Jump to content

Help me decide!!!


pdxmonkeyboy

Recommended Posts

ok, I can't seem to decide where to put my new 200g DD tank. The girlfriend/wife (we need a better word for that) says put it in the living room so we can enjoy it.

Pros:

-we can look at it more often

- wow factor for visitors

- leaves basement as game room for kids (which substantially reducds dad saying "would you shut that [language filter] xbox off"

 

Cons:

- its carpeted

- geisseman light at eye level in the family room.

- my salt mixing station is in the basement

- sump and fuge limited to size of cab. (4x3)

 

I am more and more inclined to set up a fish room in the basement.

Pros:

- tons of room for everything

- sump and fuge size only limited by...well, just trying to stay this side of ridiculous

- no hauling water up stairs.

- waterproof floors

 

Cons:

- cool fish tank.... in the basement :(

- probably spend less time looking at it

- things could get out of hand.. i.e. basement looking like a fish store with pipes and tank and things everywhere.

 

 

Advice?

here are pictures of the family room and basement locations. (yes, my lagoon tank is currently in the basement)

 

thanks gang!!222f4d17a9a60ab8ceccd5f128c21e05.jpgb1df749b124ca42de40035e9160fbff7.jpg

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm.  Tough call.  Any chance you can drop the plumbing down through that partition wall into a convenient spot in the basement and have the best of both worlds?  That upstairs spot would be sweet if you had a peninsula tank on a tall stand and could view from both the kitchen and living room but I don't think that is what you ended up with (Marineland DD right?).  Think will probably be a bit low (and one-sided) to take advantage of that.  There looks to be a fair amount of natural light from that window (assuming it won't be covered) which could cause you a bit of pest algae maintenance but I wouldn't let that decide.

This kind of thing is always such a tough call.  I would love to have my tank somewhere where the water issue wasn't such a big deal (concrete, other impervious surface) but I also know I would see a lot less of it if I had to go downstairs.  As it is, we pass by it constantly - which adds enjoyment and also helps us keep an eye out for problems before they become too drastic.  If you could possibly figure it out, I would definitely try and find a way to have the "wet works" downstairs - maybe tied to a nice frag system and specimen tanks - with just the display up top.  Given your ingenuity, I am sure you can figure it out :unsure:  If not, maybe integrate the stand into a larger cabinet that runs the length of that wall to give yourself some extra room for equipment underneath.  I find the "in stand" limitation to be really challenging (says the guy with a chiller sitting next to his tank).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i have looked at two different ways to plumb it downstairs. they both involve either plumbing going across the ceiling of the pool table room OR .. cutting a man door sized chunk of concrete out of a stem wall and digging out a crawl space and making a weatherproof room under the deck.

As I told Dawn this morning.. I bought a 3,600 sq. ft. house so I wouldnt have to be digging out crawl spaces and building walls for my hobbies. (as i type this i am staring at a 130' long trench for the wires to the hot tub).

side bar... if you ever think to yourself "ya know, my hands should be sore" or "I have to much skin on my knuckles" then grab three strands of #4 aluminum wire and shove them through conduit out the garage, down the wall and under the stairs.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel your pain.  I had to go through the same decision-making with my current set up.  You've seen my tanks, so you know I went for the aquarium room.  I had to really do some soul-searching though.  

For me, a large part of the hobby is interacting with my tanks--fragging corals, moving things around, maintenance.  If I did this in my living room, I would have buckets around all the time, towels, and I would be stressed about my floors.  Plus, carrying buckets upstairs is no fun.  In the end, my desire to play with my tanks won over my desire to watch the tanks with the family.  It's a tough call though.

You probably never got to see Danik's set up.  That was the ultimate IMO.  200+ gallon in-wall display tank in the living room, with the aquarium room in an adjacent room behind the tank.  Best of both worlds.  Maybe in my next house--that'd be the house I will be moving into when my husband finally decides to divorce me because I have so many tanks.  :happy:

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Gil&Fin said:

I feel your pain.  I had to go through the same decision-making with my current set up.  You've seen my tanks, so you know I went for the aquarium room.  I had to really do some soul-searching though.  

For me, a large part of the hobby is interacting with my tanks--fragging corals, moving things around, maintenance.  If I did this in my living room, I would have buckets around all the time, towels, and I would be stressed about my floors.  Plus, carrying buckets upstairs is no fun.  In the end, my desire to play with my tanks won over my desire to watch the tanks with the family.  It's a tough call though.

You probably never got to see Danik's set up.  That was the ultimate IMO.  200+ gallon in-wall display tank in the living room, with the aquarium room in an adjacent room behind the tank.  Best of both worlds.  Maybe in my next house--that'd be the house I will be moving into when my husband finally decides to divorce me because I have so many tanks.  :happy:

 

Yeah - If I had a basement space like yours I would probably have gone that route but not an option in my place.  Danik's setup sounds like it was ideal - I'm always envious of those that can have the DT in their primary living space but all the wet works behind the scenes but convenient for tinkering!  'Cause you know you are going to tinker!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice looking place!

Given that splitting the system up is not an option (basement sump room, upstairs display) I would go basement.  If company is coming over and you have corraline up the wazoo, no big deal.  If you have a leak, basement is easier to deal with than the living room.  etc etc etc.. All the reasons you said.

I am in the process of getting all the stuff out of my office, down to the garage.  In the garage I can have frag tanks, qt, huge sumps and fuges and make a mess.  I can build stuff, things don't have to be living room quality, etc.  I won't be constrained by the space under the sump.  I have seen too many awesome setups locally with a separate fish room to question my fate.  It will be easier to have 'internet strangers' over to check out the tanks because I won't have to drag them through the house.  Lots of advantages...

The display will of course remain In my office.  Mostly will just scrape algae and frag stuff/re-arrange.

That's my plan going forward!  Wish it were an option for ya...

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

im in the same predicament but I think im leaning more towards the basement ( garage for me) because of all the pros you mentioned and I was always paranoid of kids messing or scratching my tank when I was not there lol...... We have no kids and babysit a lot.. My current tank has a ton of scratches because of crazy kids. On a side note,,, your peacock/ hap tank is lookin awesome! come pick up the bucco and exo from me since im tired of people trying to buy them and throw them in a 20 gallon :happy:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm about to be in a similar situation at the new house.  I'm putting the display tanks upstairs and the fish room downstairs because I feel that is the ideal setup.  Tough in my situation because I'm looking at 21+ feet in head room but not much horizontal travel.  Going to be fun buying 2x Vectra - L1's for main/backup.  Excited to see what you decide to do!

I think in your boat I'd probably just opt to put it all downstairs so as to have more room for gear/fish room.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks for the advice everyone. i think Im goinh to spend some time this weekend in the crawlspace and drilling peep holes in some drywall. i think there may be a way to plumb a basemeny sump. then i can buy a reeflo barracuda and finally become a real man :)

oh yeah.. the 8' hap/peacock tank..6fae8382fbba1026c0d6093d87d19148.jpg

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, pdxmonkeyboy said:

thanks for the advice everyone. i think Im goinh to spend some time this weekend in the crawlspace and drilling peep holes in some drywall. i think there may be a way to plumb a basemeny sump. then i can buy a reeflo barracuda and finally become a real man :)

oh yeah.. the 8' hap/peacock tank..6fae8382fbba1026c0d6093d87d19148.jpg

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 

That is sweet!  This is the new tank build correct?  Came out nice!

Good luck with the exploration. If you can figure out a way, I bet it will be worth it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, pdxmonkeyboy said:

thanks for the advice everyone. i think Im goinh to spend some time this weekend in the crawlspace and drilling peep holes in some drywall. i think there may be a way to plumb a basemeny sump. then i can buy a reeflo barracuda and finally become a real man :)

oh yeah.. the 8' hap/peacock tank..6fae8382fbba1026c0d6093d87d19148.jpg

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 

 

so whats up? you wanna adopt the haps? just want a good home for them and they came from a 240 like yours so that would be perfect. yours free if you want them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a bucchochromis rhodesii already :)    And he is just starting to color up and push some of the other fish around.   People diss on freshwater but big chiclid tanks have lots of stuff going on in there.  Lots of dynamics and power struggles going on.   My big blood dragon (bottom left in photo) used to be THE biggest D*^* in the world in the old tank but since the change up there is a serious gangland style feud going on between him and "boris" the red fin borlei going on.  

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...