DIY Basement Fish Room Questions

[zedoita]

After a couple of years from a forced break from the hobby, I moved into a new place with an unfinished basement which has been rough-in plumbed for a wet bar. Turns out the spot where the sink for the wet bar would be fits where I would like to setup a fish room for a display tank in the main level of the home. I am going to try to DIY as much as I can, and my first step is to install an utility sink and water lines, in preparation for a mixing station and automated water changes. I do however, have a couple of potentially dumb questions:

1. Should I look into framing walls around the fish "room" now, or wait until I am ready to completely finish the basement? The tank, and sump/equipment will happen first, but I am not sure if there are advantages/disadvantages from having walls or not in the beginning.
2. Would a fan like the ones in bathrooms be enough for ventilation?
3. In the picture below, what are the 2 pipes going into the concrete floor for? I am assuming one is for a drain, but not sure which and what the other one would be for?

Thanks!

 

[snackpack]

1 - figure out your floor plan for the full basement reno before you do anything. I was in the same boat, and my "fish room" moved 4 times before I cut the first piece of wood. As far as putting up walls now or later, it depends but I'd say do it ahead of time if you can. It helps tremendously to have a solid place to mount your plumbing for the tank/sump, place to mount your RO/DI etc. Do you want to keep moving things around or do it once?

2 - depends on a lot of factors. How tight is the house, how big is the tank, square footage of the space, etc. Personally I've got a hybrid heat pump water heater that will be getting ducted to the space that'll not only cool the fish room, but will also help to pull the extra humidity out.

3 - that's rough-in plumbing for your bathroom. One is for the toilet, the other is likely a vent for that or the other end of the toilet drain pipe.