Hello all,
I am contemplating getting back into the hobby after 20 years. I think I have a few of the important requirements:
Although it is very early in the planning stages (and I will be going slow) I was hoping to get some advice on a basement reef room layout so I can avoid room design pitfalls. What to put where? I'd like to avoid someday saying "Darn it! If only I had..."
The idea is frag space and sumps in the basement and eventually a DT upstairs. I was shocked when the wife said we could get rid of the dining room china cabinet and replace it with a DT. :beer:
The space has:
I plan on adding all of the walls and 36" door on the left and bottom of the diagram. The furnace will be boxed out of the space. The well tank (top) will simply be curtained off for aesthetics. The space is large enough that I could fit freestanding frag and grow out tanks in the middle of it... I would love shallow tanks I could easily access from all four sides...
Questions (and please jump in with stuff I haven't thought of):
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I am contemplating getting back into the hobby after 20 years. I think I have a few of the important requirements:
- Some basic experience with a reef tank (mine was pretty darn nice back in the day)
- Plenty of room in the basment, a 20' x 14' space
- A wife that would love to see a DT back in the house someday -- so key :lmao:
- A modest budget, perhaps $5k to start
Although it is very early in the planning stages (and I will be going slow) I was hoping to get some advice on a basement reef room layout so I can avoid room design pitfalls. What to put where? I'd like to avoid someday saying "Darn it! If only I had..."
The idea is frag space and sumps in the basement and eventually a DT upstairs. I was shocked when the wife said we could get rid of the dining room china cabinet and replace it with a DT. :beer:
The space has:
- HVAC (no thermostat in the space)
- A basement half-window for ventilation
- Bare concrete floor and walls, top and right side of diagram, (yes, I will raise sumps so they don't sit on the concrete)
- A water line coming from the water softener
I plan on adding all of the walls and 36" door on the left and bottom of the diagram. The furnace will be boxed out of the space. The well tank (top) will simply be curtained off for aesthetics. The space is large enough that I could fit freestanding frag and grow out tanks in the middle of it... I would love shallow tanks I could easily access from all four sides...
Questions (and please jump in with stuff I haven't thought of):
- Linoleum on the bare floor or do I need a subfloor?
- Okay to leave the concrete walls or finish them with stud and sheetrock? Not finishing makes it easy to add more plumbing and electrical
- Eventually, I would like a DT upstairs plumbed into this setup, pipes can run up to it from the lower left orange corner of the diagram
- I plan on a sink and counter area, should I run hot water to the space?
- There's no drain, I will have to pump out to the house plumbing
- Open rafters above, no insulation in place

pictures upload[/IMG]