If You Had An Empty 8x10 Room?

[Hugh Mann]

Long story short, once my ex clears out her sewing room, I'm going to have an empty 8'x10' room and no idea what the heck to do with it. All my tanks and such are in my basement, or 'Man Cave' if you will. I'm thinking of setting it up as a separate quarantine room, get that as far away from my DT as possible. (Currently 15' in the basement, have had cross contamination issues).

What would you do?

 

[Sailingeric]

Model railroad! I played with trains for several years. A lot of fun!

 

[ichthyogeek]

More tanks???

I've really been looking into tropical houseplants lately. Depending on how much light the room gets, it might be interesting to see how much jungle you could get into the room.

WAIT. IDEA. You set up a giant freshwater pond, and concoct an elaborate piping display so that you run all the plants through LECA or similar hydroponic/aquaponic substrate. You replace all the lightbulbs with cool white bulbs (I hate daylight bulbs for general lighting). And this becomes your "hot room" aka the room you take shelter in when the house gets too dang cold.

I'm thinking things like Mastacembelus eels, and Potamotrygon rays, and because you're in Canada, let's toss in a nice asian arowana as well. And you can grow a giant Monstera and other aroids and tropical plants. Think hibiscus, peace lilies, ferns, OH, and of course Bird of Paradise and Heliconias! With all thsoe plant roots, you'll never have to worry about excess nitrates ever again!

 

[Hugh Mann]

I have thought about dabbling in aquaponics before, just not indoors. I'm sure my pond fish would greatly appreciate it.

Yeah, not a bad idea at all. Though me being me, I'd sub the tropical plants for veggies. Clean water AND fresh produce year round? Yes please.

 

[JoshH]

Model railroad! I played with trains for several years. A lot of fun!

GREAT hobby, started when I was a kid and it's tapered off now I actually work for a railroad, but still have a small layout I'm tinkering with. Great for learning soldering skills, electrical, programming, artistic techniques and so on

 

[John08007]

I never realized you could have cross contamination between 2 tanks not connected. Can you go into that situation deeper?

As far as the room, I'd set up a fish room, coral propagation, exotic clown breeding.

 

[ichthyogeek]

I never realized you could have cross contamination between 2 tanks not connected. Can you go into that situation deeper?

As far as the room, I'd set up a fish room, coral propagation, exotic clown breeding.

TL;DR, diseases can travel via water spray. Like, if a tank has ich, then if a bubble in the ich infested tank pops, it sprays water, which can travel quite a distance (lab studies showed 8' IIRC), therefore allowing for the infection of nearby tanks with ich as well.

oooh, hydroponic vegetables...sounds tasty!

 

[Hugh Mann]

I never realized you could have cross contamination between 2 tanks not connected. Can you go into that situation deeper?

As far as the room, I'd set up a fish room, coral propagation, exotic clown breeding.

Water spray, splashes, wet hands, equipment. It's why it's recommended to have your QT at least 10' from any display.
Would be as easy as grabbing the wrong bucket and mixing up WC water in the same bucket used to drain an ich infected tank.

Clown breeding, especially exotic clowns is an awesome idea. Great way to get store credit with my lfs. And clownfish are cool.

 

[Reef-junky]

If I had an an 8x10 room I would make a 7x9 fish tank.

 

[Jon Fishman]

I’d probably make it my closet

 

[SaltyT]

I’d probably make it my closet

Yes!! If I had an extra room I would turn it into my dream closet!

 

[Jon Fishman]

Have you considered a sewing room?

 

[fishlover1478]

FW fish room

 

[KeystoneMalone]

GREAT hobby, started when I was a kid and it's tapered off now I actually work for a railroad, but still have a small layout I'm tinkering with. Great for learning soldering skills, electrical, programming, artistic techniques and so on

Collecting/restoring/running Lionel Trains (mainly the older postwar stuff) is my other not so cheap hobby that my wife loves when she sees the credit card bill at the end of the month lol.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Anyone who knows me, it would be Another tank !!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Cut viewing windows into the adjacent rooms, a bit of this and SUPER HUGE TANK!

Amazon product ASIN B00D32WJTM

 

[southerntnreefer]

brace the floor, build a pond, for sharks, rays, and large angels.

 

[TN_Huskymama]

An empty 8 x 10 room??? Woah I would love that! Lol
We are an animal family and our friends tell us we have a small zoo at the house lol
So if I had the luxury of an empty room it would definitely become the animal room. Most likely our reptiles would be housed in there and possibly some small furry critters too.

 

[Hugh Mann]

An empty 8 x 10 room??? Woah I would love that! Lol
We are an animal family and our friends tell us we have a small zoo at the house lol
So if I had the luxury of an empty room it would definitely become the animal room. Most likely our reptiles would be housed in there and possibly some small furry critters too.

I'm getting a Kimberly rock monitor Thursday, and have a cage full of African Soft Fur Rats. :D
Monitor is going in the basement though. Higher humidity down there.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Uhhh...you're buying a monitor...and you already have a cage of rats....should I be concerned about the rats?