So I'm Building Stuff Again. 150g Plus Fish Room.

CodyBot · Dec 2, 2018

So I started this project in January of this year. It's been a long build that has greatly been interrupted by time constraints and life, which is the nature of things. The inspiration for the build started years ago seeing what d2mini had at his old house and saying to myself that I want that in my life. The build is still in progress, but I figured I'd start a thread here just to put it out into the world. I had been documenting the progress on the local forum here in Houston (MARSH, not sure if I can reference that here, please moderate if I'm not supposed to mention it) but I figured I'd give y'all the pics and quick comments too.

I guess every story starts at the beginning.

Clean slate for a 6'x8' fish room. The other side of the wall on the right is prime real estate in the living room for a display.

Framed out the room on the roof because it's easier to hit studs that way. Or some other reason. I can't remember now, but that's what I did.

Plumb bobs are OP pls nerf

CodyBot · Dec 2, 2018

I can't find the pics for the drilling of the slab that had to happen to anchor the base boards, but it was there. I originally used the nail/bullet device and it was garbage. I had to pull a hammer drill out and sink those anchors properly.

Filling in the frame. A local guy named reeftopia, which has a couple thousand gallons of saltwater at his home, referred to my fish room as a nice ladder closet at this point. Everything is bigger in Texas, I suppose. Jerk.

Room framed, mother suckas.

SPR1968 · Dec 2, 2018

This sounds like a great build

Welcome to R2R as well!

CodyBot · Dec 2, 2018

SPR1968 said:
This sounds like a great build

Welcome to R2R as well!

Thanks! I have been in the hobby for a while, just never really posted much. I think I'll keep posting pictures and comments up to help document what I did for future folks, but I'm not usre at which rate to post it all. I have basically a years worth of building to post up. Maybe a weekend episode of a dozen pics? What do you think?

SPR1968 · Dec 2, 2018

Cody1 said:
Thanks! I have been in the hobby for a while, just never really posted much. I think I'll keep posting pictures and comments up to help document what I did for future folks, but I'm not usre at which rate to post it all. I have basically a years worth of building to post up. Maybe a weekend episode of a dozen pics? What do you think?

Just keep teasing us with pictures every so often or dump the lot on we don’t mind. But enjoy what you’ve done and are doing.

CodyBot · Dec 2, 2018

Dry wall is a learning lesson. Putting it up is no big deal. I still have nightmares about joint compound, but that's another story. We will get to that. The purple stuff is meant to handle moisture and mildew better. Better throttle up on that stuff.

Left a little bigger gap on the bottom than I wanted, but that's because my home and slab, come to find out, are about are square as a circle.

CodyBot · Dec 2, 2018

Looks like I got a little out of order. Before the drywall hit, I had two dedicated 20amp breakers installed and ran directly to the room. Had the breakers installed somewhat cheap because I did all the leg work (or rather belly work) in the attic and ran the wires. The electrician just had to plug in the wires on the box.

Outlet 1

Outlet 2

Put in a recessed light for the room.

I originally donned this light Helcar, the light of the north, considering that I live on the north side of Houston, but there are very few Silmarillion fans these days, so it's just the light in my fish room haha

joseserrano · Dec 2, 2018

Looking good

CodyBot · Dec 2, 2018

joseserrano said:
Looking good

Thanks, bud.

NY_Caveman · Dec 2, 2018

Cody1 said:
Looks like I got a little out of order. Before the drywall hit, I had two dedicated 20amp breakers installed and ran directly to the room. Had the breakers installed somewhat cheap because I did all the leg work (or rather belly work) in the attic and ran the wires. The electrician just had to plug in the wires on the box.

Outlet 1

Outlet 2

Put in a recessed light for the room.

I originally donned this light Helcar, the light of the north, considering that I live on the north side of Houston, but there are very few Silmarillion fans these days, so it's just the light in my fish room haha

Well, if you had two lights you could have done Telperion and Laurelin. Some of us still read and that is one of my favorites.

The room pictorial is great!

CodyBot · Dec 2, 2018

NY_Caveman said:
Well, if you had two lights you could have done Telperion and Laurelin. Some of us still read and that is one of my favorites.

The room pictorial is great!

Thanks! One light was enough to cover the room well enough. I ran a dedicated switch in the room for that light.

dantimdad · Dec 2, 2018

Following.

Good work!

CodyBot · Dec 2, 2018

Outside drywall complete. Went up super easy. Just hang your sheet, score the edge where it hangs over, and snap it. No need to precut.

Time to insulate the room before the internal sheet rock gets hung. I went with the pink panther stuff and the room is extremely resilient to outside temperatures

CodyBot · Dec 4, 2018

Internal drywall hung. It's a little more difficult on the inside because you have to plan and measure, but nothing that a little time and effort can't fix.

My brother stole my sawsall so I borrow one from a friend real quick and cut out the base board that was blocking the fish room. Starting to look more like a room now.

CodyBot · Dec 4, 2018

If the devil had a name then it would be drywall. I'm not good at this stuff, so it took more time than it should have. I had to build the compound up higher than needed and sand it down. I read online that you shouldn't use a palm sander because they're too rough. That was a complete lie. Get a cheap sander and go to town on the compound

NY_Caveman · Dec 4, 2018

Cody1 said:
If the devil had a name then it would be drywall. I'm not good at this stuff, so it took more time than it should have. I had to build the compound up higher than needed and sand it down. I read online that you shouldn't use a palm sander because they're too rough. That was a complete lie. Get a cheap sander and go to town on the compound

It is really starting to look like a fish room.

dantimdad · Dec 4, 2018

Cody1 said:
If the devil had a name then it would be drywall. I'm not good at this stuff, so it took more time than it should have. I had to build the compound up higher than needed and sand it down. I read online that you shouldn't use a palm sander because they're too rough. That was a complete lie. Get a cheap sander and go to town on the compound

Yes, there is a reason red devil used to sell taping knives an supplies.

I have done drywall for decades and never lost my loathing for it.

I have used powered sanders and hand sanders alike. No, they are not too rough but, it will kill a sander if you don't do maintenance on it. I use a random orbital sander hooked to a shop vac and clean it after every use.

Good work, BTW.

Also, no matter what the manufacturer says, blue board is not necessary. Once you cut it or put a screw in it, the moisture barrier is compromised. I have done renos where they used it in the same room as regular drywall and they were both equally humidity damaged. So, I never buy it unless code calls for it. Luckily, where I live, the only code for drywall is screw spacing and you have to breech an outside wall or move a load bearing wall before you even get inspected.

CodyBot · Dec 4, 2018

dantimdad said:
Yes, there is a reason red devil used to sell taping knives an supplies.

I have done drywall for decades and never lost my loathing for it.

I have used powered sanders and hand sanders alike. No, they are not too rough but, it will kill a sander if you don't do maintenance on it. I use a random orbital sander hooked to a shop vac and clean it after every use.

Good work, BTW.

Also, no matter what the manufacturer says, blue board is not necessary. Once you cut it or put a screw in it, the moisture barrier is compromised. I have done renos where they used it in the same room as regular drywall and they were both equally humidity damaged. So, I never buy it unless code calls for it. Luckily, where I live, the only code for drywall is screw spacing and you have to breech an outside wall or move a load bearing wall before you even get inspected.

Considering my way of doing it, which adds more sanding than a skilled person would need, I was doing it by hand and it was taking forever. I spent $30 on a palm sander and treated it like it was disposable. Even if it would have ruined it, which it didn't, the $30 was well spent for working ten times as fast, plus saving my shoulder from being sore haha!

I get what you're saying about the type of dry wall too. To be up honest, a friend with a pickup truck beat me to the store and started loading that stuff up without even noticing that it was the moisture resistant kind. We accidentally got it. I didn't find out until later why it was purple haha