Ross B Reef'n 170 Gallon & Fishroom Megabuild

Janci

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Made and installed the concealed air return and lid. Getting late, so I'm postponing the hydraulics until tomorrow.

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Looking great.
Nice workmanship.
 
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Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

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Took a couple days off, but I'm back at it!

Started rough framing the fish room. Need to run to lowes to buy a door to determine the exact rough opening size I need. Also need to determine what size drain pipe I want to use for the automatic water change and self cleaning systems. This will determine how far off the wall the first stud needs to be, and where the door lands.

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Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

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With that much space, I would double the size of the fish room.
Ha

Would have! But I had to make some compromises with my wife. Our garage has been a woodshop for the past 8 months, building things like this table:

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I have a ton of tools, and I promised to leave enough room for her to park in the garage. It'll be compact, but I made sure there's room for everything the system needs.
 
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Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

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Exterior drywall on the fish room up! Also moved the garage light out of the fish room. Going to run new wire to the old box so the fish room light is independent of the garage lights. Also ran the HVAC to the fish room and rough electrical. There will only be electrical on the exterior wall to separate all electrical and plumbing. A raceway around the top of the fish room will be used to bring all electrical to one central location with two indepent circuits to divide the total electrical load.
 
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Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

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Electrical is in! There's actually three separate circuits on the exterior wall. Two for the aquarium system, and one for the workbench going on the outside of the fish room. For the fish room, one circuit is dedicated for lights and heaters, and the other is for everything else.

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Also added a new run for the fish room light, so its independent of the garage lights.

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I know the light switch is a little high, but that's where the quarantine tanks will be. So I have to live with a higher than normal light switch, no big deal.

Interior drywall has also been roughed in

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I need to pull down one piece of drywall to insulate an exterior corner, and then it's time to get muddy. Will also be finishing the sides of the aquarium on the fish room side today. Additional drywall needs to be cut away for nearly full access to the sides of the aquarium. This will be handy if I decide to run two powerheads on each side of the tank.
 

Janci

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You are progressing well.
Looking great.

Will there be air extraction as well?
 
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Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

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You are progressing well.
Looking great.

Will there be air extraction as well?

Thank you :)

Eagerly trying to get to plumbing.

The air return is part of the lid/canopy.
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The air flows into the fish room, then up and over the aquarium and lights and back into the rest of the home.

This is a pic of the lid open
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Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

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I got sick last week, so there was a little slowdown on tank progress. By the weekend I was feeling better, and managed to get some work done! the fish room now has a level 4 drywall finish, and Natalie did a great job painting the front.

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The paint on the front cover plywood didn't look so great, so a layer of mud was slapped on top of it. Unfortunately this made the top lid/cover too heavy for the gas struts to hold open. Hopefully the mud will lose some weight when it dries and the lid will stay open again.
 

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This is an incredible build! Loving the look and functionality of the whole thing, not to mention the actual building (stand, ramp, an entire room, etc.) you're capable of. It boggles my mind seeing construction progress.
 
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Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

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This is an incredible build! Loving the look and functionality of the whole thing, not to mention the actual building (stand, ramp, an entire room, etc.) you're capable of. It boggles my mind seeing construction progress.

Thank you so much! I started in construction, flipping houses, when I was 14. It's awesome to finally have my own home and put this knowledge toward something I truly enjoy, for me and my family.
 

Blutspitze

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Thank you so much! I started in construction, flipping houses, when I was 14. It's awesome to finally have my own home and put this knowledge toward something I truly enjoy, for me and my family.

Very cool. A friend and fellow reefer I met through work used to own his own construction company, so his tank was very DIY and has a lot of purpose-built parts and features. Not a nicely finished as yours is, but reminded me of it all. Out of curiosity, are you an electrician? I ask since it looks like you're doing a decent amount of electrical work and I wonder when inspections/permits need to come into play for a build like this, if at all.
 

JumboShrimp

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“Side access.” “Air return.” “Independent fish room lighting.” “Winch.” I’ve seen quite a lot since joining R2R about a year ago, but you are a Madman! In a GOOD way!! So meticulously thought out, and so competently executed! Beautiful job, and I will continue to watch this inspiring tank built right through the water and fish. Congratulations... :)
 

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