TxMaverickMH Game Room Dream Build

txmaverickmh

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Hello Everyone,

After 6 LONG years out of the hobby, I am finally getting wet again, exciting to be back, WOW, have things changed!!!

Background: I was in hobby with various tanks for 8 years (2006-2014), had 28gal Biocube with Seahorses and Acan Garden, 40gal Cube Mixed Reef and 70 Gal SPS Dominant...was about to setup 250 gal DD tank, then came a horrible divorce...a few years later, remarried to my amazing best friend and incredible wife, we are currently in the process of designing our dream home, my dream tank is going to be the Focal Point of the game room, and I look forward to all your expert advice on this build thread!!! We are getting close to finalizing the floor plans so I am in need of expert advice, suggestions...Thank you all in advance for your views, thoughts and expertise!


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As you can see in the plans, I am planning a two-side viewable in-wall build, starfire front and side viewing panel, tank is currently 60" long X 30" deep, haven't decided on height, but probably in the 28-30" range. The fish room is 3' wide X 9' long. I could probably widen the fish room to 4' if experts think it is necessary for more space.

The fish room will include a utility sink in the corner for cleaning and rinsing equipment, etc...I will have shelves above the sink for chemicals, additives, food, etc...CAN I tie the drain for water changes (Apex micro water changes) to the sink grey water? We are on city public water supply, my builder was wondering if it was ok to drain saltwater into the plumbing? RO/DI system will be on exterior wall (top of pic) next to the sink station, water line will come from sink plumbing.

I currently do not have a place for quarantine tanks (fish and corals), any thoughts on where to place two 20 gal longs? Should i put them on shelves above the sink since sink area is approx 3' wide? I could put additives/food, etc...in storage below the sink or other place.

I am going to do a concrete floor with drain in middle of open space and a drain under tank, is this overkill? Do I need just one drain in middle of floor? This drain will simply drain out in the yard through exterior wall in event of emergency. Is there anything else I need to tell builder/architect to prepare for in regards to plumbing?

What are suggestions for walls? I was going to do tile up about 3-4' to prevent walls from getting crappy over time, but do I need to do some other material for all the walls?

For electrical, I am going to have a designated GFI circuit for fish room, what are suggestions on how many and where to place outlets?

I am planning to place the sump underneath the aquarium (was a huge fan of LifeReef equipment back in the day), sump will be easily accessible in the fish room, and plan to put majority of equipment underneath aquarium, and controllers (Apex and Vortechs) mounted on bottom wall in picture. We plan to have carpenter finish out access panels above the front side of tank in game room to access front of tank for cleaning/maintenance.

My plan after visiting LFSs and learning all the new equipment and technology, is to have an APEX system with Triton for dosing, monitoring, timers, controller and automatic water changes. I want to make this system as maintenance free as possible.

For air filtration and cooling, some have suggested that I block the fish room from house HVAC and get a in-room A/C-humidifier, anyone have suggestions/success with this?

Any thoughts on what I am not thinking of?

Again, thank you in advance, I look forward to your feedback and suggestions.

TxMaverickMH
 

kenchilada

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Nice!

Man, 3’ is really tight. I’d bump it to 4-5’ for sure.

You could do FRP on the walls but it’s kinda ugly.

I put outlets 4’ off the floor in my workshop and it’s pretty nice.

For AC you could put a minisplit in there. Most of them can operate as dehumidifiers as well. You can install yourself if you’re handy. Mine was pretty easy.

I’ve been putting saltwater down the plumbing for thirty years and the worlds still turning.
 
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txmaverickmh

txmaverickmh

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Nice!

Man, 3’ is really tight. I’d bump it to 4-5’ for sure.

You could do FRP on the walls but it’s kinda ugly.

I put outlets 4’ off the floor in my workshop and it’s pretty nice.

For AC you could put a minisplit in there. Most of them can operate as dehumidifiers as well. You can install yourself if you’re handy. Mine was pretty easy.

I’ve been putting saltwater down the plumbing for thirty years and the worlds still turning.
Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback...I have increased the width of fish room to 42" (4.5 feet) which should give some more shoulder room...and I am looking into a minisplit for the room for A/C/Heat and dehumidfier.

Going to put drain in the middle of the floor and underneath tank as well.

If you are trying to climate control the room separate from the house with the minisplit, I assume I need to put some extra insulation on the front panels to open to access front of tank from game room?
 

kenchilada

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I doubt you’d need to do anything special to insulate between the fish room and game room. An HVAC person might know better, but unless you’ll have a large temperature difference between the two rooms it’s probably fine.

Id mostly try to focus on keeping humidity in the fish room, and that will be determined by which room has a positive/negative air pressure compared to the rest of the house. That has to do with how well your home is sealed and ventilated. For example if air pushes easily into your fish room from the attic, it may create positive pressure in that room and push wet air out of the fish room into the house.

This is really nitpicking though. You’ll be fine unless you’re just going for max efficiency and want to really nail it down.
 

kenchilada

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Also, to give you an idea of how well mini splits perform, I got this unit for $1100

Pioneer® 18,000 BTU 20.8 SEER 230V Ductless Mini-Split Air Conditioner Heat Pump System

It handles my entire 600sqft insulated garage easily. I currently have a 75g Rubbermaid tub, a 40B, and three 20G quarantine tanks in here. It is bone dry in the building. This building has its own power meter and my bill is about $25/month in the summer.
 

Steph72

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This sounds like a really fun build!!! How exciting to be doing this along with your home build. I’m following along for the journey. Wishing you all the best
mike myers thumbs up GIF
 

MartinM

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Welcome back, I’m also recently back after 9 years away, and yes things have definitely changed (but some things haven’t: halides still look great compared to everything else! ;) ).

+1 for Split units, that’s what the rest of the world uses (including here) because they’re so efficient and effective. For some reason, America is always 20-25 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to efficiency…

I’ve also been draining saltwater into the regular plumbing for 25+ years, no worries, it all ends up in the ocean eventually anyway. Also, you can’t drain it into the lawn, saltwater will render the ground barren for years after (classic Roman tactic…).

If you are planning on using internal pumps for water motion, I recommend leaving yourself some room on each side to hide the dry side (if applicable) and cables. Also perhaps installing a canopy vent to the outside, and an air line that runs in from the outside for the skimmer if you use one.

What will you be keeping?
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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