Starting to Build another Big tank 1000g+ have a few questions

[Atomic081]

I currently have a 220gal DT and around 500 gallons overall. Im a general contractor and I build custom homes for a living. Its time to start the planning for my own custom home this time! The home will be somewhere in the 4000 sqft range and im trying to plan the home around the fish tank. I have a few questions for people who have BIG TANKS before we meet up with a architect in the next few weeks.

Here is a picture of my current setup before i put water in it.




My wife has a few requests as she puts up with my Reef hobby, but isnt in love with it like I am.
1. Whatever I do, it needs to be able to be taken out if I get out of the hobby and look like it was never there.
2. She doesnt want it in the main living room and have it take away from the house. (im fighting her on this one)
3. Look needs to be streamline, No huge Doors! Needs to fit into the house like it belongs



My questions!!

1. What Room in the house do you have your Tank. This is a big argument between my wife and I. I want it front and center in the living area so that I can enjoy it. She wants it away from everything so it doesn't take away from the house. Im worried that If i put it in my office, or in a "mancave" basement, that I might not go down there very often. If i dont ever go into the basement, then how am i going to enjoy the tank? If i dont see the tank as often, then it just slips my mind and i dont keep up with maintenance.
Whats your opinion on this? Is there ever a "out of site, out of mind" that hurts your tank?




2. The perfect size for a big tank? Im worried about laying on the tank and reaching into it. I might try to create a way to lift the lights up and crawl on top the tank to move things around.

Length: Im thinking 8' or 10' Bigger is better right?

Depth: I know I want a wide tank, maybe 48" wide. Is this a big problem though. I cant reach the back of my tank now. How do you reach the back of a really wide tank? Mask and snorkel?

Height: Right now my tank is 30" tall. I hate that I cant reach the sand bed without taking my shirt off and standing on a ladder. But if Im gonna need to have a mask and snorkel to reach into the tank anyway. im thinking of around 30" or higher if I gotta use a mask. If i can get away from using a mask, whats a good height?



3. Im trying to decide between a Inwall or a Peninsula Tank.

Inwall Pros and cons
Pro:
Can have the clean look my wife likes
Easily accessible from fish room
Quite
No expensive wooden stand, can just drywall around the tank opening

Cons:
Not easily accessible from outside of fish room
only visible from 1 side


Peninsula Tank
Pro:
Large viewing area
Easily access all areas in the tank if you have doors(wife hates doors cause I will get water all over the nice room :debi

Cons:
Expensive woodworking
Not accessible from fish room.

Any sugestions?

3. How big of a Fish Room?
Im thinking 12x16 at a minimum. What do you have?


Thanks for any input you can give me.
Ross

 

[Ricardo18]

I currently have a 220gal DT and around 500 gallons overall. Im a general contractor and I build custom homes for a living. Its time to start the planning for my own custom home this time! The home will be somewhere in the 4000 sqft range and im trying to plan the home around the fish tank. I have a few questions for people who have BIG TANKS before we meet up with a architect in the next few weeks.

Here is a picture of my current setup before i put water in it.




My wife has a few requests as she puts up with my Reef hobby, but isnt in love with it like I am.
1. Whatever I do, it needs to be able to be taken out if I get out of the hobby and look like it was never there.
2. She doesnt want it in the main living room and have it take away from the house. (im fighting her on this one)
3. Look needs to be streamline, No huge Doors! Needs to fit into the house like it belongs



My questions!!

1. What Room in the house do you have your Tank. OFFICE/CAVEThis is a big argument between my wife and I. I want it front and center in the living area so that I can enjoy it. She wants it away from everything so it doesn't take away from the house. Im worried that If i put it in my office, or in a "mancave" basement, that I might not go down there very often. If i dont ever go into the basement, then how am i going to enjoy the tank? If i dont see the tank as often, then it just slips my mind and i dont keep up with maintenance.
Whats your opinion on this? Is there ever a "out of site, out of mind" that hurts your tank?




2. The perfect size for a big tank? 8' - 10' long, but only 26 inches deep so you can reach bottom (check mine out)Im worried about laying on the tank and reaching into it. I might try to create a way to lift the lights up and crawl on top the tank to move things around.

Length: Im thinking 8' or 10' Bigger is better right?

Depth: I know I want a wide tank, maybe 48" wide. Is this a big problem though. I cant reach the back of my tank now. How do you reach the back of a really wide tank? Mask and snorkel?Mine is 42" wide and I can reach it from the front when I am standing on my walkboard..BUILD A FRONT WALKBOARD! Or if you have a fish room, have it 10" inside (like mine) so you can work on it from the back

Height: Right now my tank is 30" tall. I hate that I cant reach the sand bed without taking my shirt off and standing on a ladder. But if Im gonna need to have a mask and snorkel to reach into the tank anyway. im thinking of around 30" or higher if I gotta use a mask. If i can get away from using a mask, whats a good height? 26" works and looks good



3. Im trying to decide between a Inwall or a Peninsula Tank.

Inwall Pros and cons
Pro:
Can have the clean look my wife likes
Easily accessible from fish room
Quite
No expensive wooden stand, can just drywall around the tank opening

Cons:
Not easily accessible from outside of fish room
only visible from 1 side


Peninsula Tank
Pro:
Large viewing area
Easily access all areas in the tank if you have doors(wife hates doors cause I will get water all over the nice room :debi

Cons:
Expensive woodworking
Not accessible from fish room.

Any sugestions?

3. How big of a Fish Room?
Im thinking 12x16 at a minimum. What do you have? 20 X 6..any size can be designed to fit EVERYTHING..just requires a little planning and imagination.


Thanks for any input you can give me.
Ross

 

[Bogue Chitto]

If your wife doesn't care for the tank I wouldn't build one that big, it will always be a thorn in her flesh when anything happens. Especially if you have some kind of water leaks. You may get a I told you so. I hope you two can work things out and be able to enjoy it together.

 

[Socaltoaz]

Please look at by build thread in my signature. We had the same discussion, my wife and I, and my tank is smack dab in the living room. I would not appreciate it if it was somewhere else. You can build it classy and not have a mess everywhere. We put the fish room in the garage. Pm me I'm happy to talk to you in this. The best thing I did was put my tank right in the middle of everything. It acts as a room divider. I have a large custom home so trust me when I say we didn't want some randomness in the house along with all the other nice things we put in.

 

[bigrock]

I agree with SoCal, if you're going to put this much money and effort into a tank this size you might as well make it a center piece. I gave my architect guidelines to make it viewable from kitchen and family room and make it possible for fish room to be converted easily into bedroom when we sell. Our 40sqft of ocean viewing will be directly competing with the flat screen next to it. My fish room will be 16'x 12' which I thought would be plenty big but I just started doing sketch up drawings with all equipment and I'm out of space! Bigger the better is right and if you're going 30" tall might as well go 48" as you have to get wet armpits either way.
I'll see if I can load a pic of our floor plan for ideas.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

I don't own a large tank. But if I was building a house with my dream tank (pretty much my 10 year goal right now) then it would be a peninsula tank and act as a partial room divider. Possible locations are dividing between the kitchen and dining room, dining and living or living and kitchen (my favourite as they are the two places I spend the most time) depending on the house layout. I have seen quite a few builds with a large tank in these spots and love every one of them.

With the peninsula style tank I would have a fish room behind the one bit of tank against the wall or run pipe through the walls to a garage or man cave where you can have the sump (would need much more powerful pumps though). That way you don't need doors or removable panels all around the stand. I would however have enough doors or removable panels around the top that I could have full access.

There are so many ways to skin a stand that you can sell to your wife to make it fit right into the living room. Things like a recycled wood style, solid gloss or matt panels that fit so well together you cant even tell they are removable, book case inserts between the supports of the stand etc can all make the stand either completely blend into the house décor or make it stand out as a feature wall (with a tank in the middle).

 

[druzzelle]

I currently have a 220gal DT and around 500 gallons overall. Im a general contractor and I build custom homes for a living. Its time to start the planning for my own custom home this time! The home will be somewhere in the 4000 sqft range and im trying to plan the home around the fish tank. I have a few questions for people who have BIG TANKS before we meet up with a architect in the next few weeks.

Here is a picture of my current setup before i put water in it.




My wife has a few requests as she puts up with my Reef hobby, but isnt in love with it like I am.
1. Whatever I do, it needs to be able to be taken out if I get out of the hobby and look like it was never there.
2. She doesnt want it in the main living room and have it take away from the house. (im fighting her on this one)
3. Look needs to be streamline, No huge Doors! Needs to fit into the house like it belongs



My questions!!

1. What Room in the house do you have your Tank. This is a big argument between my wife and I. I want it front and center in the living area so that I can enjoy it. She wants it away from everything so it doesn't take away from the house. Im worried that If i put it in my office, or in a "mancave" basement, that I might not go down there very often. If i dont ever go into the basement, then how am i going to enjoy the tank? If i dont see the tank as often, then it just slips my mind and i dont keep up with maintenance.
Whats your opinion on this? Is there ever a "out of site, out of mind" that hurts your tank?




2. The perfect size for a big tank? Im worried about laying on the tank and reaching into it. I might try to create a way to lift the lights up and crawl on top the tank to move things around.

Length: Im thinking 8' or 10' Bigger is better right?

Depth: I know I want a wide tank, maybe 48" wide. Is this a big problem though. I cant reach the back of my tank now. How do you reach the back of a really wide tank? Mask and snorkel?

Height: Right now my tank is 30" tall. I hate that I cant reach the sand bed without taking my shirt off and standing on a ladder. But if Im gonna need to have a mask and snorkel to reach into the tank anyway. im thinking of around 30" or higher if I gotta use a mask. If i can get away from using a mask, whats a good height?



3. Im trying to decide between a Inwall or a Peninsula Tank.

Inwall Pros and cons
Pro:
Can have the clean look my wife likes
Easily accessible from fish room
Quite
No expensive wooden stand, can just drywall around the tank opening

Cons:
Not easily accessible from outside of fish room
only visible from 1 side


Peninsula Tank
Pro:
Large viewing area
Easily access all areas in the tank if you have doors(wife hates doors cause I will get water all over the nice room :debi

Cons:
Expensive woodworking
Not accessible from fish room.

Any sugestions?

3. How big of a Fish Room?
Im thinking 12x16 at a minimum. What do you have?


Thanks for any input you can give me.
Ross

considering your wife's stipulations... have you thought about your DT being in or at a wall in front of a mud room... that could possibly give you both what you want... use the mud room for your fish room.. that can easily be taken down... and you can still have the space and placing that you want

 

[wanderlest]

Atomic, I think you should put it in the kitchen.

 

[Atomic081]

If your wife doesn't care for the tank I wouldn't build one that big, it will always be a thorn in her flesh when anything happens. Especially if you have some kind of water leaks. You may get a I told you so. I hope you two can work things out and be able to enjoy it together.

She doesnt care if I have the tank. She is just worried about the long term value of building a house around a tank. thanks for the input!!

Please look at by build thread in my signature. We had the same discussion, my wife and I, and my tank is smack dab in the living room. I would not appreciate it if it was somewhere else. You can build it classy and not have a mess everywhere. We put the fish room in the garage. Pm me I'm happy to talk to you in this. The best thing I did was put my tank right in the middle of everything. It acts as a room divider. I have a large custom home so trust me when I say we didn't want some randomness in the house along with all the other nice things we put in.

Im looking at your thread now!!

I agree with SoCal, if you're going to put this much money and effort into a tank this size you might as well make it a center piece. I gave my architect guidelines to make it viewable from kitchen and family room and make it possible for fish room to be converted easily into bedroom when we sell. Our 40sqft of ocean viewing will be directly competing with the flat screen next to it. My fish room will be 16'x 12' which I thought would be plenty big but I just started doing sketch up drawings with all equipment and I'm out of space! Bigger the better is right and if you're going 30" tall might as well go 48" as you have to get wet armpits either way.
I'll see if I can load a pic of our floor plan for ideas.

I really like the floor plan you have. I think something like this could work. Do you have a 30+ inch deep tank? Much more than that and ill literately be chest deep in the tank. This is a big concern to me. Is that a Bookshelf door????? very cool!!

I don't own a large tank. But if I was building a house with my dream tank (pretty much my 10 year goal right now) then it would be a peninsula tank and act as a partial room divider. Possible locations are dividing between the kitchen and dining room, dining and living or living and kitchen (my favourite as they are the two places I spend the most time) depending on the house layout. I have seen quite a few builds with a large tank in these spots and love every one of them.

With the peninsula style tank I would have a fish room behind the one bit of tank against the wall or run pipe through the walls to a garage or man cave where you can have the sump (would need much more powerful pumps though). That way you don't need doors or removable panels all around the stand. I would however have enough doors or removable panels around the top that I could have full access.

There are so many ways to skin a stand that you can sell to your wife to make it fit right into the living room. Things like a recycled wood style, solid gloss or matt panels that fit so well together you cant even tell they are removable, book case inserts between the supports of the stand etc can all make the stand either completely blend into the house décor or make it stand out as a feature wall (with a tank in the middle).

Do you have any pictures of what your talking about. It all sounds good in theory and from a pure Reef viewing perspective its the best option. From my wifes perspective though this is the worst option. Big, bulky, and what will it look like after its taken out? Would Love to see a way to get a Peninsula that could make both of us happy.

considering your wife's stipulations... have you thought about your DT being in or at a wall in front of a mud room... that could possibly give you both what you want... use the mud room for your fish room.. that can easily be taken down... and you can still have the space and placing that you want

No matter what, we will have a mudroom because im always muddy when i come in the door. The idea of the mudroom and fish room in the same area is a good idea. Im kinda thinking of the fishroom being a extension of the garage. Would make putting in a drain and having waterproof floors easier to deal with.

Atomic, I think you should put it in the kitchen.

kitchen is out of the question!! Wife would kill me!! Kitchen is her area!! It would look cool though...:angryfire:

 

[druzzelle]

She doesnt care if I have the tank. She is just worried about the long term value of building a house around a tank. thanks for the input!!



Im looking at your thread now!!


I really like the floor plan you have. I think something like this could work. Do you have a 30+ inch deep tank? Much more than that and ill literately be chest deep in the tank. This is a big concern to me. Is that a Bookshelf door????? very cool!!



Do you have any pictures of what your talking about. It all sounds good in theory and from a pure Reef viewing perspective its the best option. From my wifes perspective though this is the worst option. Big, bulky, and what will it look like after its taken out? Would Love to see a way to get a Peninsula that could make both of us happy.



No matter what, we will have a mudroom because im always muddy when i come in the door. The idea of the mudroom and fish room in the same area is a good idea. Im kinda thinking of the fishroom being a extension of the garage. Would make putting in a drain and having waterproof floors easier to deal with.




kitchen is out of the question!! Wife would kill me!! Kitchen is her area!! It would look cool though...:angryfire:

good luck with planning.. cant wait to see your build thread develop!!! im sort of in the same process as you... planning on building another house... this one will include a fish room and in wall tanks... I've got it pretty good, my wife is in love with the hobby... although she doesnt want to do anything more than help feed when i'm not home lol

 

[TylerS]

Do you currently have a tank and your wife doesn't like it? If you do then I doubt making it bigger will make her any happier. I would try to figure out some way to have it in the living room and be acceptable to her. I personally wouldn't spend that much on a tank to hide it away somewhere.

What I did is go through a few websites to find the best looking tanks that I liked, then I showed them to my wife and asked "can I put this in the living room?". Worked out well. She's on-board with it, even knowing ahead of time that it'll be $15-$20k (not to thrilled about the price, but excited enough to let me do it).

I would also recommend keeping it in perspective. Even in a 20x20' living room a 10x4 tank might be overbearing. I put up a bunch of boxes to nail down my tank size. FYI my room is about 20 x 15, and we're going with a 6-8' long x 30" wide tank (probably starting with a 180 and upgrading to a 8 x 30" tank later).

I would make noise isolation a very high priority. You don't want it to be noisy in the living room. I'm going with a basement sump for that (plus selectively purchasing quiet power-heads etc.)

 

[druzzelle]

remember... he's having the house built...the mud room isnt where the DT will be... that will act as his fish room.... that way everything in the living spaces of the house will be nice, neat, and quiet... also cuts down water spills (which we all have)... sounds like his wife is on board with having a big tank but is concerned with placement, function and possibility of him getting out of the hobby and how that will impact the homes aesthetics... most mud rooms have at least one wall on a high traffic area of the house, which is why I suggested it given the requirements he has.... since its new construction, you can have the drain done during construction (always cheaper to do it the first time rather than do it in a remodel). if it were me i'd use that room and make it an in wall tank ... that way its still a feature eye piece without taking away any square footage from the living space design!!!

 

[Atomic081]

Do you currently have a tank and your wife doesn't like it? If you do then I doubt making it bigger will make her any happier. I would try to figure out some way to have it in the living room and be acceptable to her. I personally wouldn't spend that much on a tank to hide it away somewhere.

What I did is go through a few websites to find the best looking tanks that I liked, then I showed them to my wife and asked "can I put this in the living room?". Worked out well. She's on-board with it, even knowing ahead of time that it'll be $15-$20k (not to thrilled about the price, but excited enough to let me do it).

I would also recommend keeping it in perspective. Even in a 20x20' living room a 10x4 tank might be overbearing. I put up a bunch of boxes to nail down my tank size. FYI my room is about 20 x 15, and we're going with a 6-8' long x 30" wide tank (probably starting with a 180 and upgrading to a 8 x 30" tank later).

I would make noise isolation a very high priority. You don't want it to be noisy in the living room. I'm going with a basement sump for that (plus selectively purchasing quiet power-heads etc.)

Currently my 220 is In our office just behind the wall in our living room. She doesnt mind the tank at all. Thinks its pretty, but wants nothing to do with it other than looking at it. She just doesnt want it to take away from rest of the house. Ive already gotten the go ahead to put it in the house!

As far as the size. our living room is gonna be pretty big and I think a 10ft tank will be perfect. here is the first preliminary drawings im working on. pretty basic but you get the point.











Option 2 of mancave (might make a little bigger)

 

[Atomic081]

remember... he's having the house built...the mud room isnt where the DT will be... that will act as his fish room.... that way everything in the living spaces of the house will be nice, neat, and quiet... also cuts down water spills (which we all have)... sounds like his wife is on board with having a big tank but is concerned with placement, function and possibility of him getting out of the hobby and how that will impact the homes aesthetics... most mud rooms have at least one wall on a high traffic area of the house, which is why I suggested it given the requirements he has.... since its new construction, you can have the drain done during construction (always cheaper to do it the first time rather than do it in a remodel). if it were me i'd use that room and make it an in wall tank ... that way its still a feature eye piece without taking away any square footage from the living space design!!!

You hit the nail on the head with most of this! Since ill be building the house myself (im a general contractor and build homes for a living), i can really do whatever I want and its only my labor that im out.

 

[bigrock]

I really like the floor plan you have. I think something like this could work. Do you have a 30+ inch deep tank? Much more than that and ill literately be chest deep in the tank. This is a big concern to me. Is that a Bookshelf door????? very cool!!

My current tank is only 28" deep but I love the look of the tall tanks so much better. They look a lot more natural to me so I'm biting the bullet and getting what I feel looks best this time. I will have access from all sides and will have a platform around tank in fish room for easier maintenance. I rarely put my hands in my current tank so hopefully after the first year or so this one will be the same. Yes it is a hidden door to the fish room. Good luck with your plans, this was the most exciting part for me.

 

[Bono]

Awesome looking house, luv the stone. I had a 400 gallon about 10 ft behind the couch/seating area and people really only looked at it when they walked by. My current tank is in family room near my TV so I see the movement of the fish constantly. Could you switch the fish room and playroom and put the tank were the double doors are?

 

[Socaltoaz]

In the photo above- move the fish tank to where the book cases are in the office and put the book cases on the wall adjacent to the fish room. That way you can enjoy the tank from the office as well as the family room.

Second- swap the fish room location so its closer to the garage and move the mud room where the fish room is. That way when you come home with a bunch of fish crap- you go right into the fish room to drop your supplies, salt etc.

Another option is to have the fish tank separate the wall between the master and the living area so you can enjoy the tank from your bed.

 

[DannyDJD]

Congrats! The project sounds awesome. Having just wrapped up the bulk of my large tank build, I can totally understand all your questions and considerations. Here's my build, maybe some pics there can give ideas or what works or wouldn't work for you.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2556155

Hope it helps, and good luck! Subscribed

 

[Atomic081]

My current tank is only 28" deep but I love the look of the tall tanks so much better. They look a lot more natural to me so I'm biting the bullet and getting what I feel looks best this time. I will have access from all sides and will have a platform around tank in fish room for easier maintenance. I rarely put my hands in my current tank so hopefully after the first year or so this one will be the same. Yes it is a hidden door to the fish room. Good luck with your plans, this was the most exciting part for me.

Very cool, I like the Platform idea. Will definitely be using that! Still not convinced on the height, only from a maintenence standpoint. i love the look of a tall tank. its up in the air for me right now on the height!

Awesome looking house, luv the stone. I had a 400 gallon about 10 ft behind the couch/seating area and people really only looked at it when they walked by. My current tank is in family room near my TV so I see the movement of the fish constantly. Could you switch the fish room and playroom and put the tank were the double doors are?

First U2 Rocks!!! GOAT!

Thanks for the compliments! Hopefully i dont have to use the mancave idea, but if i do. I can swap the playroom and fish room. We want to have glass french doors to watch the kids while we watch tv, but it can be done either way. If the tank goes upstairs, then the fishroom area will be a workout room.

In the photo above- move the fish tank to where the book cases are in the office and put the book cases on the wall adjacent to the fish room. That way you can enjoy the tank from the office as well as the family room.

Second- swap the fish room location so its closer to the garage and move the mud room where the fish room is. That way when you come home with a bunch of fish crap- you go right into the fish room to drop your supplies, salt etc.

Another option is to have the fish tank separate the wall between the master and the living area so you can enjoy the tank from your bed.

Moving the tank in the office is a great idea!! would give me that Peninsula tank if i wanna go that way. Only problem would be that it would be hard to reach the tank (cleaning would suck from a ladder) cause its on the stair wall going downstairs. It might work though!

2nd. I would like to move the Fish room closer to the garage if possible.

3rd. I dont want my guests to see the wife and i ......"getting busy" while sitting on the couch. Also gonna be a BIG fireplace there.

Congrats! The project sounds awesome. Having just wrapped up the bulk of my large tank build, I can totally understand all your questions and considerations. Here's my build, maybe some pics there can give ideas or what works or wouldn't work for you.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2556155

Hope it helps, and good luck! Subscribed

Ill take a look! Thanks!

 

[Socaltoaz]

Moving the tank in the office is a great idea!! would give me that Peninsula tank if i wanna go that way. Only problem would be that it would be hard to reach the tank (cleaning would suck from a ladder) cause its on the stair wall going downstairs. It might work though!

In that case- why not move the office where the fish room is and put the fish room where the office is? That way you get the tank in the middle of the room and you don't have to worry about stairs.

Where do the stairs go? Ideally- put the fish room downstairs. Let gravity do its thing and have the staircase near the garage, out of the way. Right now I see a lot of stairs in that room which might be visually distracting.










3rd. I dont want my guests to see the wife and i ......"getting busy" while sitting on the couch. Also gonna be a BIG fireplace there.

Makes sense but I was thinking you would have rock work that would act as a wall. Fireplace is a good idea however.