First salt water tank . Feedback appreciated

[ckuhny3]

Hi there everyone! I’m new here! I’m in the middle of building my first saltwater aquarium. I was given a little corner of the basement to turn into my fish room. Which is awesome because before this it was “no way are you keeping fish in this house.” My wife is the daughter of the owner of my LFS. anyways .. I put my dry rock into the tank just to get an idea of what it will look like. Everything you see is temporary/can be changed . The lights are going to be mounted at 18” since they are cheapo black boxes. Is there anything you wish you did before you closed the walls to your fish room ? Thanks in advance for feedback!

 

[MnFish1]

1. It would be interesting to see your plans for 'behind the scenes' - i.e. venting, sinks, etc.
2. I am not sure you should decide where/how to hang your lights 'now' - but rather get a par meter - and use that.
3. Make sure you have enough head-space (its hard to see if your venting is directly over the tank or not?)
4. Assume you're going to have coral?

 

[ckuhny3]

1. It would be interesting to see your plans for 'behind the scenes' - i.e. venting, sinks, etc.
2. I am not sure you should decide where/how to hang your lights 'now' - but rather get a par meter - and use that.
3. Make sure you have enough head-space (its hard to see if your venting is directly over the tank or not?)
4. Assume you're going to have coral?

1. I am planning on a running my cold water line over to the room so that I can mount my RODI unit directly to the source. laundry room sink is on the other of the basement. There is a drain in the floor right behind the tank. Are there other reasons it’s nice to have a utility sink in the fish room other than water supply and a drain ?
2. My lights are the “wills” black boxes from Amazon. BRS did a pretty detailed video about the PAR levels at different heights but I will more than likely end up “renting” one from them to get it all dialed in .
3. The duct work is on the back wall of the fish room so plenty of headspace for me to get up on a ladder and into the top of the tank.
4. I do plan on having corals! I am a total beginner so it will be more than likely a softy tank . I plan on drilling a hole outside and running and air line to my skimmer . Is that worth it? Wife may freak out if she realizes I drilled a hole through the foundation

 

[2Wheelsonly]

1. It would be interesting to see your plans for 'behind the scenes' - i.e. venting, sinks, etc.
2. I am not sure you should decide where/how to hang your lights 'now' - but rather get a par meter - and use that.
3. Make sure you have enough head-space (its hard to see if your venting is directly over the tank or not?)
4. Assume you're going to have coral?

Are you saying he should have vents directly over the tank? My first in-wall build this was the worst thing I ever did...would randomly have odd algae breakouts and even corals deaths for the first 2 years. I finally decided the close off the vent above and all my problems went away. I think having AC blowing directly above the water can introduce crap that gets into the air into the tank, fragrances...household crap that gets into the circulation system etc. My build at my new house specifically has no vents near the tank but instead I have an ERV on the wall next to it.

To the OP: Make sure to build access panels from the front, will be amazed at how difficult cleaning the front near the sand bed is after corals grow out via the rear of a black backed tank.

 

[MnFish1]

Are you saying he should have vents directly over the tank? My first in-wall build this was the worst thing I ever did...would randomly have odd algae breakouts and even corals deaths for the first 2 years. I finally decided the close off the vent above and all my problems went away. I think having AC blowing directly above the water can introduce crap that gets into the air into the tank, fragrances...household crap that gets into the circulation system etc. My build at my new house specifically has no vents near the tank but instead I have an ERV on the wall next to it.

To the OP: Make sure to build access panels from the front, will be amazed at how difficult cleaning the front near the sand bed is after corals grow out via the rear of a black backed tank.

No I wasn't suggesting he should have vents over the tank. But, I am not sure how or why a vent over (near) the tank would cause a problem though (unless there was rust on the vent itself). I have an AC vent just to the right - above my tank.

I was suggesting that to me - there is not a huge amount of space between the top of the tank and the heating vents (the way I'm looking at it).

 

[2Wheelsonly]

No I wasn't suggesting he should have vents over the tank. But, I am not sure how or why a vent over (near) the tank would cause a problem though (unless there was rust on the vent itself). I have an AC vent just to the right - above my tank.

I was suggesting that to me - there is not a huge amount of space between the top of the tank and the heating vents (the way I'm looking at it).

Gotcha, your comment sparked my interest in hopes I clued into why I had issues. My only conclusion was that my wife went bonkers with those silly mist diffusers throughout the house and near the returns.