Stanleo's fish room build

stanleo · Jan 3, 2020

I have a thread for the tank over all but I decided to start a separate one for the fish room build. This is going to take a while because my husband and I will be doing all the work ourselves but I am hoping it will be completed by June. It is in the basement directly below the DT.

I got the first step done today, demolish and layout where the walls are going. I tore down the wet wall that has all the plumbing and ID'd the hot and cold lines and drain lines. Thankfully there were no surprises in there. That power box is going to be moved. I want all the power recepticals at a minimum of 5'6" high and all GFCI. This whole room minus the over head lighting will be on its own 30 amp circuit and the display tank will be on a separate circuit.

The first blue line was the old wall placement. I decided that I wanted it bigger to have room for a mixing station and a separate work desk.

This is a rough sketch of the layout of the room. I am sure things will change down the road after the walls are built and I can see it better. But it's a start.

The sump will be DIY out of a 55 gallon tank. Frag tank will be a 20 gallon long on the same system and QT will be a 29 gallon with the current sump I have for the DT. Looking at the layout now I think the sink will have to be a corner sink next to the work bench and mixing station. I want the mixing station raised on a drain pan for accidental spillage because putting in a drain for the whole room is cost prohibitive.

I hope to start framing the new walls on Sunday when I am off work. After that my husband is going to be working on the plumping for the room. That may take a while as he has a demanding job. I don't have a demanding job but he is comfortable doing the plumbing and electrical and I am not. I will be doing all the construction and plumbing for the tanks themselves.

Any advise or suggestions along the way will be greatly appreciated. Wish us luck!

Build Thread - Stanleo's 120 gl mixed reef

Well better late than never. I started this build January 15, 2019 and I am just now starting this journal so I will try to give a time line with pics as best I can. Tank is a 120 gallon standard that we got used from the LFS with the stand. 48"x24"x24". Heater is an Eheim. Sorry I don't...

www.reef2reef.com

stanleo · Jan 4, 2020

Got the footer done today. I used construction adhesive from Quikrete to secure it. Draw back from doing this instead of concrete bolts is it will take 3 days to cure so I have to wait to build out the framing for the walls. But I can do the framing for the duct bulkhead tomorrow.

I have a limited space to work in so I am building the framing piece by painstaking piece instead of like I should do and build the walls separately and then raise them in place. I've never done like this before but if I'm careful it should work.

stanleo · Jan 5, 2020

I decided I couldn't wait. The framing went up so fast around the duct that I decided to go ahead and put the wall frames up. Went really well. I am on may way to get the dry wall to skin the outside of the walls and my husband will be working on the electrical tonight.

FARMBOYREEF · Jan 5, 2020

stanleo said:
I decided I couldn't wait. The framing went up so fast around the duct that I decided to go ahead and put the wall frames up. Went really well. I am on may way to get the dry wall to skin the outside of the walls and my husband will be working on the electrical tonight.

Looks great. I am working on my new fish room aswell.

stanleo · Jan 5, 2020

Do you know how when you were a kid and you couldn't sleep cause the next day was Christmas and you were just too excited to sit still? Yeah that's how I feel right now!!!! I can't believe how much we got done today in 8 hours!! Outside of the room is skinned and the door is on and Chris put in some of the electrical. He ran out of wire so he has to finish that next weekend. This might not take 6 months like I thought it would. Of course I hate mudding and painting so I might procrastinate those steps.

stanleo · Jan 8, 2020

We are at a stand still in the construction until the plumbing is done so I started working on the DIY sump. 55 gallon. Here are the plans:

I have three of the baffles put in. I have to wait til they set to finish them on the other side of the baffles. I had a heck of a time getting them in place to put on the sealant but I figured something out. I might have made the intake baffle too high for filter socks. I have been debating for a while not having filter socks but it just scares me cause until now I have ran them and the system has been doing so well. I might be able to rig something so I can change them easily. If I can't, no socks it is.

Here is what I have done so far. The intake chamber is 5" wide not 4 like the plans say. I wanted a little more room than that. The other measurements are spot on.

stanleo · Jan 9, 2020

Got the sump done today. Should be ready for a water test on Saturday and hopefully there are no leaks. I had a heck of a time getting the sealant on the inside of the bubble trap so it looks messy as heck and I hope it works.

I did some measurements and the total volume is 34 gallons with 20 gallons being in the refugium. So that leaves 21 gallons left to fill if there is a over fill from a power outage which should be plenty of buffer so it won't over flow all over the floor.

stanleo · Jan 11, 2020

Tested the sump today. All looks good. There was a tiny leak in the baffle separating the fuge and skimmer chambers but it was so minor I'm not sure it's something to worry about. I will let it dry and put a little dab of sealant there and be done with it.

I did some research and discovered that draining salt water into a septic tank is a bad idea so I can't do the automatic water changes so that changes this diagram some in that I won't need the drain coming off the pipe on the left. But that's ok. I can still mix my water in the fish room and add it to the sump and pump it up to the DT with the return pump. So this is my diagram for how the plumping will work. I might not have the bulk heads and unions at the wall and I will add ball valves just below the over flow and unions there.

These are pics for the sump test. I also marked where my minimum and maximum water levels will need to be. I included a pic of the leak. As you can see, it was no more than a 1/4 cup of water that leaked through. Surprisingly the baffles for the bubble trap did not leak at all. Which is good cause that would have been hard to fix.

stanleo · Jan 13, 2020

I got the non wet walls skinned this weekend. Is it weird that I kinda like the color of the purple drywall? Now I have to find a sink and Chris has to finish the plumbing for it and I can do the other wall and start the mudding and painting. It's coming along.

Phil D. · Jan 13, 2020

What about ventilation/dehumidifier? Gonna be damp in there. Looks great!

stanleo · Jan 13, 2020

Phil D. said:
What about ventilation/dehumidifier? Gonna be damp in there. Looks great!

Thank you. We are tapping into the duct that is running through the room and the side that you can't see is unfinished under the stairs and is pretty open to the rest of the house. I also used drywall that is intended for bathrooms to handle the humidity in the room.

stanleo · Jan 20, 2020

Plumbing is almost done. And I found a utility sink at a Habitat Restore for 20 bucks and used some scrap wood we had laying around and built the stand for it myself. The under sink sump pump was expensive but worth it because I can pipe the mixing station's drain pan into it. All that's left is putting it together to make sure everything works right and then I can put up that drywall. So stoked.

stanleo · Feb 13, 2020

Plumbing is done. Drywall is up and mudded. On my way to Home Depot to pick out the paint. Gonna do that starting tomorrow.

stanleo · Feb 17, 2020

So after the week at work I have had I am not quite sure where I found the motivation to do all this in one day but I got the entire room painted and the fixtures up AND put down the vinyl tile floor. If Home Depot was still open I would get the base board and trim and finish that tonight! I am loving how it turned out.

stanleo · Feb 19, 2020

Got everything done as far as building the room. The sink is installed minus the sump pump but Chris has to do that when he gets back into town. The baseboards are in and painted and I got the door painted and the support post. I am really liking how everything looks. All that's left before plumping the tank down here is building the tables the sump and QT will sit on and I am good to go!

stanleo · Feb 22, 2020

Got the tables built today. Sturdy and tested at over 400 lbs of weight so should be good for I want them for. I still have to sand stain and waterproof them.

stanleo · Feb 25, 2020

Ok I have set a new goal for myself. Today was the last time I do the full water change in the living room which means I have two weeks to get this project done.

Tables are stained and water proofed. Sink is complete (just ignore the terrible job I did on the adhesive tile work).

Battery back up for the heaters and return pump is installed (should last about 4 hours in case of a blackout).

Mixing station is dry fitted. I still have to get the bulkheads for the tubs, another 10 feet of PVC and a couple more unions but these pics give an idea of how it is going to work. There is piping leading to the top off reservoir and to the sump.

I should have the mixing station plumbed today or tomorrow. After that I just need to plump the sump and get that ready and I should be good to go. Very excited, I can't wait till its done.

count krunk · Feb 25, 2020

So much progress! It's looking good

stanleo · Mar 2, 2020

Got a lot done the last few days. Mixing station is done and it all works. I broke the first pump I bought by screwing it too tight but the second pump is better anyway. Hygger DC pump. Nothing leaks in the piping so that's good. It is going to the sump and the ATO.

I also today got the basement part of the sump plumbed. I still have to do the DT part of it. I am making water in the mixing station right now so it can heat up through the night. With any luck the new sump will be running by tomorrow evening.

stanleo · Mar 11, 2020

Well it went a lot faster than I thought it would. Probably because working on it became an obsession.

I got the QT up and running and the frag tank is installed. I also installed the ATO a few days ago and it works great. It's a Hydrofill I found online and I used an old pump I had laying around for it. The mixing station makes everything so much easier and testing is a lot easier as well. The chair is a bit big for the room but its comfortable. The curtain is there to hide the house's water heater from view. Also installed a float switch and auto topoff for the RODI filter.

My only wish is that it could be bigger but it works and I am very happy.