Advice on rooms for 180 gallon setup

[deweyhowell]

Now that my wife and I have moved back to Seattle, I can begin my new tank set up. I've had a couple of tanks in the past, but this will be my largest and most complex setup.

Here's what I am planning

1. Standard 180 gal display tank with live sand and live rock from Richard at TBS. Mostly peaceful fish stocking list with softies and LPS. I generally like smaller fish with lots of rock work, but still with an interesting aquascape (not just a rock wall)
2. 75+ gal sump in the stand with plenty of room for skimmer, reactors and other gadgets as needed
3. 55+ gal refugium - although not sure if I should really call it a refugium... I plan to plumb it into the same system and maintain it as a nice display tank in its own right - with macro algae, and "pest" corals and critters that I like, but want to avoid in my main display.

I need to prep the room(s) for the setup a bit.

Here is a pic of the display tank wall. I plan to remove the carpet and put some "water-friendly" flooring in place instead. I also may need to do some leveling as there is a decent slope to the room.




On the other side of the display tank wall is the future fish room.



This one has good flooring and is currently an extra storage room that will house the refugium, storage tanks, QT tanks and other supplies. I will open the wall between the rooms for plumbing to the display/sump. I plan to plumb a sink/drain for a RO/DI unit and systems for automatic water changes and automatic topoff.

Any advice? Anything more I should be thinking about in planning the location and prepping the rooms?

Thanks!
Dewey

 

[wild1]

Ever consider an in-wall tank, with everything else on the white room side. That way you can keep the rug, not have to refloor?

 

[deweyhowell]

Yes, I thought about it, but there is a large support post on that wall (you can see it in the fish room pic) that would be right in the middle of the location for the display, so I don't think it would work. Also, I like to view from the ends of the tank as well and will be doing most of the viewing from the display tank room.

I am hoping to just tile the room about 4 ft from the wall, giving a 2 ft perimeter around the tank. The rest of the room will keep the carpet.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Well, obviously this involves some extra expense, but a contractor could easily open the wall, install a para-lam header and remove the support column if you really like the idea of an in-wall display.

As for advice, I'd strongly encourage you to hire and electrician and have him/her move the existing outlet to the side where you can easily access it and it's protected from salt spray/humidity, and install a separate, ideally dedicated circuit or two. It should cost less than $400 to add a couple of dedicated circuits, and it's far cheaper and easier to install a little bit of extra capacity for your future fish room while it's at this stage than after everything's installed.

As far as the flooring under the tank, I'd strongly recommend pulling up the sub-floor and replacing it with hard board (designed for going into wet areas under tile, such as bathrooms). You can easily do this yourself if you're handy.

Also consider installing additional ventilation for your fishroom to deal with excess humidity - either additional HVAC supplies & returns, or ideally, a separate split system. A separate ductless split system would help tremendously in managing humidity, and if your fish room's going to be enclosed, will let you heat it to considerably warmer than the rest of your house so you use less direct electrical heating in the tank water.

One final house modification you might consider is plumbing - adding a pressurized tap for easy RODI hook-up. Adding a small sink with a drain or even the sink w/ drain and an additional floor drain would be, in my opinion, very much worth it. The baseboard around the fish room can then be sealed with caulk, and in the event of a calamitous leak, you only have the livestock to deal with, not $$$ in house damage.

With respect to the tank, search RC with respect to large Marineland tanks. There've been quite a number of reported failures of these tanks, which might cause you to consider going with something a bit better built. One example might be CADlight's 150g euro-braced tank, which can be purchased for a just a few hundred more than a Marineland. They also apparently welcome custom work. I've got their 50g cube, and while I can't recommend their equipment (return pumps, skimmers, etc...), their tanks are first-rate.

Edit: One other thought - you might want to contact Dennis (d2mini) about lessons-learned. He has a very similar set-up to what you're contemplating in that his tank is placed in the living area, with a dedicated fish room behind the wall.

 

[Silvergryphon]

Another option is there are a few tank builders in the area that make really good tanks as well. Clear Fabrications, Inc does great acrylic tanks, and if you hit up Oceans by Design in Tukwilla they usually have a locally made tank up for sale as well.

 

[deweyhowell]

Thanks for the great suggestions. I will discuss the electricity with my contractor and also think about the humidity issues. I definitely planning for a sink and H20 setup for ease of working with an RO/DI unit and draining during tank maintenance. I should mention that these rooms are in the basement, so everything is supported by the concrete floor of the basement.

 

[deweyhowell]

Another option is there are a few tank builders in the area that make really good tanks as well. Clear Fabrications, Inc does great acrylic tanks, and if you hit up Oceans by Design in Tukwilla they usually have a locally made tank up for sale as well.

Yes, for the main tank, I was planning to talk to the folks at Barrier Reef about locally-sourced tank builders and investigate my options. Thanks for the Oceans by Design suggestion - I will look into them.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Thanks for the great suggestions. I will discuss the electricity with my contractor and also think about the humidity issues. I definitely planning for a sink and H20 setup for ease of working with an RO/DI unit and draining during tank maintenance. I should mention that these rooms are in the basement, so everything is supported by the concrete floor of the basement.

If that's the case, then I'd really, really suggest investigating a small ductless split system HVAC. It'll cost about a $1500 for a 24,000 BTU unit, and perhaps $500 for installation. So, so worth it when it starts raining in your fishroom in the fall and spring when your house HVAC unit isn't running.

If that's too much for your budget, and you have a window in the basement, then you can get a window heat pump for less than $500. They're not as efficient as the ductless units, but still do the job. One note about ductless HVAC - you should specify to the contractor that you want the type of ductless unit that has a drain (or drain and condensate pump) for condensation because one of your primary purposes is humidity removal. Some units don't.

 

[SCRID]

I would consider putting the sump and fuge on the back wall room. Leave the stand below the tank empty. Its always a pain in the A to work under those things and it always seems there never enough room or head height. That was my #1 reason to move my sump to the basement and out from under my display cabinet. Second reason was I had to move my DT to another wall and figured that was the time to do it. Good luck it will be sweet when you get it done. Make sure to post progress pics.

 

[deweyhowell]

Here are a couple of additional pics of the rooms:

Room with the display tank has a large window




On the other side of the fish room is the main electrical panel and the heating system and duct work for the house.



On the other side of another wall in the fish room there is a sink, so I am hopeful that hooking into the plumbing to add a sink for the RO/DI, AWC and ATO systems should be reasonably straight-forward to do.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Given that's the case, I'd strongly suggest building a dividing wall across the fish room to isolate your home's HVAC unit (and electrical panel). Salty aerosols are the norm for marine fish rooms, and you don't want that air to be in contact with your home's utility equipment.