Great build Catherine! Most of us only dream of a tank like this.

Anyways, I've been prepping for a large build (although not quite the size of yours) and after reading as much as I could, it seems to me that an HRV has benefits above and beyond that of the humidex. While the Humidex seems aimed at the humidity issue, the HRV is more of a total home solution that handles the humidity too. It also seems to be the more accepted technology out there from a builders perspective.

Quotes will obviously be the biggest deciding factor but I thought I would throw my 2 cents in.

HRV: AirPro Heating http://airproheatingairconditio.supersites.ca/contact/

They've done several installations for Calgary Canreefers (me included, did an A/C at the same time). They know their stuff, they'll take a look at your square footage and air volume and how much turnover you need to keep moisture under control. I can't recommend these guys enough. I have them do all my heating/ducting work now.

Wow Tony you're like a mind reader today.

I was just about to send you a PM about them! I booked an appointment for them to come out and let us know about HVAC for May 11th!

I have to do more research into HVAC. All I know right now is that we have a brandnew, as of 2008, furnance, and I'm hesitant to loose it. It and my 25 year old hot water tank only costs $33/month...so I'm kind of liking that number right now.

From my trusty notebook of ideas the list of humidity solutions in order goes: HVAC, Humidex, LOTS! of fans (this is so iffy its not even funny), and no tank.

An HRV works alongside the furnace: It can either be standalone in a room and independent of the rest of the house, or it can also tie into the main vent and returns to have a "whole house effect" too (in this case I think there are some kind of interlocks to make the furnace fan run when the HRV is running). At any rate you wouldn't have to replace your new furnace. :)

Sweet! *insert happy dance here* That made my day!

I want to have these guys in ASAP so that while the ceiling is down they can possibly recommend some changes in the vents, plus install the HVAC, and we can make sure we have the proper space to accomodate it.

Amazing build
 

Wow Catherine this seems like its going to be an absolutely stunning show tank (and system)! Once its complete I would love to come drop off some free zoa frags as 10 feet is allot of area of cover =D!!! Can't wait to see some more photos of the build!
Levi

We'll be having a "Salt Party" in which we'll have everyone over and you'll get a bucket/bag of salt at the door and we'll all pour it into the system.

As for photos, I found a way around my iMac/Photobucket drama. This is photos up until tonight.

After the first stage of demos
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ka/DSC_968.jpg

More post-first stage demo
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ka/DSC_969.jpg

Some of the lovely things we found...

Inproper splice
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ka/DSC_977.jpg

More inproper splices
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ka/DSC_982.jpg

Low and behold the bathroom lamp had another bonus, a hidden transformer. Kevin guesses its for the doorbell.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ka/DSC_986.jpg

Ripples in the ceiling from moisture? Where did the moisture come from?
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ka/DSC_985.jpg

With the bathroom ceiling down
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ka/DSC_988.jpg

The aftermath of the second stage demo, and where the basement is tonight. Plus some before and after shots.

1st-stage
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0806-1.jpg

2nd stage
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0008-2.jpg

1-stage
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0807.jpg

2nd stage
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0009.jpg

bahaha omg that first splice pic is too funny. im 14 and could have done it better than that.

salt party,eh? maybe you shud have everyone bring 4 pounds of LR so you can start 'scaping ASAP :lol:

[quote=michika;415611]

Some of the lovely things we found...

Inproper splice
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ka/DSC_977.jpg

More inproper splices
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ka/DSC_982.jpg


QUOTE]

Whats wrong with that?? all it's missing is a little hockey tape to hold it together:eek: I feel for you, I just opened up the panel to add a dedicated line for the fishroom and just about fainted, worst case of DIY electrical work I've ever seen, booked an electrician today to come and straighten it out asap.

I should! I'd be the entrance fee to come see Tibet! Although the downside is that we'd need to invite over like 200 people....so I'm thinking 40lbs a person, and children under 10 are 1/2 price!

Once most of the dusty portions of this demo/build are done we'll be starting to amass more rock and starting to cycle it all now in advance. Plus I want to try out a bunch of cool aquascaping ideas I have rattling around in my head.

And one last photo after the remaining demo.

All tired out...
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ka/DSC_967.jpg

I'm so glad Kevin is an electrician. Some of the stuff we found elsewhere was just as bad. There is aluminum wiring throughout the house and the stuff in the basement (the one switch on the old bathroom wall) that was HOT! to the touch. Plus the insulation has split open in some places.

In the end though, I love my house, and all its 1950s secrets and charms. How many people can say they have a laundry shoot? And use it? A little bit more hard work and a few more dollars into it, and everything will good again!

The big upgrade now has a big delay.

A few weeks ago I was advised I was part of a political struggle at work, I was just the person in the midde, and as a result the battle ended with me bringing in an even smaller check each month. My options were take this huge paycut (which was not properly disclosed to me at the time), or loose my job. I took the cut, as it was advertised. It turned out to be much more, about four times NET what I was told was gross, and now its put our whole financial plan out of whack.

So the upgrade will continue, but we are highly unsure as to the speed of it now. Job drama sucks. Just wanted to put up a note so you all know why the speed has slowed down considerably.

So sorry to hear about your work troubles. I have my desk all packed up and ready to go (just in case) and am trying to get prepared for 4 day work weeks too which would be about a 20% paycut as well :(

Well, that sucks sorry to hear that it will be slow if you are like me nooooo waiting is hard to take.... but maybe it is good on the other hand:biggrin:
As it will be perfect in the long run!

I just think its sad that some GROWN women have to bring so much cattiness and pettiness into the workplace. This whole thing came about over my desk space, and a personal issue between the woman who initiated this and my boss.

i dont get it why do you then get the pay cut???

Because work politics suck, and its even worse when you are stuck in the middle and have to be the one to take the compromise.

Anyways...the HVAC guys are coming out tomorrow. I'm hoping that they'll be able to make things work out a little better with the existing heating ducts. We'll be starting to wire the basement after that.

I hear you...I took about a $1500 a month pay cut this year. Really changed how we lived. Can't say the tank spending suffered but that was only because we kind of stopped going out for dinner as much or to bars/clubs every weekend. My pay cut was all because my industry has less money to go around and there was NO way the producers or directors of the shows I work on were going to take a paycut.

Sorry to hear you got caught in the middle of other peoples problems and took the worst of it. I hate crap like this.

Hope it doesn't slow down too much! I was hoping to see this thing move along fast!!!

So far the cut is really eating into my discretionary budget, and that is where tank money comes from. Bleh! I miss the little things that discretionary money brings, like morning Starbucks runs, and my weekly dinner & a movie date with a friend.

Tonight will give us the next big piece of the puzzle, the HVAC. Depending on the price, we'll either move ahead with it now, or we'll sit on it for a few months. Either way we can still start doing the "little" things like wiring, and framing in walls. Its putting out large sums of cash all at once that is the big hold up at this point.

The best part though is that really to plan all this stuff out up until this point has cost us practically nothing beyond a few sheets of paper, pens, and lunch breaks surfing the internet for ideas. Tearing out the walls has cost us nothing aside from our own time. Same will go for most of the wiring and framing. I am really happy though that we are handy. Its working wonderfully in our favour.

boo that noise Catherine, hopefully you can get the ball rolling sooner rather than later. Office politics suck the big one...if there's ever anything I can do to help this build move along, let me know...because once it IS done (however long that may take) there'll be a barebeque at your house FYI :D

Mmmm BBQ!

The HVAC quote came in at about double what we were expecting. With some recent job drama, and more potentially on the horizon, we aren't sure what we are going to be doing now. HVAC is definitely the way to go, however we aren't in a position right now to dig up the extra money for this particular quote.

Right now we're just going to focus on doing some more clean-up work, and pulling out some more of the basement. We're waiting on news about my job before we can make plans about our next move, and getting an HVAC system installed.

Sorry to hear about the cost.. I love how companies can claim that there's no cost-of-living increases right now because the house market is down, whereas anything you actually pay for otherwise is up.

Boooooo to crappy job situations and delays:neutral:

Quick update:

1) My job and I got a stay of execution until August 31st!
2) Fish room planning problems have been solved on paper, they just need to be taped out for confirmation
3) Still move demo to do, mostly pulling down the rest of the ceiling, which takes forever since its so dusty
4) Re-wiring the basement can commence in the near future, however we are delayed because we require a new panel first, which means we need the utility company to disconnect power to the house temporarily
5) My discretionary budget is still super small but now that derby is over for the summer (yay Lassies - Season Champs!), we have more cash to spend but figuring out where to start is really hard.

Right now we've pretty much come to the end of the planning portion of things. We have to confirm measurements on some supplies but for the most part we're ready to roll. We now just need the capital to finance the project. Unfortunately fish tank stuff comes last after bills, savings and RSP contributions, so its creating an unfortunate delay.

I am however actively watching for rock, cured or un-cured, along with some equipment such as reflectors, monster-skimmers, and old tanks to serve as a sump, refugium, prop tank, QT, and cryptic tank. We are still adopting livestock, however right now we're leaning mostly towards maintaining the 180g, and putting all our extra cash at the new system rather then splitting it between aquiring livestock and building the new system.

Next steps:
- finish the clean up (ceiling tear down)
- get tank stand ordred and in place
- start re-wiring (electricity, cable, CAT5, etc.)
- start gathering rock

We have a great quote on our tank stand, so now we just need to figure out how to get it into our basement, I want to order this stand ASAP as its the first big piece of the puzzle after the demo. We we're on such a great roll before then things picked up and it got left behind.

Maybe someone here has a suggestion. We have vintage 1950s windows that only allow for an opening of 17" from top to bottom. I believe the windows are 3ft wide. Originally we were planning on separating the stand into two lenthwise pieces, so 2 mini stands of 10ft x 18" x height, however obviously 18" doesn't fit in 17". Any other ideas? We want the total stand dimensions to be 10ft long, 3 feet deep, and we believe 3-3.5ft tall.

Upgrade the house with new, larger basement windows? while the old ones are out, bring in the stand, then get the new windows installed. :mrgreen:

Hire a crane and lift the house off the foundation. :wink:

The 17" is with the window, minus the sash taken out! Although I do want new windows...hmmm how to swing this in favour of Tibet....

I would suggest making two bases around 3'L x 3'W x 3.5'T, these would be small enough to carry down the stairs (if your hallways are wider than 3':wink:) Then I would mount a one piece top 3' x 10' that you can fit through the window (shouldn't be a problem since you need to get the tank bottom in the same way) The one piece top should be rigid and dead flat to ensure there are no stresses on the tank. My thought's anyway...

Francis

I like how you think! I'm bringing that one to the stand builder tonight as a possiblity.

steel i-beams on rebar/cement re-enforced cinder blocks. Nothing that won't easily fit into your basement.

:biggrin::biggrin: He is the stand builder:mrgreen:

Lol!

I was originally referring to RC, but yeah, that works too.

We solved our stand issue! Well Kevin did because apparently I can't think outside the box lately. We're now just figuring out the final configuration and we'll be set! I'm so excited to get this big part of the puzzle done.

I picked up some new rock tonight, it went in the 180g for holding. I got two beautiful pieces of Vanatu rock, so pretty!

I've been on a rock-looking kick lately, seeing what everyone's new rock looks like... I demand pics! :lol: Unless you're busy with, oh I dunno, life. Or something.

:biggrin:

Lol! In the center, where the Xenia was, is where the two new rocks are. I should have taken close up shots.

Before:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0098-1.jpg

After:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0035-1.jpg

We've been making some serious progress on the rock front. I have purchases/pick-ups tentatively scheduled all the way to early August!

We need to make another run to the dump to get rid of our reno debris, so that will be happening soon.

We're now just waiting on the stand, that is our next step in getting this going.

Does anyone know anything about those 1.5ft x 1.5ft rubber-bottom subfloor tiles you can buy? I've been seeing them everywhere in our attempts to decide on subflooring, but I can't seem to find anyone who a) knows they have them, or b) has a comment beyond, "well its a floor".

Are you refering to the Dricore subfloor system? or is this something else?

Yes, I believe that is the name of them. I think we're going to be putting either cork or engineered hardwood in the basement, I'm still researching.

dont go with that rubber ply wood floors piece they are crap. unless you ahve a perfect flat basement which not many older homes are they will wobble and be uneven, go with cork or carpet or laminate if nothing else.

The floor in my basement is simply presswood that has numerous coats of wax applied. It has been there for about 5 years and cost very little to do. It actually looks very good and almost everyone that comes in asks what the floor is. We cut grooves in the floor so it looks a lot like a cork floor.