Advice for reef tank in garage

ycnibrc

ycnibrc

STAG HORN DOMINATE REEF
Well my son is finishing 8th grade and to provide the best possible high school for him we decide to move to Northwood, Irvine ca. The bad new is I have to take down my 265g reef tank in HB :thumbdown. However, the good new is my wife want to build an in wall 310g reef tank....lol...:dance:

The tank will be in the garage and front and left side will face living room and kitchen. My old tank is a Lee mar 84"x30"x24" starphire but this time I will go with advance acrylic 84"x36"x24" peninsular style so I can view from the garage also. My concern is the temperature in the garage, also dust and other pollution. Of course there will be chiller and heater to control the temperature but I don't want it to turn on all day. I will insulate the whole garage before set up the fish tank.
So my question is airflow,temperature,humidity, dust, ect also my laundry room is in the garage. Should I be concern and cover the top of the tank and sump(rather not) or it will be ok since we pay million to live in southern California.........

Thanks
Anthony

PS as soon as I place the order for the tank, a build will follow and I will post update and progress this time, I promise....lol:rollface:
 
ycnibrc said:
Well my son is finishing 8th grade and to provide the best possible high school for him we decide to move to Northwood, Irvine ca. The bad new is I have to take down my 265g reef tank in HB :thumbdown. However, the good new is my wife want to build an in wall 310g reef tank....lol...:dance:

The tank will be in the garage and front and left side will face living room and kitchen. My old tank is a Lee mar 84"x30"x24" starphire but this time I will go with advance acrylic 84"x36"x24" peninsular style so I can view from the garage also. My concern is the temperature in the garage, also dust and other pollution. Of course there will be chiller and heater to control the temperature but I don't want it to turn on all day. I will insulate the whole garage before set up the fish tank.
So my question is airflow,temperature,humidity, dust, ect also my laundry room is in the garage. Should I be concern and cover the top of the tank and sump(rather not) or it will be ok since we pay million to live in southern California.........

Thanks
Anthony

PS as soon as I place the order for the tank, a build will follow and I will post update and progress this time, I promise....lol:rollface:
Click to expand...

I know that a lot of people do this, but have always wondered about building codes with respect to the fire rating of walls/doors that separate garages from living spaces https://www.nachi.org/attached-garage-fire-hazards.htm?loadbetadesign=0. It might be worthwhile talking with a building inspector before you start to make sure that it is up to code from the beginning to avoid headaches down the road...
 
Hmmm...never thought of that....there is a wall separate the living room and the garage and I only need to cut the drywall so I can see the tank from the living room. Im not removing any wall or structure.
 
m0nkie said:
I think humidity will be an issue in garage..

I just bought a ceiling fan for humidity control. it will be on 24/7
https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-FV...347&sr=8-1&keywords=panasonic+whisper+fan+290

Also got a Daikin split AC. the Daikin Quaternity split AC has built in humidity control too.
Click to expand...

Yes I think so too since my old tank is in the sun room and I have to leave the window open 24/7 to prevent humidity build up. I might have to install exhaust fan on the roof on top of the garage to suck the air out. How ever since the fish tank is in there I will be in there more therefore the door probably be open most of the day so probably it will be ok.
 
big difference if you leave the livingroom door open. I have about 200gal QT and 200gal turtle tank in the garage. noticeable humidity compared to livingroom. With the doors open it's much better.
 
I had a 30g frag tank in the garage and in the winter when the heaters were on a lot, I got a lot of humidity causing a lot of my tools to rust. Be prepared to have anything metal in the garage rust.
 
I had 3 stacked 60 gallon tanks in the garage when I was in Irvine and never noticed humidity at all. I did have 1" thick Styrofoam panels to enclose it in the winter so the heaters were not running constantly. Heat was never much of a problem. A small fan on my aquacontroler was plenty to keep them cool.
A lot depends on how you garage faces. My garage in anaheim stays much warmer in winter and also gets very hot in late afternoon in the summer. The same fan runs constantly on a tank less than a third the size(50g) now.
 
thanks for the advice actually I'm planning to convert the garage to a home theater and the fish tank will sit in the left corner and the front side and the left side will be visible to the living room and kitchen. It will be a peninsula style so the external over flow will be on the right side and the back will be visible from the garage side. I'm not concern about the humidity but the temperature is. I don't know if I insulate the whole garage with safe and sound and put a ceiling on top also insulate the garage door will be good enough to keep the temperature like inside the house.
 
here are the pictures of the spot
 

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FYI Most of Irvine has strick CC&Rs that would prohibit you from doing that. Depending on the HOA, they can be real nasty about that sort of stuff. I know most CC&Rs state the garage is to be used for parking cars, not storage, or living area. In my area the HOA did not make that big a deal about cars being in the garage. I know they would have if they knew I had a home theater and was not parking in the garage. I know of HOAs that will tow if left outside past 10: or 11:. I had my truck towed while visiting a friend when I forgot to leave before the cut off. It really ****ed me off to come out 15 minutes late and find my truck gone!!! Just saying to be careful and find out what is acceptable before you have to undo it all.
 
I'm lucky this house has no HOA. So I don't think it will be a problem insulate the garage and make it a theater room. As far as parking I can still park in front of my drive way not on the street.
 
well as far as the tank, at first I was thinking of peninsula style with external over flow on the right side but now I think black back external over flow. The reason is because the front tank will be facing the living room and I don't want to see through the tank and see my garage. Since I never have an in wall tank before should I go with black or blue back? I look at a lot of in wall tank pictures on line and notice that since you only see the tank on the wall the depth deception is different than a regular tank on the stand.

2 choices 84"x36"x24" 315g or 84"x36"x30" 380g the price different is not much, however cleaning is tougher with 30" tall. I have a 84"x30"x24" 265g right now so I want to try 30" tall tank to give my fish more room to roam around.

I appreciate all input and advice from all of you. This reef forum is awesome since you have so many experts giving you advice to keep your tank selection and build go smoothly without making a big mistake.
 
You could get a clear back and then get a thin piece of both black and blue acrylic to cover the back pane and see which one you like better. With blue, you'll notice the algae much more than with black.
 
you are right, always bet on black.....should I enclose the tank area in the garage and deal with only that space regarding humidity,temperature dust...ect. I'm thinking about insulate the whole garage to keep the temp stable and install some exhaust fan to deal with humidity and temperature
 
My tank is 32" deep and 43" tall. Make sure u have long grippers. And yes, reaching things can be a pain sometimes, but imo worth every bit of it.
 
wow 43" tall you must have plastic man arm. I just want a little different view with the new tank since my old tank is 24" tall
 
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