FishRoom conversation

[Jiddy]

Can we talk about creating a fishroom. Ill be closing on my new house next month and have just doubled my sq. footage. I have a room in my unfinished basement that will be setup for my new fishroom and wanted to know some recommendations.

Things i was curious about:
1. Adding a seperate circuit just for fish related projects....
2. "WaterProofing" the area
3. Things i may need to know about like Ventalation.

Please feel free to share any knowledge and PICS you have on the subject, thank you

Jiddy

 

[Scooterman]

Sounds like fun Jiddy, I want to watch as you do this one. If your open to design, then your limitless excluding the monies factor that is. It you hire an electrician I would ask for AFCI breakers & GFCI on half the outlets. Reasons>> #1. ARC fault breakers do just that the will detect shorting wires or arcing of them thus preventing a possible fire. The GFCI well on half your equipment you will probably have some sort of wires like pumps, PH's, heaters etc that will go into the water, the GFCI will serve the purpose of protecting you in those situations. The other half isn't on the GFCI because of lighting issues, chillers items that aren't in submerged.
Ventilation & AC, I would have plenty of AC ducting through out the area & a situation where you can pump in fresh air from outside to help. The AC will help keep the humidity out of the room. I would also consider ducting with a fan outside that would duct hot air from the hood area & just suck it straight outside.
Ever heard of green board? It is used around showers etc, I'd use this in the areas around water & high moisture, this will add life to the structure & just farther protect that area. Use good primers & moisture resistant paints. Flooring, painted or stained concrete or tiling will hold up best under splashes & floods. In your sump do like I did & build a pan type area out of the stand that will hold water, install a drain like on a water heater safety pan & plumb it outside, if you have leaks in the sump area hopefully this will drain the water away from your home. If you can install a drain for the room so where water will all go to this location just in case, sorta like a shower drain for the basement.

Just a few thoughts.
scooty

 

[Krish]

Congrats on closing soon Jiddy! I hope the move and everything goes well! I've never had a fishroom in a basememnt, so I won't waste your time with "I figure this or that will work". Tons of people here have fishrooms in their basement so I'm sure you'd get great feedback. I just wanted to say congrats

 

[Jiddy]

Scooty,
Why just watch me do it, why dont you come on up and help! As far as the electrician goes, would that be creating two circuits then? One with the ARC/GFCI and the other standard? Is there a limit of watts or sockets that the ARC/GFCI line can have?
As far as ducting the room to the outside, that would be pretty simple, i could use one of the small basement windows for that. Though the house is setup w/ central air, i dont see how i could effectively incorparate that into the fishroom because in scenarios like winter the room will be hotter than the house... any ideas. I do like the idea of just ducting the "canopy" air straight outside.
The drain system will be simple for the time being, i wont be putting up walls yet, so i will be close enough to the installed drain now. I may want to rember this when i add walls. Which brings up my next point, for the time being i dont have any walls, will there be any problems with the wooden floorboards or cement basement walls? should i protect those walls? And when i close off the room i will be using green board. Thanks for the help Scooty, your getting my gears turning, lol.

Thanks Krish, should be pretty neat. All i want is my tank to make it safely down the stairs where it wont be moved again, lol. Its funny that normal people dread moving all there house stuff, but reefers dont even think about that stuff, they dread the tank, lol

Would love to talk more about fishRooms
Jiddy

 

[aquariumdebacle]

Aren't ALL rooms fishrooms?

maybe that's just me! without speaking for Scooty I think what he means is that you have the first type on the breaker and the second type on (half) the outlets. I would also suggest that if you do hire the electrician (recommended) to install a sub panel. If you have a standard (nowdays) 200 amp service you should then have plenty of power to start a small aquaculture farm. The reason for the sub panel is that you can then shutdown all power to the room for such things as maintenance, upgrades, and emergencies without having to run to the house panel and/or affecting the rest of the house (where's my Gameboy!)

The cement can be sealed with just paint. no need to waterproof or anything drastic, you just want to keep it from sweating. The greenboard is a must and a proper tape job to seal it for any interior walls you plan to put in later. Ventilation is also key here. You can get by with just a bathroom fan in the ceiling but it would need to run constantly to keep the moisture out of the structure of the house. You might want two: one for the room(s) and one for the lighting system. You also might want a fan to move air into the room/hood from the outside to replace the air that is being removed and to increase the efficiency of air movement. A good sheetrock (greenboard) and tape job will also go a long way to keep moisture out of the structure. Paint the walls as well as this one more barrier to the moisture.

One more idea that I think is worth stealing is to plumb a several hundred gallon resevoir outside underground. It will add stability and volume to your system. Just bury a tank in the back yard with an inlet and outlet.

 

[Jiddy]

Thanks Dan. I think your right about the wiring. I do have a 200AMP setup and ill look into a sub-box.

What about the top of the fishroom/bottom of the first floor, should that be protected?

How do you purpose to do the ventalation? Would be easy to hookup a hose from the canopy to the window/fan, but what about the other suggestions.

Good idea about the tank resevoir, can you do me a favor and sell the idea to my wife?

Thanks
Jiddy

 

[brianblack]

I have my tanks in the basement. the advantage of this is that the basement usually stays at a lower temp then the rest of the house so I do not use a chiller at all and have been fine for 2 years. I do run a dehumidifier. There in S. Dak I think you will be OK. I was stationed in Minot N Dak and can say 'where's the heat'. I built my tanks in wall and the family room is on the other side. The only thing I would do different (and plan to change in the future) is build in front access to the tank so I can see what I am doing. I have some pic posted in my photo gallery here. I have 2 30gal breeders(viewable) for fuges one above and one below the main 75 gal display. I have a 125 waiting to be installed. I did everything myself and think the sub panel would be a great idea and the circuit breakers as mentioned are a must. I like the 'behind the scenes space'. It just frees up so much space rather than trying to get everything in a stand. As for selling ideas to the wife - hmmm- you have to perfect the idea transition technique - make her think it was her idea!!!

As for the paint they have some durable epoxy paints that would work well for this purpose. Good luck with the build - with all the preplanning I did with mine I still find all kinds of things to improve upon. Ahhh next build.

 

[aquariumdebacle]

the ceiling of the fishroom should be sealed with both visquene (plastic sheeting) and greenboard with a good tape job. The taping doesn't have to look good but it does have to seal. This is both for moisture and smoke in the case of fire. The greenboard will provide a slight measure of moisture protection over standard sheetrock but the true sealant here is paint. Don't worry too much about the type, even a standard latex will do, just make sure the coats (notice plural) are even and thorough. You should not be able to see green from the board.

The ventilation can be provided with a standard bathroom fixture. The idea here is not to move a whole lot of air at once, just a steady replacement. Unless you get truly carried away this should suffice. The important idea here is to vent the moisture to the outside much similar in fashion to turning on the fan when you take a shower in the bathroom. Moisture is NOT good for a house. They need to breath,especially the basement; fishroom or not.

 

[Scooterman]

I think Dan clarified what I said, actually he said it better

 

[Jiddy]

Been gone a while, thanks for the clarification guys, great work.

Just to recap:

1.Airflow, can hook up a bathroom vent system for the room, and should work for ventilation of the whole room.

2.For structural protection, you say paint the cement (basement) walls, they are already painted over, should i repaint them with a water resistant paint? And the sides of the room that i will be "building" go with a greenboard sheetrock (ill do this when i start to finish the basement completly) I was thinking of putting up clear plastic tarp for now (ghetto but cheap) just to keep the moisture in the room and now the whole basement, plus then i can put up a "no girls allowed" sign and make it my fishfort.

3. And the most important thing is to have an electrician install AFCI and GFCI plugins, with a seperate sub-panel for the fishroom spefically, correct.

Thanks for your help so far guys

(Heres the pictures- On a similar thread i created)
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15894

 

[brianblack]

I just put a 300cfm bathroom fan in the tank room - what a difference it made in the basement. I thought about using formica inside the tank room area. Anyone have opins on that??

 

[Scooterman]

my tank is up against a sheet rock wall that I recently painted well with Latex but the room is well vented.
If the walls are already painted then trying to water proof them I doubt will be helpful unless you would somehow remove the old paint first, vent the room well, if necessary add a dehumidifier.
If you run a sub-panel for your fish room have them Install AFCI breakers & where you run your outlets have him add one GFCI to protect whatever electrical equipment that would go IN water. The lights & some of the other equipment may not need to have the GFCI but have the guy check local codes on that.
Formica is some good stuff but I can't give much opinion on using it for that purpose sorry

 

[jake65]

Jidz I bet you wish you new some CE guys right about now...lol j/k

 

[Jiddy]

Thanks scooty and Jake

I actually do know some CE guys, but the ones i know i wouldnt trust to do my electric wiring, lol.

 

[cindyf]

Here's a couple more ideas for you.

1. When you install your fan also install a humidistat it looks like a fan timer that you can set to the level of humidity you want in the room. It will come on automatically when the humidity reaches the set level and shut off when it is below the set level. These work great and are not running all the time.You can get them at most hardware stores about $35.00.

2. They make a paint which we use on the interior walls here in Southeast Alaska that is a air impermeable (sp?) primer it keeps the air from coming into the sheetrock or going out. Basically it has a plastic in it that creates a barrier I would paint the inside of your room with this. It should protect the rest of the house from the moisture.

3. We used the formica like sheets you use in shower enclosures in our sump room it comes 4'x8' and can be easily cut.
It is very easy to clean and also works like a dry erase board if you have note to leave to yourself that you do not want to worry about disappearing.
We even used it on the ceiling makes for a very bright room.

4. If you are going to create a tile floor for drainage use a rubber shower pan that you can cut to any size and do the whole room. Not worth taking a chance on leakage. Run it up the walls about 6 inches or so just in case your drain does not flow as fast as it should or does get plugged.

5 DO NOT tie your tank drain into your septic drain if you are on a private septic system. No faster way to kill your drainfield and the bacteria in your tank than this. Your wife would definitly not be a happy camper. If it is on a public system this is not a issue. Remember if you drain it outside it will kill all vegetation.

6. When we wired our sump room my husband wired a switch under each outlet so we can shut everything off indivually quite easily. These are all at about 3 1/2 foot off the floor so they are easy to get to and not hidden behind equipment. He then used his fancy label maker to label all the outlets so you can easily tell what is plugged in where.

Our is still a work in progress but I think that is always the case.
Good luck with yours think big seems like I always want to add one more tank.

 

[burning2nd]

300cfm bathroom fan

seperate circurt is a good thing,

finished walls with mold resistant paint,

the fan for an exhaust (maybe on a timer)

humidifier for the dry winters

dehumidifier for the wet summers

and maybe some sort of heat for the room if it gets cold cold in the winter.... depending on where you live.

 

[Damsel13]

Can We Dance Now?

 

[Jiddy]

No dancing, thanks for the help guys/gals ill be "traveling the world" again this month, but when i get back im going to start this project, so go ahead and tell me all your ideas! I love it because i see it starting in my head *yippy*

 

[burning2nd]

try not to lose any sleep over it.....

I know i would if i thought any harder then i do now about it....

 

[trido]

the ceiling of the fishroom should be sealed with both visquene (plastic sheeting) and greenboard with a good tape job. The taping doesn't have to look good but it does have to seal. This is both for moisture and smoke in the case of fire. The greenboard will provide a slight measure of moisture protection over standard sheetrock but the true sealant here is paint. Don't worry too much about the type, even a standard latex will do, just make sure the coats (notice plural) are even and thorough. You should not be able to see green from the board.

The ventilation can be provided with a standard bathroom fixture. The idea here is not to move a whole lot of air at once, just a steady replacement. Unless you get truly carried away this should suffice. The important idea here is to vent the moisture to the outside much similar in fashion to turning on the fan when you take a shower in the bathroom. Moisture is NOT good for a house. They need to breath,especially the basement; fishroom or not.

Visquene behind the sheetrock will void any warranties . It needs to breath from both sides.
Any latex will do but flat paint has no "Shell" so to speak. The higher the gloss the more protective it is against moisture. That is why they use semi- and high gloss in kitchens and baths.
The ventilation fan will be real helpful if it can remove heat as well as moisture. I have 110CFM bath fan in my tank room and it barely does the job in the summer.I also have my fan set up with a cooling stat mounted to the ceiling. It turns on automaticly when the temp get too hot. Spend the extra money on a real quiet bath fan or it will vibrate the whole house. My fan runs even now with temps in the 40s outside.
Make sure you have some fresh air intake to replace the air the fan is trying to remove.
Moisture is real bad for a house. Ther is such a thing as too air tight as well.


IF you can, put a sink and drain in your tank room. I have one of my overflows plumbed straight into my house. Real easy water changes.
A counter top is helpful.
Storage for testing supplies.
Leave room for your equipment to stretch out if you can.
Make sure you have access form the front of your tank as well as from the tank room. It makes aquascaping and maintance like nuking aptasia easier.
Tile floor is forgiving of spills.
Pick a nice paint color as you will be spending alot of time in there.