A fish room, inside if a basement?

[jc_k]

Well now that me and my family have officially moved into our new house, we have a huge basement, and it has about 4-5 rooms. Well I would like to know if I can make one of those into a fish room. The one concern I have is that their is no heat or air and it is unfisnhed. Is their anything I would have to do about moisture and things like that?


Jacob

 

[jeffmuse]

Jacob,

A fish room in the basement is a great idea! I built a sump room in my basement earlier in the year and it has worked out great. A couple of benefits with this setup include:

1) Cooler Temps - The basement tends to be the coolest spot in the house and as a result you will not be battleing high tank temps all the time. In my experience, it is much easier to add heaters and keep the tank warm in the winter than it is to cool the tank during the summer.

2) Tank Size - As the basement is on the foundation of the house, you can go with virtually any size tank.

Your biggest obstacle will be moisture. The basement tends to be somewhat damp to begin with, and if you are loosing a gallon or two of tank water from evaporation, it can certainly put a lot of moisture in the air. For my sump room project, I worried about eventually getting mold as a result of the damp conditions.... my solution was to buy a dehumidifier. I went with a fairly large one and set it up in the sump area.... it is amazing how much moisture the thing pulls out of the air! Another solution is to install a ventilation fan in the sump room that pushes damp air out of the house (kind of like a heavy duty bathroom fan).

Good luck with the project!

 

[jc_k]

JeffMuse;982599 wrote: Jacob,

A fish room in the basement is a great idea! I built a sump room in my basement earlier in the year and it has worked out great. A couple of benefits with this setup include:

1) Cooler Temps - The basement tends to be the coolest spot in the house and as a result you will not be battleing high tank temps all the time. In my experience, it is much easier to add heaters and keep the tank warm in the winter than it is to cool the tank during the summer.

2) Tank Size - As the basement is on the foundation of the house, you can go with virtually any size tank.

Your biggest obstacle will be moisture. The basement tends to be somewhat damp to begin with, and if you are loosing a gallon or two of tank water from evaporation, it can certainly put a lot of moisture in the air. For my sump room project, I worried about eventually getting mold as a result of the damp conditions.... my solution was to buy a dehumidifier. I went with a fairly large one and set it up in the sump area.... it is amazing how much moisture the thing pulls out of the air! Another solution is to install a ventilation fan in the sump room that pushes damp air out of the house (kind of like a heavy duty bathroom fan).

Good luck with the project!

We are actually picking up a dehumidifier today as the people that lived here last said that we should get one. I was also thinking about getting a fan that goes between the window to push air out.

I'm really hoping to get 4-5 tanks setup to breed clonws as to me it's one of the most interesting things in this hobby.

 

[jdavid]

If it's totally unfinished I'd probably hang plastic sheeting. You don't have to, but it's really cheap at Home Depot (painters plastic) and super easy to hang. I'd just staple it to the wall/ceiling studs.

Makes a big difference when it comes to dust/debris

 

[jdavid]

Only if there's exposed insulation, etc

 

[jc_k]

JDavid;982608 wrote: If it's totally unfinished I'd probably hang plastic sheeting. You don't have to, but it's really cheap at Home Depot (painters plastic) and super easy to hang. I'd just staple it to the wall/ceiling studs.

Makes a big difference when it comes to dust/debris

Ok thanks!

 

[circlek]

My fish room is in the basement. The room is drywalled, and there is an exhaust fan running continuously (venting to the outdoors) to keep the humidity in the room under control.

If you have an unfinished basement then its easy to run ventilation, electrical and plumbing exactly the way you want it. My only advice is to plan, plan, plan because once you close up the walls it gets a lot harder to change your mind.

Karl

 

[skriz]

Vent the room or add hvac.

Sump rooms are the bomb shizzle.

 

[jdavid]

The bomb diggity shizzle :yes:

 

[jc_k]

Skriz;982630 wrote:

Sump rooms are the bomb shizzle.

JDavid;982638 wrote: The bomb diggity shizzle :yes:

God I love this club

 

[dball711]

Fish room in the basement...no problem! I made a fish room in our basement, it had no heat or air but I had access to ducts that I just cut some vents to heat and cool my new room. Add a dehumidifier and your good to go. If you have access to plumbing get a cheap laundry sink. Here is a couple pictures of what I did...
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[silver surfer]

I put a mini split unit in my fish room to condition the space. Works like a charm

 

[enderg60]

I have mine in my unconditioned basement as well. I have a 300g display with a 200g sump and 2x40g frag tanks.

Cooling is just fine as long as I keep fans on the sump and the dehumidifier going to keep evaporation up. I have a 70 pint a day unit.

Heating in the winter is a much larger PITA. I insulated the sump with 1" foam, and used two 1000w heaters and my tank would not go over 72 in the winter and routinely got down to 68 until I sucked it up and installed a gas water heater with a hot water loop in the sump.

If you can finish off the room and install a small heat pump it will solve many of those problems but ...$$$$$ Ive got maybe $1200 in fans, dehumidifier and gas heaters for the tank so take it for what its worth.

But on the bright side....I have a 200g sump! 200g fresh water tank, 200g salt mixing tank, 10g dosing tanks, an auto water changer, massive skimmer, big A pumps, dedicated sink, 150g QT system and all the room in the world to work. And my display is nearly silent!

 

[jc_k]

dball711;982698 wrote: Fish room in the basement...no problem! I made a fish room in our basement, it had no heat or air but I had access to ducts that I just cut some vents to heat and cool my new room. Add a dehumidifier and your good to go. If you have access to plumbing get a cheap laundry sink. Here is a couple pictures of what I did...

That's pretty nice! That's not a bad idea to add vents from your air duct.

 

[jc_k]

EnderG60;982746 wrote: I have mine in my unconditioned basement as well. I have a 300g display with a 200g sump and 2x40g frag tanks.

Cooling is just fine as long as I keep fans on the sump and the dehumidifier going to keep evaporation up. I have a 70 pint a day unit.

Heating in the winter is a much larger PITA. I insulated the sump with 1" foam, and used two 1000w heaters and my tank would not go over 72 in the winter and routinely got down to 68 until I sucked it up and installed a gas water heater with a hot water loop in the sump.

If you can finish off the room and install a small heat pump it will solve many of those problems but ...$$$$$ Ive got maybe $1200 in fans, dehumidifier and gas heaters for the tank so take it for what its worth.

But on the bright side....I have a 200g sump! 200g fresh water tank, 200g salt mixing tank, 10g dosing tanks, an auto water changer, massive skimmer, big A pumps, dedicated sink, 150g QT system and all the room in the world to work. And my display is nearly silent!

Wow! I don't really know how cold it gets in my basement so I'll have to think about that.

 

[snowmansnow]

i'm doing the same thing in a few months.. but I'll be finishing the room before I do it. I didn't think about the dehumidifier though.. great thought

 

[enderg60]

JC_k;982748 wrote: Wow! I don't really know how cold it gets in my basement so I'll have to think about that.

Mine was getting down in the low 50's in the dead of winter, but my fish room is on an exterior wall as well.

honestly if your tank is large enough a gas system isnt all that expensive these days and its cheaper then electricity anyway.

 

[jc_k]

EnderG60;982800 wrote: Mine was getting down in the low 50's in the dead of winter, but my fish room is on an exterior wall as well.

honestly if your tank is large enough a gas system isnt all that expensive these days and its cheaper then electricity anyway.

Well my main tank is up stairs. I was planning having about 100 gallons worth if water connected to 1 sump. I'm looking for the cheapest way to do this because I have to pay for all of it.

 

[enderg60]

well thats a lot easier to deal with then having a 300g upstairs and 280 in the basement.

An 800 or 1000 watt heater would be more then enough to keep that amount of water warm no matter what.

 

[jc_k]

EnderG60;982870 wrote: well thats a lot easier to deal with then having a 300g upstairs and 280 in the basement.

An 800 or 1000 watt heater would be more then enough to keep that amount of water warm no matter what.

That's a lot of watts. The biggest heater have is only like 300watts