Let's build a trap door leading to a secret fish room under my porch!

[kenchilada]

I have a 220G reef and I want to setup automated water changes. This is the last piece of the puzzle to kick my reef into high gear since I really do not have a practical way to do water changes.

I don't really have anywhere to store water tanks though, so I have to get creative. I was going to build a small outbuilding next to my house to store everything, but then I realized just ten feet away from the tank there is an 8x40' crawlspace under my porch. This is perfect because the porch needs remodeled this spring anyway.

Goals:

• Easy maintenance so I can be as lazy as possible!
• I do not want to mix saltwater more than once every 1-2 months
• I want to change 2.5G of water per day automatically
• Must have one 75G storage tank for fresh RODI water automatically filled via float valve
• Must have two 75G storage tanks for saltwater
• Water changes must be done via a simple timer, with no float switches or fancy controller logic required
• Monitor TDS of RODI water via Hydros
• Monitor level inside saltwater holding tanks via Hydros (get notified when near empty)
• Keep it simple (because I tend to overengineer things)
• Everything must be hidden in a secret room under my porch!
• BONUS: Secret room should have it's own power and lights
• BONUS: I would like to be able to control which saltwater tank is being drawn from via Hydros app
• BONUS: Move existing ATO pump into secret room and pull from freshwater tank
• BONUS: Secret room should not be a regional mecca for rats or snakes
• BONUS: Secret room should be large enough to store "porch junk" in (pool toys, smoker, etc)

Let's see what we have to work with...

Lovely! This part is sealed off from the rest of the house. I doubt anyone has entered this section in over 20+ years. The best part is there is a ledge around the entire foundation that is nice and level. I can rest floor joists on this.

I will post updates as I do things. I am going to "just do things" instead of try to plan this out to death, so it should come together quickly.

My wife will not be consulted and no permission shall be requested.

Thanks for following along, and please say hi in the thread, I would love to hear your ideas or comments about how crazy I am!

 

[OrchidMiss]

My wife will not be consulted and no permission shall be requested.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Best of luck with this!!

 

[doubleshot00]

Can you stand up in there? If not my back hurt reading all this.

 

[homer1475]

Yeah I'm wondering about head height under the porch? If you have to crawl around, it's not going to be very easy.

 

[wmb0003]

170DMP5 - Buy Stenner pumps chemical feeders - $438.00

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great pump for auto water change applications

 

[Troylee]

Don’t know your location but is weather gonna be an issue with water bins stored outside like that?

 

[kenchilada]

Can you stand up in there? If not my back hurt reading all this.

It’s almost 4 feet “deep” to the floor. But the trap door opening is going to be 48x60”, so that’s 20 square feet of standing room. Plenty to move around and mix salt. I really only need to kneel to get to the back, and that’s just storage space.

It will make more sense after I get some pictures up!

 

[kenchilada]

Yeah I'm wondering about head height under the porch? If you have to crawl around, it's not going to be very easy.

It’ll make sense soon. I’ll make a drawing later. The tanks will be under the porch mostly except a small area to open them to add salt. So I’ll have plenty of standing room to work when the door is open!

By the way, have you guys ever seen the YouTube video of the guy that did this under his house? He has a couch and a little computer station and everything down there and rolls around on a stool!

 

[GatorGreg]

I have a 220G reef and I want to setup automated water changes. This is the last piece of the puzzle to kick my reef into high gear since I really do not have a practical way to do water changes.

I don't really have anywhere to store water tanks though, so I have to get creative. I was going to build a small outbuilding next to my house to store everything, but then I realized just ten feet away from the tank there is an 8x40' crawlspace under my porch. This is perfect because the porch needs remodeled this spring anyway.

Goals:

• Easy maintenance so I can be as lazy as possible!
• I do not want to mix saltwater more than once every 1-2 months
• I want to change 2.5G of water per day automatically
• Must have one 75G storage tank for fresh RODI water automatically filled via float valve
• Must have two 75G storage tanks for saltwater
• Water changes must be done via a simple timer, with no float switches or fancy controller logic required
• Monitor TDS of RODI water via Hydros
• Monitor level inside saltwater holding tanks via Hydros (get notified when near empty)
• Keep it simple (because I tend to overengineer things)
• Everything must be hidden in a secret room under my porch!
• BONUS: Secret room should have it's own power and lights
• BONUS: I would like to be able to control which saltwater tank is being drawn from via Hydros app
• BONUS: Move existing ATO pump into secret room and pull from freshwater tank
• BONUS: Secret room should not be a regional mecca for rats or snakes
• BONUS: Secret room should be large enough to store "porch junk" in (pool toys, smoker, etc)

Let's see what we have to work with...

Lovely! This part is sealed off from the rest of the house. I doubt anyone has entered this section in over 20+ years. The best part is there is a ledge around the entire foundation that is nice and level. I can rest floor joists on this.

I will post updates as I do things. I am going to "just do things" instead of try to plan this out to death, so it should come together quickly.

My wife will not be consulted and no permission shall be requested.

Thanks for following along, and please say hi in the thread, I would love to hear your ideas or comments about how crazy I am!

Where in Louisiana are you to have a crawl space. Never see those down here in the Deep South part of the state.

I’m going to be in Westwego this weekend. I’m going to stop by coral connection in Kenner and pick up some sticks hopefully

 

[DIYreefer]

My wife will not be consulted and no permission shall be requested.

A wise man once said, "its easier to ask for forgiveness, than for permission". Well, he may not have been wise, but I bet he had more fun.

You already had my attention with your build, but now I'm captivated by your kamikaze approach to it. God speed, sir!

 

[kenchilada]

Where in Louisiana are you to have a crawl space. Never see those down here in the Deep South part of the state.

I’m going to be in Westwego this weekend. I’m going to stop by coral connection in Kenner and pick up some sticks hopefully

I’m in Mandeville area. My house is raised, no underground crawlspaces here!

When you’re out that way you might want to check out Aquatic Sealife, they are having a big moving sale right now.

 

[Dine]

Watching just for an update on this bullet point alone.

 

[kenchilada]

Here’s todays progress. I worked out where I wanted the trap door to go. This spot is a straight shot about 15ft from the tank in my living room.

I cut through the porch floor with my track saw. Thin kerf blade so I can use the piece I cut out as the door. The terrible paint job will be redone after I remodel the porch when this is all done.

In case it’s hard to see, here’s the outline...

The floor is 1” thick tongue and groove pine, very good quality stuff. Next I need to cut everything below the floor boards so I can pop this out. I used a sawzall to cut the joists. Quick and sloppy but I left extra material so I can come in and clean it up later when I frame the door.

Here’s the section I removed that will be the door. It is quite heavy! I’ll need some gas struts on this to help lift it once it’s on hinges.

And here’s our hole in the porch!

Notice the tape measure for scale. It’s a pretty big hole! Now I need to start framing the floor and get rid of that pesky joist messing up my hole.

 

[kenchilada]

Watching just for an update on this bullet point alone.

Not my first rodeo. Last week I hinted at plans to commandeer the hall closet to put water tanks in. I never really intended to do that, it was just to make my porch idea seem like a better option. She is fine with it, especially since we usually have an outdoor rug over where the trap door will be and this will get the junk off our porch.

Plus I’ve done way worse than this.

 

[kenchilada]

Day 2. Time to start framing the floor. The floor will be 8x10. I’ll use pressure treated 2x6” lumber. That’s plenty of support for what I’m doing here.

Lucky for me the foundation has a nice 3” ledge all the way around and it’s level! I’ll rest the framing right off top of that.

Well it’s level except for all these mortar blobs that were dropped all over during construction…

No problem we’ll just knock these off with a cold chisel…

Next I cut all the boards to length and started nailing everything together…

Not bad for an hours work! For good measure I added joist hangers to the one end that isn’t supported by the ledge. Good enough.

I’ll start decking tomorrow.

 

[docforestal]

loving this, and following

 

[kenchilada]

Here are the 75G water storage tanks I am going to use. They are 51x20" and only 18" tall.

75 Gallon Fresh / Gray Water Holding Tank-T-7500

www.classacustoms.com

Three of these are supposed to get delivered today. Two will be put on the floor and hold saltwater, the third will be RODI water, put above those so I can fill the lower tanks by gravity.

These are drinking-water-safe tanks.

 

[Amphibious Wallet]

This mad lad is not mucking around, jeez. Look at him go!

 

[kenchilada]

Tanks are here!