots of shelving and storage. Also, since you are expanding the house to have a room dedicated to fish, maybe consider a bigger display tank than 120. At the end of the day, the cost for a larger tank is minor compared to everything else you are doing. +1 on both counts... moisture and humidity are key... if you can put in a larger tank, then it's not much more, but down the road, when you have that 120 in wall tank and want to get a larger tank, it will be a very, very touch upgrade.... plan now and get as large as you can 1) afford and 2) have space for and you'll save yourself some headaches down the road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctenophore May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 Floor drain(s). Make sure they are at the lowest point if the slab has a grade and are countersunk into the slab, and that their plumbing is actually connected to the main drain. Fresh air intake; humidity exhaust. Look at a HRV/ERV. Give yourself 3x the space you think you'll need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Ivers May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 As scott said, go and check out the builds of people around you. I have a 120 set up just like you said (in-wall with the window view) and fish room. Make sure to plan an exhaust fan or window or something in your fish room. It's the one thing I don't have that I kick myself for. Hopefully this summer I can get one set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightline May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 best thing i did was install slop sink..... im neer berryville va u are more than welcome to come c my system any time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firecrackerbob May 21, 2012 Author Share May 21, 2012 Wow, thanks for all the responses so far! Some good points I will have to consider! Please keep them coming! Im in Annapolis right now. I would love to stop by some tanks if anyone is fairly local, and I really appreciate the offers! Some thoughts: Automation- I tend to not automate my tanks, with the exception of ATO. I have seen everything fail at one point or another, and its just not for me. but maybe im missing something? Sink-definitely a must have, I used to do alot of fragging and want to start again. Fans- definitely! any systems in particular anyone would reccomend? Going bigger?!?- Im not really planning on it, but who knows. maybe Im missing something, but if I set everything up reasonably and decide to upgrade later, what is the major difficulty of doing so? Ive read that going over 120 starts to open a major can of worms when it comes to humidity control and electric expenses. is that still acurate? Light tubes- does anyone here use light tubes to funnel in natural sunlight into their tank? Ive read about it, and am considering it as a $ saver for lighting... Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightline May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 (edited) Wow, thanks for all the responses so far! Some good points I will have to consider! Please keep them coming! Im in Annapolis right now. I would love to stop by some tanks if anyone is fairly local, and I really appreciate the offers! Some thoughts: Automation- I tend to not automate my tanks, with the exception of ATO. I have seen everything fail at one point or another, and its just not for me. but maybe im missing something? Sink-definitely a must have, I used to do alot of fragging and want to start again. Fans- definitely! any systems in particular anyone would reccomend? Going bigger?!?- Im not really planning on it, but who knows. maybe Im missing something, but if I set everything up reasonably and decide to upgrade later, what is the major difficulty of doing so? Ive read that going over 120 starts to open a major can of worms when it comes to humidity control and electric expenses. is that still acurate? Light tubes- does anyone here use light tubes to funnel in natural sunlight into their tank? Ive read about it, and am considering it as a $ saver for lighting... Thanks! often wonderd about light tubes--but im OLD school and was told natural sun grew too much alge to never put a tank by a window ....lmao so i did some checking http://www.homeimprovementpages.com.au/article/light_up_your_aquarium_with_skylights Edited May 21, 2012 by tightline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 automatic water change isn't "automated" per say. I see it as, a big jug in the back room, lets say 25g for an example. but instead of a normal pita water change; in this scenario, you turn 1 valve and 25g drains out of the tank. then you turn another valve and 25g of new saltwater enters the system. then you are done. so 2 quick easy valve turns for a water change. then the jug refills with new ro/di water for the next water change. i wish i could change water that fast and easy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S May 21, 2012 Share May 21, 2012 another thing - an algae scrubber might be a real nice addition in the fish room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taiscici May 22, 2012 Share May 22, 2012 I would go with LED instead of MH to save electricity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbh May 22, 2012 Share May 22, 2012 +1 on LEDs. Good output but sips energy and significantly cooler in terms of heat output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firecrackerbob May 22, 2012 Author Share May 22, 2012 Ahh-water changing- yes, that is a good idea! I have a empty 55 that I use now and do something similar manually, but adding some dedicated plumbing might be helpfull. LEDs-ehhh... how should I say this? ... Im not a fan. ive seen them many times, and really havent been impressed. Thanks for the suggestion though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddR May 22, 2012 Share May 22, 2012 Use a large, 1 sone bathroom exhaust fan over your tank. I have a 125 built into the wall in my basement and this keeps the humidity at bay. The 1 sone model is very quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firecrackerbob May 22, 2012 Author Share May 22, 2012 Fan- thanks! Solar tubes- if anyone else ins interested, im doing some reading on this now. found some links: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1561945 http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1980668 Im pretty stoked about this route... gonna hve to keep reading though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marinap May 22, 2012 Share May 22, 2012 F Look at a HRV/ERV. Do you have one of these installed? If so, how do you like it? I imagine ERV is more usefull in our climate zone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taiscici May 22, 2012 Share May 22, 2012 Ahh-water changing- yes, that is a good idea! I have a empty 55 that I use now and do something similar manually, but adding some dedicated plumbing might be helpfull. LEDs-ehhh... how should I say this? ... Im not a fan. ive seen them many times, and really havent been impressed. Thanks for the suggestion though! Maybe you haven't seen high power LED. 1 single chip LED 200w, that"s equal to 400w mh bulb and it comes in any color you want 6k, 10k, 14k, 20k even hybrid (half white and half blue). Also put it on a controller and you can program it to sunrise and sunset effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firecrackerbob May 23, 2012 Author Share May 23, 2012 Taiscici- thanks for the reply. I have indeed seen dozens of LED tanks, and in a nut shell I have no desire to swith as of right now. every time I see a tank where things look "off" and I find out what the lights are, its always LED. it looks fake to me, kind of candy coated, for lack of a better description. dont get me wrong, I think they have their application for nano-tanks, but for larger size(over 55), I would never go that route. at least not until they look normal to me... If you troll the forum for a while you will find there is a small minority of people here who are very opposed to LED. may have tried them then swithced back to T5 or MH. for me there is two great resons not to go that route- 1) They look crappy in my opionion, and 2)if you really do a cost analysis, they are way more expensive. in the end though, its a matter of taste, and I always respect others preferences, but they arent mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S May 23, 2012 Share May 23, 2012 bob - a nice UV should go in the fish room! i just mentioned in another thread how having a nice UV in the fish room, with a pump, gate valve, and flow meter, would be super sweet. so that's something you should totally consider too! (PS: leds are way cheaper than T5s or MHs over time :P ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 May 23, 2012 Share May 23, 2012 Goodluck. I had led's over my biocube, and while they were "ok" I am going T5 on my new larger tank. I agree on a larger tank T5 or Halide is just much easier. Don't want to turn this into a lighting battle. While they all work stick with what you like. As far as the fish room goes I would raise your sump up off the ground. This way you can get a siphon going when doing a waterchange/vacumming the sump. Also, the headpressure won't be as much for your return pump (more bang for watt)... Keep it clean and simple with everything accessible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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