ReefNerd Fish Shed

lynn.reef.nerd · Sep 7, 2021

Changing this thread to a new build.
We decided to move and was in the process of finding the right house for the dream Fish Shed back in September 2021.

Yes ... the market sucks!

lynn.reef.nerd · Sep 8, 2021

Prepping the old house to hold fish/corals in the meantime while the home is being prep for sale.

lynn.reef.nerd · Sep 11, 2021

Using old post to update: Date of this video is 02/2022

Found a home and the perfect building for the Fish Shed!

BranchingHammer · Jul 24, 2022

Any updates Lynn?

lynn.reef.nerd · Jul 29, 2022

BranchingHammer said:
Any updates Lynn?

A detached 2-car garage (19x22).

We spent the next few months insulating, drywall, flooring, and added a mini-split.

Unfortunately, the Fish Shed did not have a source of water and it became apparent that lugging buckets of water from the main house (~ 250 feet) to the shed was not the way to go.
We had to wait until the weather was decent enough to start digging. We ran a hose from the main house to the shed 3ft underground. It was a painfully slow process since we have no idea what was underneath (old home with work done without permits from before).
We dug slowly and check to make sure we did not hit any electrical or previous plumbing.

We did find random sewage line that were super old and even an old septic tank.

It took 4 days (2 weekends) for the project to complete and so many issues (too long to discuss) but it was done!
We have water!!!!

06/01/2022
Mini split installed and we are rocking with all the necessary equipment in the Fish Shed!
We added a small dehumidifier to keep the room cooler. Currently at around 40-50% daily.
We added a hose to the back and have it drain directly to the sink so we don't have to empty it daily.

The initial plan was to add a LARGE aquarium, but after finishing up the area, we were pretty broke

The hike in prices made the entire process 2x and sometimes 3x our initial estimate. Out of luck, a local hobbyist was selling his frag system with stand and I ended up buying them from him for a steal!

Took me a bit to try and plumb them together and the constant leak from the bulkhead made it super hard to seal. Because I was running out of time to move the fish from the old place over after we sold the home, I ended up puttying and/or gluing some items together to make it work. So the plumbing might have to get updated in the near future. For now it works

Yup ... I need some help organizing :ROFL:

I'm currently using a 100gal rubbermaid as a sump. Two running return pump and return line. One for the display tank and one for the frag system.
Not ideal but it works for the time being. I have a buddy who is giving me a nice sump that I am still trying to take the 2 hr drive (4 hour total round trip) to get.

06/19/2022
The power to the shed a few weeks ago died on us. We had an emergency electrician come to check on the situation. One of the power line to the shed from the home died so we were only getting 110 V to the shed instead of 220 (I'm not an electrician so please excuse my ignorance).

To remedy the situation, we have to replace the entire line to the fish shed (250 ft) distance. It's a long process and takes some time so his short term solution is to have everything in the shed running off the 110V for now. We ended up getting a small portable AC to keep the room cool for the HOT week(s) to come. Even with that, the tank continues to flux between 74 and 83 degree :mad:

Unfortunately, a few days pass and our electrical went completely out. We are not sure what happened but the 110V no longer work. The new line is not scheduled to be installed for another 4 days.

We ended up getting a generator to keep the essential running until the new line can be finished.
I can say this beast is a work horse! It kept the two returns, portable AC, and heaters going for days.

Definitely a very stressful and expensive couple of weeks but I am glad everything is back up and running. The last owner lay the line completely wrong and had no protection and I am not surprised if it was accidently cut somehow since it runs into our neighbors yard (old home).

I did lose a handful of acros and an acantho so far. The affect of the heat flux and no lights for 4 days will show itself later. As of now, just want one week of not having something going on.

06/23/2022
Added a new sump

Went and stole a giant sump from two local hobbyist in WV (WAMAS members) .

I made my buddy come over on her weekend to help me plumb it. Ellie loves coming to my place now

It measures 30x47x32 and hold over 200 gal of water. This thing is super heavy and is a beast!!! I love it!

It also has chambers for 6 HUGE filter sock. I think I can fit my westie inside of it. Back to cleaning filter sock for me.

07/28/2022
My husband did make some covers for the frag tanks. This is great because now I don't have to think about all the cord mess I have under there. Why fix a problem when you can just hide it ... right?
He used velcro to keep them up. So it's easy to remove and do what I need to do underneath.

After months and months of try to source parts for this skimmer, it's finally on and running!!! Except my nutrients ended up hitting close to 0,0 and now I get to deal with dino :sick:.

lynn.reef.nerd · Jan 7, 2023

Recently we replaced the Red Sea and a small frag tank on the left hand side of section. When I brought the Red Sea tank over, I decided to take off the back to access the plumbing and have it go into a central sump for the rest of the shed. What I didn't realize was how much the back piece was providing support for the stand.... it's just a plastic piece

.

It caused the stand to have a lot more movement and the weight was making me worried so we ended up ordering a frag tank (96x24x12) from Aquarium and Terrarium Builder. A local reefer picked up his tank and offered to bring me back mine so it worked out perfectly!

The tank at the shop:
It has
4 x 3/4" return
4 x 1" drain

It arrived on 12/17/2022 and we got to working 12/31/2022.

My neighbor took the Red Sea tank and another local reefer the small frag tank so I didn't have to worry about storing them yay!!!

It took us one day to fish out all the fish and corals, empty the tanks and down the street it goes!

Frag tank went in it's place and plumbing the next day!

The guy in the picture is my husband. I always complain that he hates my hobby so he made sure to look SUPER HAPPY in every picture while he is forced to do work.