**Keeping this for context, but updated plans are on post 20!**
Hello! I've been lurking around here for a few months now but I am now starting a remodel intended to incorporate my first reef tank into a wall to isolate my office/fish room! I've taken quite a bit of time reading, watching, googling, searching, reading again and getting inspired. I also have a coworker buddy who has been a decades long fishkeeper/LFS employee on the side nudging me just enough to get this all started.
A brief little background-I was born and raised in central IL which admittedly wasn't all that conducive to exploring my early and natural awe for the sea. While pursuing my undergrad I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity at 1000 volunteer/intern hours combined at the Shedd Aquarium and with the reef dept at Sea Life Park in Waimanalo, HI. I was lucky, and gained a lot, to be able to conduct all varieties of husbandry, research, and visitor education work experiences. I later pursued a MS in Biology and have since been able to attain a house and reef tank worthy job. I'm extremely excited to get back to the reef, and to go on this educational experience with my kindergarten age science-enthusiast daughter.
The house my wife and I purchased in August has a sub basement and a lower basement, and I'm setting up in a corner of the sub basement. This room used to be the dewatering/sump for the house, but the previous owners then dug a lower basement with dewatering/sump so the sump in this room is now effectively obsolete. The room was to be my full office space but things kind of just found their way to the back of the room during/after the move and I set up my PC in a relatively small footprint anyway. I realized that 1) I could easily reduce the space needed for my PC, 2) I would really prefer to have a walled off PC in contrast to the current open floor plan of the office out to the kids playroom/living room, and 3) I should put a reef tank in said wall!
A few weeks ago I ordered and purchased the odds and ends to get some dry rock cycling--I'm currently cycling 40 lbs of base to get started, with a small handful of rock gifted by coworker fish instigator =] in a gray brute in the RODI area of my planned fish room..you could call it a complex. See drawing below for requested input and opinions on my 2room setup! Last weekend I sought out to construct a floating desk to free up the fish room portion of the office, and unfortunately found termite damage. I knew buying the house there was some activity in the garage (far other end with no damage...) and its since been treated--so now my best option is to take it in stride, and to get a small loan for repairs (and upgrades!!) Thanks to my intentions to get back to reefing, I found and am repairing the damage early!
This also gives me the option to tear to studs to take care of/consider all of the following:
-run a dedicated GFCI circuit
-pour self-levelling for a perfect foundation
-hang FRP in some fashion, perhaps on top of plywood so I can mount anything wherever I want?
-potentially wire up an exhaust with humidistat (input pending)
-potentially run a utility sink or get creative with a drain option through the wall to laundry utility sink (see schematic)
-potentially setup separate refugium above tank
-potentially setup far wall for auxiliary tanks (I'm thinking frag tank, maybe a substrate-critters tank, and a ribbon eel down the road someday?!)
-setup wall or perhaps other area for quarantine
-full shelving
-run other non-reef wiring for ideal PC use incl HDMI/USB to upstairs TV
-perhaps run a custom rail for a curtain divider for my PC
-and other great ideas you guys can provide for me to get in trouble with the wife
-kidding, she's equally as excited
Below is a SketchUp I did of my current general plans for the two rooms. I figured now was a good time to introduce myself on here and get potential feedback before construction or commitment to anything more permanent.
Tank: I am currently looking at a 140 tall, (48.5x24.5x29.5) through planet aquariums, with external overflow, and debating the $200 for crystal front. I'm looking to stay in the $1500 max range level of tank, and with kids (5 and 1) want to avoid acrylic. I plan on running a bare bottom.
Stand/wall: Plan to DIY with the colorful little spec picture thing I keep seeing, and putting some sort of undetermined paneling finishing out the wall it will create, next to a 30" door. I've over-estimated in my mocked up plan for door size, with true tank size for play. I might put a jack under the beam that sits atop this planned tank space, even if only for peace of mind for my intentions at a long-surviving system underneath a beam. Is there a certain type/weight of wall covering that you would begin to worry about installing to the front of your tank? My plan is to do anything other than sheetrock, allow for "easy enough" access (pull a panel?), but to maintain the function of a wall. If there are humidity considerations for choice of this material I am all ears.
Sump: I am anticipating a DIY system that will fit in that 48.5" stand. I would welcome quick input on this in case there is opportunity for me to utilize $/gal that ends Feb 1 locally for me. 40 breeder from Petco?
House sump and utility sink: This is the now effectively obsolete sump. It works fine just doesn't get water. I plan to keep it in case of spills or worse in the fish room. If I can do the frame right, I might be able to also install a utility sink into this box, around the sump and its plumbing, while maintaining access to the house sump. Thoughts on that? Cabinetry above this box for extra out of reach stuff is doable.
You can see where the sink is in the laundry room. It's really just outside the door, is the fish room utility sink overkill? I currently have the wall between laundry and fish room open and could even do something custom with drain PVC to make some sort of tube draining through the wall into the utility sink. I've been known to get crafty. Which of my sink options (for draining etc--RODI has to be in other room) do you think makes the most sense?
Auxiliary wall: The wall between the house sump and the tank are where I plan to put the panel for electric mounting, and eventually some racks with auxiliary tanks on the system. Pending your input I have also been given suggestion to look into setting up a refugium above the tank.
RODI: This is about the only space I could imagine working...until I expand down into the full basement someday My water main comes out of the foundation right at this spot, and is exposed for plumbing modifications. I could rack the RODI on the wall and utilize the 30"x36" area for drums/brutes/whatever. That's the space where I currently have the 40 lbs going in a 32 gray brute. There is also very conveniently a drain right there too.
Here is my little mock up. The wall you're looking through is an external wall, as is the wall running NE from said wall (aux wall from home sump to aquarium and on into kids room/living room). It's not clear, but I will have the PC mounted on a shelf off of the floating desk. I plan to use the desk space closer to the tank for aquarium stuffs. In the space where my butt will be when im on the PC, on the external wall to my right is a window. I am happy to black this out as much as is necessary with it facing the tank. I have 5' of space from the front of the desk to the homesump/perhaps sink box for my chair and perhaps an additional small work station surface. The space between the homesumpbox and tank is 3'10". The space between the tank and the external wall NW of the tank will be at minimum 7" (width of column) probably plus at least one 2x4, if not a metal jack for peace of mind. I didn't draw out the volume of it for visibility sake, but there is HVAC slightly offset from the rest of the room height above the tank. You can see the rectangle in the lighter gray top portion of that exterior wall by tank. It extends entire fish complex, and enters the lower basement in the wall immediately past the RODI area.
I welcome your input! I was impressed with the spirit and tone of every reef2reef thread I read through in getting to this point. I can't wait to get started. Thanks for reading and/or following along. Hello from the past if you're reading this down the road--I am always happy to answer questions and plan to keep this build well-documented to help with my impatience
Hello! I've been lurking around here for a few months now but I am now starting a remodel intended to incorporate my first reef tank into a wall to isolate my office/fish room! I've taken quite a bit of time reading, watching, googling, searching, reading again and getting inspired. I also have a coworker buddy who has been a decades long fishkeeper/LFS employee on the side nudging me just enough to get this all started.
A brief little background-I was born and raised in central IL which admittedly wasn't all that conducive to exploring my early and natural awe for the sea. While pursuing my undergrad I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity at 1000 volunteer/intern hours combined at the Shedd Aquarium and with the reef dept at Sea Life Park in Waimanalo, HI. I was lucky, and gained a lot, to be able to conduct all varieties of husbandry, research, and visitor education work experiences. I later pursued a MS in Biology and have since been able to attain a house and reef tank worthy job. I'm extremely excited to get back to the reef, and to go on this educational experience with my kindergarten age science-enthusiast daughter.
The house my wife and I purchased in August has a sub basement and a lower basement, and I'm setting up in a corner of the sub basement. This room used to be the dewatering/sump for the house, but the previous owners then dug a lower basement with dewatering/sump so the sump in this room is now effectively obsolete. The room was to be my full office space but things kind of just found their way to the back of the room during/after the move and I set up my PC in a relatively small footprint anyway. I realized that 1) I could easily reduce the space needed for my PC, 2) I would really prefer to have a walled off PC in contrast to the current open floor plan of the office out to the kids playroom/living room, and 3) I should put a reef tank in said wall!
A few weeks ago I ordered and purchased the odds and ends to get some dry rock cycling--I'm currently cycling 40 lbs of base to get started, with a small handful of rock gifted by coworker fish instigator =] in a gray brute in the RODI area of my planned fish room..you could call it a complex. See drawing below for requested input and opinions on my 2room setup! Last weekend I sought out to construct a floating desk to free up the fish room portion of the office, and unfortunately found termite damage. I knew buying the house there was some activity in the garage (far other end with no damage...) and its since been treated--so now my best option is to take it in stride, and to get a small loan for repairs (and upgrades!!) Thanks to my intentions to get back to reefing, I found and am repairing the damage early!
This also gives me the option to tear to studs to take care of/consider all of the following:
-run a dedicated GFCI circuit
-pour self-levelling for a perfect foundation
-hang FRP in some fashion, perhaps on top of plywood so I can mount anything wherever I want?
-potentially wire up an exhaust with humidistat (input pending)
-potentially run a utility sink or get creative with a drain option through the wall to laundry utility sink (see schematic)
-potentially setup separate refugium above tank
-potentially setup far wall for auxiliary tanks (I'm thinking frag tank, maybe a substrate-critters tank, and a ribbon eel down the road someday?!)
-setup wall or perhaps other area for quarantine
-full shelving
-run other non-reef wiring for ideal PC use incl HDMI/USB to upstairs TV
-perhaps run a custom rail for a curtain divider for my PC
-and other great ideas you guys can provide for me to get in trouble with the wife
-kidding, she's equally as excited
Below is a SketchUp I did of my current general plans for the two rooms. I figured now was a good time to introduce myself on here and get potential feedback before construction or commitment to anything more permanent.
Tank: I am currently looking at a 140 tall, (48.5x24.5x29.5) through planet aquariums, with external overflow, and debating the $200 for crystal front. I'm looking to stay in the $1500 max range level of tank, and with kids (5 and 1) want to avoid acrylic. I plan on running a bare bottom.
Stand/wall: Plan to DIY with the colorful little spec picture thing I keep seeing, and putting some sort of undetermined paneling finishing out the wall it will create, next to a 30" door. I've over-estimated in my mocked up plan for door size, with true tank size for play. I might put a jack under the beam that sits atop this planned tank space, even if only for peace of mind for my intentions at a long-surviving system underneath a beam. Is there a certain type/weight of wall covering that you would begin to worry about installing to the front of your tank? My plan is to do anything other than sheetrock, allow for "easy enough" access (pull a panel?), but to maintain the function of a wall. If there are humidity considerations for choice of this material I am all ears.
Sump: I am anticipating a DIY system that will fit in that 48.5" stand. I would welcome quick input on this in case there is opportunity for me to utilize $/gal that ends Feb 1 locally for me. 40 breeder from Petco?
House sump and utility sink: This is the now effectively obsolete sump. It works fine just doesn't get water. I plan to keep it in case of spills or worse in the fish room. If I can do the frame right, I might be able to also install a utility sink into this box, around the sump and its plumbing, while maintaining access to the house sump. Thoughts on that? Cabinetry above this box for extra out of reach stuff is doable.
You can see where the sink is in the laundry room. It's really just outside the door, is the fish room utility sink overkill? I currently have the wall between laundry and fish room open and could even do something custom with drain PVC to make some sort of tube draining through the wall into the utility sink. I've been known to get crafty. Which of my sink options (for draining etc--RODI has to be in other room) do you think makes the most sense?
Auxiliary wall: The wall between the house sump and the tank are where I plan to put the panel for electric mounting, and eventually some racks with auxiliary tanks on the system. Pending your input I have also been given suggestion to look into setting up a refugium above the tank.
RODI: This is about the only space I could imagine working...until I expand down into the full basement someday
My water main comes out of the foundation right at this spot, and is exposed for plumbing modifications. I could rack the RODI on the wall and utilize the 30"x36" area for drums/brutes/whatever. That's the space where I currently have the 40 lbs going in a 32 gray brute. There is also very conveniently a drain right there too.Here is my little mock up. The wall you're looking through is an external wall, as is the wall running NE from said wall (aux wall from home sump to aquarium and on into kids room/living room). It's not clear, but I will have the PC mounted on a shelf off of the floating desk. I plan to use the desk space closer to the tank for aquarium stuffs. In the space where my butt will be when im on the PC, on the external wall to my right is a window. I am happy to black this out as much as is necessary with it facing the tank. I have 5' of space from the front of the desk to the homesump/perhaps sink box for my chair and perhaps an additional small work station surface. The space between the homesumpbox and tank is 3'10". The space between the tank and the external wall NW of the tank will be at minimum 7" (width of column) probably plus at least one 2x4, if not a metal jack for peace of mind. I didn't draw out the volume of it for visibility sake, but there is HVAC slightly offset from the rest of the room height above the tank. You can see the rectangle in the lighter gray top portion of that exterior wall by tank. It extends entire fish complex, and enters the lower basement in the wall immediately past the RODI area.
I welcome your input! I was impressed with the spirit and tone of every reef2reef thread I read through in getting to this point. I can't wait to get started. Thanks for reading and/or following along. Hello from the past if you're reading this down the road--I am always happy to answer questions and plan to keep this build well-documented to help with my impatience
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