Advice Please: New In-Wall 265g Display & Fish Room Design

[NUBIANTANGLOVER]

Okay Guys,

We've finally made the move into our new house and I am in dire need of help and advice for my Dream Reef System. The plans are to build an In-Wall Display that will house my current 265g aquarium. The display will be viewed from our Dining Room area, but housed on an adjacent wall, outside in the garage.
Now, when we built the home, we specifically had this idea in mind. The garage is a 2-car garage--approx. 420 sqft, built on a concrete slab. The garage is insulated, sheet-rocked and painted. We typically use the garage for me to park my car & house the family bikes, as my hubby parks outside.

Initially, I was not considering a "Fish Room" and obtained contractor quotes for the In-Wall Build, with upgrades for electricity, custom stand etc. After doing additional research, I'm considering enclosing a portion of my garage as a "Fish Room" so I can still park my car inside the garage without worrying about it bothering my tank, but most importantly, I can aid in any possible heat and cold issues I might encounter. I live here in beautiful, Charlotte North Carolina, so I am mostly concerned with heat issues. I'm not sure if a Fish Room is an overkill, but it appears to make better sense IMO. The downside is it is going to more than likely costs more to go with the enclosed Fish Room option. However, the upside may seem more beneficial in the long run.

I also don't know if I should cool the Fish Room by tapping into the current HVAC (we have a Heat Pump system) or using a portable AC unit.

I am asking you guys to please chime in and help me on this with any advice, pictures etc. you can give. I've been an RC Member for quite some time and with every new venture, I've been successful because of all the help I received from RC members throughout my journey!

 

[jh2pizza]

IMO, the fish room would be essential. Im not sure how the tank would react starting your car and polluting their space with Carbon Monoxide. Never under estimate how fast a good skimmer will mix your surrounding air quality into the tank. I would also make sure its vented very well.

We have a 180 in-wall and in the middle of upgrading the tank to a 240. Our two largest issues have always been holding too much heat in the room and humidity. Proper ventilation is key.

 

[NUBIANTANGLOVER]

Thanks for the response, jh2pizza. I'm asumming you are utilizing a fish room too? If so, how are you cooling down the tank? I plan on running either the Ecotech Radions or the Kessils for my lighting system. Are you using MHs or LEDs?

 

[SPotter]

I did the same exact thing you are thinking about doing with the fish room in the garage. I built a 12x7 room and the first year I used a portable AC unit to cool the room down. I had several issues with being able to continually drain it and its ability to keep the room cool.....summers in SC are very hot. So last spring I bit the bullet and put a mini split ac system in my garage to cool the entire garage and fish room. its definitely added to my electric bill but it keeps the fish temps cool.

 

[NUBIANTANGLOVER]

Thanks Steve for the insight. Do you have any photos? I'm not familiar with a mini split AC, but I'm going to Google it. Since you and I are neighbors, I was wondering if you also have any problems with keeping the tank warm. Right now with the cold weather and wintry-mix headed our way tonight, the thermostat in the garage reads 52 degrees. Outside, it is only in 43 degrees.

 

[dave.m]

The fishroom would have to be completely sealed to avoid contamination from the car, but that is pretty standard for fully insulated houses these days anyway. A mini split AC is usually the option chosen by many.

Think about all the uses you will need for your fishroom. Make sure you have a sink and drain. If at all possible, make your fishroom large enough so that you can keep your sump out from under the tank. You are more likely to do maintenance if the sump and its contents are easy to access. Will you have quarantine tanks? - frag tanks? How many? What type of filtration will you have? - remote refugiums? - remote deep sand beds? etc. Take all this into account when sizing and designing your fishroom to avoid "wish-I-had" syndrome down the road.

Dave.M

 

[NUBIANTANGLOVER]

Thanks Dave. I just discovered what the mini split ac is about. However, I think I can just have the Fish Room cooled by tapping into my main HVAC in the home?

 

[dave.m]

You will have elevated humidity levels in the fishroom (unavoidable). You would have to consult with your HVAC specialist to see if your system will allow for a separate zone in your fishroom.

Dave.M

 

[SPotter]

Thanks Steve for the insight. Do you have any photos? I'm not familiar with a mini split AC, but I'm going to Google it. Since you and I are neighbors, I was wondering if you also have any problems with keeping the tank warm. Right now with the cold weather and wintry-mix headed our way tonight, the thermostat in the garage reads 52 degrees. Outside, it is only in 43 degrees.

I keep my house at 73 degrees during the night and I close the fish room door at night as well. Add a couple of heaters and my temps hold nicely at 77 during the evening.

As for tapping off of your main ac....the problem with that is that room will be a different temperature than the room where the thermostat in your house is. So if your living area of the house 74 and the fishroom is in the 80's the ac will never run long enough to keep temps down in the fish room. You can definitely try a portable ac unit for $300-$400 and see how that does. I would just make sure that you plan out the room so that you can exhaust the portable ac unit to outside of the garage some how. otherwise you will just be heating up the garage area.

 

[WA_Farmer]

I used to live in NC and I remember how hot and humid our garage used to get, so a fish room with a split system would be my suggestion. I am upgrading my 120 to a 220 tall later this year and our plans are to build an a separate fish room and plumb it into the family room where the DT will be. Here in WA I am not so much worried about cooling the tank, heat is the main issue we deal with. Since the fish room will be external to the house, the lines will be buried 24" from the room to the house so, the water will stay cool even in the summer. To keep the room at the right temp, we are looking at a split unit for temperature control ourselves.

 

[jh2pizza]

I am now running Kessils. Before I run 3 250W MH and fought the heat issue consistently. I am now looking into an air Exchanger. If I had to do it over again, I would have installed an Air Exchanger when the home was built and the HVAC guys were do the install.

If they pulled the air from the fish room, it would solve most concerns.