Minnesota Basement Fish Room

[huseMN]

Hi all, here is my adventure of building out a dedicated basement fish room. This will be my 3rd tank/reef setup and I am taking it slow.

The goal is to have a dedicated space for all equipment and eventual grow out a great looking SPS tank with lots of fish. Simple...... right?

I am starting out with a 40 breeder (eventually turned into a dedicated frag tank) that will be in the fish room. I will get that up and running with hopes of getting a larger tank (200 gallon range) sometime down the road.

I have learned so much from this forum over the years and envy/admire many of the builds on here. I have taken and incorporated many ideas from others. So thanks!

Please ask questions and provide constructive criticism where appropriate. Always willing to learn and try different ideas. Here goes.......

I am staring out with a basement "closet" that is under my entry way. It is roughly 10'x5'. Part of it is under the steps where I will be putting in a utility sink to help with the obvious mess a tank creates. I will need to run electrical, plumbing, lights, vents, insulation, drywall, etc.

This a picture of the 3 can lights installed and Drylock paint on all of the block walls. The sump pump is in this room which I will need to work around.

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[huseMN]

I am a fan of light so I installed three can lights. I also have some existing plumbing and ductwork that I will need to frame out.

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[carrots]

A Blank canvas. ahh. When running electric, consider outlets on ceiling for your pendant lights if that is the style your going with. I look forward to seeing your progress.

 

[huseMN]

I installed some furring strips on the walls using glue and concrete screws. I tore down an old deck in my back yard and am using pressure treated balusters that I salvaged. I invested in a cheap hammer drill from amazon... I think $30. Let me tell you, it is so much easier to drill through concrete with the right tools!

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[huseMN]

Carrots,

Blank canvas is right! I am in a permanent house situation now and decided to go all out and do it "right" as they say. I would not lie to say a small part of my house purchase was designed around finding a house that had a space for such a room

Great idea on the ceiling outlets! I did consider them but after much deliberation decided against.

 

[huseMN]

To try and control moisture I was also able to salvage an old ceiling exhaust vent that was in a separate room of my house. It is old but I figure If I can get some use out of it great. I vented it out the side of my house and sealed it up good. Should be able to swap it out if and when it fails. I also installed a ceiling electrical box to eventually put a humidistat should the need arise. Currently the fan is on its own wall switch.

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[huseMN]

I picked up a bunch of sheets of 1" foam insulation to put between the furring strips. I glued some of them to the wall but most fit snuggly enough without the glue. I then salvaged some 1/2" foam that was in another part of the house to fill in the voids. Trying to provide as much insulation as possible to keep heating costs down. That room stays pretty cool all year round.

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I also insulated the ceiling joists and put up a 6 mil vapor barrier to further try and keep, moisture, heat, smells in the room. Trying to seal it up from the rest of the house as much as possible. I also built up a soffit to hide the duct work that is feeding the upstairs. I am going to leave a couple of access holes in the soffit and put some removable panels over them.

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[huseMN]

I used the green drywall. Why? Because someone said it was better. It was only slightly more expensive. I enjoy the drywall hanging but HATE taping and mudding. Man, I respect those who do it for a living. What a pain.

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Drywall hanging complete. Here is the nook under the stairs where I am going to put in a utility sink.

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[huseMN]

Primed and painted drywall. You can see the access holes I left for future wiring and anything else I may need to access. I also installed another ceiling light on that side of the room to help with the shadows the soffit created. You can also see the blank outlet cover in the ceiling where I plan to install a humidistat should the need arise. The lighting and fan are all on an existing basement circuit. I added 2 separate fish room dedicated circuits. A 15 amp and a 20 amp.

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[huseMN]

I had an extra hose bib lying around from my previous house. I thought why not. Maybe someday it would be nice to have so I plumbed that into the room. Trimmed it out with some cedar, caulked and painted.

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[huseMN]

I also ended up washing and sealing the concrete floors. I used some concrete sealer from the Depot. I think it was $10 for a gallon. I only used about 1/3rd of it and put two coats on. Figured it would somewhat help with any salt spills.

I am also gutting my entire basement that was lined with Cedar. An early 80's house. Ripped down some trim to size (from the cedar), primed, painted and caulked. I am pleased with the results. The floor was very uneven so I had to scribe the baseboard. Maybe overkill but I can sometimes be a perfectionist.:headwally:

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[huseMN]

I picked up a couple 100 gallon tanks for water storage. I bought these a couple years ago with the intent of someday being able to use for water changes and mixing. I built a stand for them to get them off the concrete. Simple 2x's and Plywood.

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[huseMN]

To try and maximize space I framed out a section under my steps and added a utility sink, I am hoping it will come in handy. I was fortunate as there is bathroom plumbing on one of the walls so I was able to tap into the existing hot and cold as well as the drain. I used Upanor's Aquapex and love the stuff. So easy to plumb.

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[huseMN]

I picked up a used 75 gallon tank that was in fairly good condition. Barely fit into the back seat of my car. I am going to use it as my sump to hold normal sump stuff.

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[huseMN]

To get the sump off the ground I built and leveled a base made of 2x4's and 3/4" plywood. Tried to level it as best I could.

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[huseMN]

To hold the 40 gallon breeder that I picked up for $1 gallon I built a stand out of 2x4's as well. For the base of the sump and 40 breeder I am going to use a white plastic sheet product. It is water proof and should provide an easy surface to clean up.

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[huseMN]

Here is a picture with my girls for scale. I probably didn't need to go with tanks so large. Tanks half the size would have sufficed. I guess that means I will have to fill them half as much. Oh well.

RODI will be the furthest tank away and front tank will be for fresh salt water. I will plumb it all to facilitate easy water changes and Top off.

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[zachrabbit15]

Great start!!! Really like you water barrels and those are some awesome scores on your tanks!!

 

[huseMN]

Thanks, heck of a deal on those tanks. It has been a long process but very rewarding to see the progress.

 

[huseMN]

Time for RODI Plumbing......

I had a 75 gallon per day BRS RODI system that was setup at my old house. At my current house the water pressure is very low so it necessitated a booster pump. Slightly louder than I expected but not going to be an issue. I also added a second DI canister. Also, my TDS meter was all rusted out and inoperable so I replaced that.



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