Don't build a fish room without this! What else would you add?

[Blknovass]

I didnt understand at first. I do not have a dedicated room for looking at fish. Well actually I sort of do. The fish room is where all the stuff I use to maintain my tanks and run them lives. There is nothing under my tanks but pump controllers and an occasional cat.
All that stuff I posted above makes these work. This is my basement.

Ok so ur saying ur “fish room” is basically where ur sump qt tank and all of the things we need to maintain our systems. Ok thank you this makes total sense and yea that would be nice to have a place where I am not crammed into to do maintenance.

 

[Stevel]

My whole house is a fish room...lol my girlfriend thinks I’m crazy but people give me their tanks and I enjoy setting them up with different fish and landscapes

 

[WVNed]

Ok so ur saying ur “fish room” is basically where ur sump qt tank and all of the things we need to maintain our systems. Ok thank you this makes total sense and yea that would be nice to have a place where I am not crammed into to do maintenance.

Yes, that is what a fish room is. Somewhere to keep all the weird stuff we collect and wash all the stinky stuff off.
I have done this a long time. We moved last year and I considered this a real luxury that was an important point in finding a new house. No more water change stuff in the kitchen and dumping buckets somewhere.

 

[wranodj]

Utility sink and RO/DI, weekly water change no problem. Everything behind wall, including lights.

 

[Erick375]

I had always wanted an in-wall tank, so the fish room for the sump was crucial. Early picture below as it was getting stood up. A dedicated sink and having an electrician come in an make sure you have sufficient power is crucial. I don't have a floor drain but don't feel I'm missing anything.
One thing I'd do different, the sump does NOT need to be below the tank. Instead of bending over and leaning in, I'd build it to the side and a bit higher for ease of access. In the sump I have 7 pumps for carbon, gfo, sterilizer, external protein skimmer, 2 returns, and a water chiller. With piping for all of those its a mess to get into and out of (bc I designed it after the build, not before; so there is no hard tubing but flexible tubing jammed everywhere with electrical cords and water-level sensors for three of the pumps, so what is that 10 cords into the sump, 13 tubes either running into or out of the sump. My fault, but plan ahead.
Dedicated fish room is also really helpful for quarantining.

 

[Erick375]

Utility sink and RO/DI, weekly water change no problem. Everything behind wall, including lights.

that looks much like mine, your picture is much better. Love having the lights hidden, forgot to mention in my post.

 

[emvanburen]

As Erick said, having things at a comfortable height with stands is really nice. Additionally, good lighting. I installed a bunch of recessed leds and it looks much nicer and friendlier. And how about RO on demand?

 

[UCF Alum]

One of these so I can go back and not do stupid things that I thought were a good idea at the time.
Like adding pulsing Xenia.

 

[emvanburen]

One of these so I can go back and not do stupid things that I thought were a good idea at the time.
Like adding pulsing Xenia.

Love it. Or GSP!

 

[79chopperdr]

I love my battle station, I’d add a sink if I had the room. Sound on

 

[gcrawford]

Would have made my years in reefing much easier. I have stuff everywhere in the house and can rarely find what I'm looking for. I'd probably still have a large tank today if I could have managed to have a dedicated reef room with all my supplies, water prep, rinse sink, etc.

 

[RIC13]

I am about to start construction on mine in the basement. Going to have a sink with hot and cold but no floor drain. It will be concrete cause that is what is there now. Do I need a floor drain? The sump will be DIY and have a large fuge and frag tank. QT will be setup on a different system and a mixing station. I also hope to have room for a desk to do testing and microscope exploring. I love finding all the little critters in the tank.

Install the floor drain if you can. I have one and don’t regret it.

 

[Auquanut]

I have 5 tanks in my man cave/family room. Of course I also have a TV, Foosball table, dart board, bar and beer fridge in the same area. Needless to say, that's where we spend all of our time. All of this is located in a walkout basement with cement floor. So it's not necessarily a fish room, but there IS a lot of fish.

 

[Scott (Mack) McIntosh]

I can't even dream of a fish room. Bought a tiny house on a slab, so that we could get the land and river frontage. For 35 years we would come home with our pay checks and pay our bills and then see what we had left. I'd say to my wife, what this time, buy 2x4s maybe some romex wire. Swung a hammer for years to add on to our house. Tight times but still kept my salt tank going. Had to cover it with viscreen tarp while we worked, many times. But my tank still lives and was and is my escape. No : tank room: tank lives with two parrots, African grey and a double yellow head amazon. It will remain that way as a tank room is not in the plans. Mix my salt in closest bathroom and use pumps and hoses for water change. RO/DI is in the furnace room, move water by buckets. But we are water people, boat, swim, throw toys for the dogs. teach them how to swim under water, Summer time fun that we live for. The salt tank lives on....45 years of salt and learning how to. No fish room, but I see the wonder of marine life every day and am learning more about it with REEF2REEF. Now I am learning how to navigate this great site. Thanks REEF2REEF. Mack

 

[Scott (Mack) McIntosh]

Just wish I had more time for this Site.

 

[Saltsince89]

So my first fish room has been GREAT! It makes maintaining a reef aquarium so much easier. I realize that a fish room is not an option for everyone but if you were like me you always dreamed about having one. Since having a dedicated fish room I've grown accustom to utilizing some simple but effective tools that would be hard to live without now.

What's your favorite part about having a dedicated fish room including the tools you utilize the most?

If you don't have a dedicated fish do you have plans to have one in the future and why do you want one?

For me it's a simple addition. Most people add a mop sink which I did but I also incorporated a faucet, hose and sprayer. We all know how hard it is to get certain pieces of equipment under the flow of water to get it nice and clean so the hose and sprayer make this easy. You might say that a built in sink sprayer would do the job but with the hose I get a really strong spray that will remove even the toughest skimmer scum! Also I can stretch the hose to anywhere in the room, clean the sump etc.. It something you should have!

I have a dedicated fish room in basement that services 2 main floor salt tanks (180 quarter cylinder reef and 90 FOWLR) and am planning on adding third tank in basement wall - 175 bowfront.
In my current fish room I have:
Deep Utility Sink with hot and cold water
Floor drain
Concrete floor
Lots of shelving for unused equip and supplies
RODI with 1 55 gallon wastewater catchment that over flows to sink drain
55 gal saltmix barrel
35 gal RODI fresh barrel
25 gal separate fresh barrel for my Cichlid tank
Future plans:
Finish plumbing Central sump with return to main floor tanks.
RODI catchment increased to 250 gallons, so I can use RODI wastewater to fill toilet tanks and possibly Washing machine. I hate running it down the drain.

During summer months I mix skimmate and water change wastewater with RODI wastewater and put it on yard and trees

 

[bigcheese]

Perfect timing, Rev!
I caught this thread on a break while framing mine in. Lots of great stuff in here...

 

[sghera64]

135G located in basement near sump pump. Front side is “my office” (first pic). The other side of the wall is the fish room (second pic). I like having lots of room for a ceiling mounted RODI station that gravity feeds the wet-lab bench and saltwater mixing drum (on wheels). Plenty-o-room for tearing things apart on the cement floor that drains to the sump (although water never makes it there). It has a micro and macro algae growing station and frag tanks. Plenty of light for the room, lab bench, shelving of chemicals/parts/supplies.

 

[Lostreefin]

I have a portion of my garage converted into a fish room. The tank is on the other side of the block wall and what I can't fit in the aquarium stand I have here. My car and my shop share the garage with the water change station, equipment, and maybe a frag tank in the future.

 

[sghera64]

I have a dedicated fish room in basement that services 2 main floor salt tanks (180 quarter cylinder reef and 90 FOWLR) and am planning on adding third tank in basement wall - 175 bowfront.
In my current fish room I have:
Deep Utility Sink with hot and cold water
Floor drain
Concrete floor
Lots of shelving for unused equip and supplies
RODI with 1 55 gallon wastewater catchment that over flows to sink drain
55 gal saltmix barrel
35 gal RODI fresh barrel
25 gal separate fresh barrel for my Cichlid tank
Future plans:
Finish plumbing Central sump with return to main floor tanks.
RODI catchment increased to 250 gallons, so I can use RODI wastewater to fill toilet tanks and possibly Washing machine. I hate running it down the drain.

During summer months I mix skimmate and water change wastewater with RODI wastewater and put it on yard and trees

Such an eco-friendly reefer - - love it!

What about solar panels to power the LED lights? Just a thought.