I’m getting a fish room!

[SeaJay]

I ended up with a 'fish closet'...

No place to put a fish room, but I'm done working on my hands and knees under a tank. The closet is a bit tight, but it holds what it needs to, and I can CLOSE THE DOOR when I don't want people looking at it.

I know, the electrical looks like a mess, but it's really not. Everything in it's place, easy access, I'm quite happy with it

Yep, anything is better than having all your utility in the middle of the living room.

A closet is just a small room. I think you can call that a fish room.

 

[chowberg]

Looks great! I always wanted a fish/aquarium room. Unfortunately how my house is configured I'm not even able to plumb the sump into the garage.

Are you able to run water/drain to this part of the house? If I had the opportunity, I would look into trying to be able to do majority of maintenance in the fish room. Have you looked into automatic water changers like the Genesis Renew?

 

[Bob Lauson]

No offense to the awesome woman aquarists out there but I call my sump room in the basement “The Real Mancave”. I put the controller outside of the room itself to avoid and humidity damaging the controller. Behind the camera in the sump room is a bank of shelves and storage..

 

[SeaJay]

Looks great! I always wanted a fish/aquarium room. Unfortunately how my house is configured I'm not even able to plumb the sump into the garage.

Are you able to run water/drain to this part of the house? If I had the opportunity, I would look into trying to be able to do majority of maintenance in the fish room. Have you looked into automatic water changers like the Genesis Renew?

Yes. I chose the spot because of its proximity to the DT above and the ability to plumb both water for the RODI and drain to the basement sewage sump pit. There’s about an 18” void behind a wall adjacent to this room that allows for easy access to all utilities.

 

[SeaJay]

Almost ready to start putting it together

 

[SeaJay]

At the other end of that void is the utility closet that houses the water heater, basement sump pit and currently my RODI. It couldn't be easier to run the supply and waste lines. Once I do, I'll move the RODI to the fish room as well. Right now I'm just dragging my feet on the worst job in human history, drywall finishing. Almost done though. Gonna paint it really well with exterior pain and I'm considering putting down a rubber floor.

 

[SeaJay]

If I had the opportunity, I would look into trying to be able to do majority of maintenance in the fish room. Have you looked into automatic water changers like the Genesis Renew?

I've had an Auto Aqua ATO/AWC system laying new in the box for about a year now. Once I decided to do the fishroom, I figured it didn't make sense to add anything else upstairs, so I've been waiting. I also ended up deciding on the Icecap 36XL sump instead of the Trigger. It has a passive flow refugium and a 12 or 14 gal ATO reservoir built in. I plan to T off the drain to feed the refugium so that I can control exactly how much flow I get through it. It's a larger, square footprint which wouldn't work in an under the display stand situation, but will be great for the basement room. I will definitely have top off and water changes automated. One way or another.

 

[SeaJay]

After tweaking the framing to square up with some other existing walls and hanging the wallboard, it ended up being 11'8"x6'11' interior dimensions.

 

[SeaJay]

Finally got the drywall done. Going to hang some lights, epoxy the floors and start putting in shelves. I should have equipment in and start plumbing by this weekend.

 

[SeaJay]

Got the drywall primed, door hung, baseboards down, all caulked up tight and completely painted with exterior paint, and 2 - 4ft led lights installed. All I have left to do is epoxy the floor and I can start installing this load of goodies that just arrived. The new sump is the last piece and it’s arriving tomorrow.

I’m not a very excitable kind of guy, but I’m stoked on this project.

 

[SeaJay]

Epoxy is down. And this arrived today...

 

[TDEcoral]

Looks great! Just curious, is there a particular reason that you did the epoxy last rather than doing the baseboard and door jamb after the epoxy?

 

[SeaJay]

Looks great! Just curious, is there a particular reason that you did the epoxy last rather than doing the baseboard and door jamb after the epoxy?

Maybe poor planning. Is that a good reason??

I Feel like I had a reason at the time, but now I don’t remember what it was...

I intended all along to caulk it water tight around the bottom, so I knew I was going to seal it and then paint the baseboards again regardless.

It’s all overkill anyway. It’s a freaking
Fish room that looks like an operating room.

 

[TDEcoral]

Haha overkill or not, I'm definitely jealous. Wish I was able to have a room like that.

 

[SeaJay]

Still working on it when I can between work and all the other projects I’ve got going on. Sump will be moved in to start plumbing tomorrow.

 

[SeaJay]

Yesterday was supposed to be plumbing day, but I had a flu or something hit me hard Saturday night. This was the best I could do. Got most everything organized and laid out so I can start plumbing when I feel better. My old mix station was side by side, now it’s going to be stacked, so I have to reconfigure all that too. I’ve got a lot of plumbing to do.

Must be that coronavirus...

 

[SeaJay]

Ended up being sick for 3-4 weeks. It was a rough one, then I got sucked into a bunch of other projects since the weather has been so nice. So I’m just now getting this thing plumbed up. Got my mix station up and running again. Hope to run the sump upstairs this weekend.

 

[Peace River]

I hope that you are feeling better. Lot of great work here! The floor, walls, water containers, and shelving all look really clean and neat - great job!

 

[SeaJay]

I hope that you are feeling better. Lot of great work here! The floor, walls, water containers, and shelving all look really clean and neat - great job!

Thanks. I’ve been taking my time trying to make sure that every aspect of it makes maintenance as efficient and painless as possible. I won’t ever have to carry a bucket or run a hose again barring any emergency. I can flip valves to mix water, top off, water change, etc. Best of all, I Don’t have to worry about getting the floor wet!

 

[SeaJay]

Pump test run done. Time to get this thing done.