Hanging the key above the door would solve that problem. :)

I keyed my fish-room to my office. I got keys spread all over the place.

Got some additional plumbing done today. Here are the latest pictures.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...227_213134.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...227_213142.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...2-27165139.jpg

I'm pretty high on PVC glue right now...so I called it quits for the night.

Can't say that I'm the best plumber but so far I'm happy with the results.

Looking good - consider a shut-off valve on the intake side of your pump, otherwise you will be draining your sump when it comes time to maintain your pump, unless of course you plug the bulkhead in the sump. Valve would be easier long term but cost more now...

Damn....I knew there was a reason I bought two of those huge a#% true union shutoffs!

What about the use of flex pvc to reduce vibration noise from your return pump?

This is great Mark! Perfect timing to move into the new place and celebrate Christmas!

I love the new fish room! Is it the similar type of epoxy used on garage floors?

Also, I noticed you have a flex PVC pipe against the wall in one of the pics. Where did you get that? I've searched all local home depots, Rona and home hardware but no one seems to carry it. I need it for my turtle speed build!

big, and expensive!

most externals are pretty smooth and not bad for vibration, the use of a dampening material like rubber or high density foam under the pump normally does the trick, but spaflex can be used also

Mark, are your wooden walls finished with something?

Yeah, he's put so much into the beautiful house, tank, and sump room, to make it as close to perfect as possible, so why skimp on that.

I have a basement sump room, and used to a run closed loop pump down there. It seemed fairly quiet in the sump room itself, yet we could hear the thing 3 stories up in our upstairs bedroom. Vibration in the walls really seems to carry noise a long ways.

I actually am using Spa flex already between the union and the pump and also between he ball valve and the pump.

If you are looking for the spa flex....go to a spa company...they stock it. The black is more flexible but their technicians will tell you that they can't use it in salt pools because it breaks down...thus the white makes sense.

The walls are coated with three coats of a marine varnish. We used a pre-coating material that resulted in the grain rising and so had to sand it several times between coats. Its still not smooth, but its well coated.

The benefit of doing the walls like this were that I can hang anything anywhere and I can remove sheets if I need to get to the plumbing in the wall.

Good planning on the walls too. If I had HALF your planning skills (and planning patience) my systems would be soooo much better!

Haha...I don't know about that...at least your systems have water! Plus, you are recognized as someone deserving to be published. I just wish you were still in the Okanagan so I could glean more of your knowledge.

Take a cup fill it with water insert in tank... Problem solved hehe


You have done an axing job water or not I have followed every post. I'm very jealous of your fish room.. And large peninsula.. Only way I'm getting a bigger setup is by building a heated garage with a couch to sleep on ill call it "the dog fish house"


Sent from my porcelain aquarium

Haha...well I've been blessed with a very understanding wife. Funny enough, since moving into the house my daughter and my wife has said something is"missing" and we've determined its the fish. So now they want water in a hurry too.

Oh you make me blush. :o My tanks DO have water, but they also have algae right now too, and the fish are all staring at me wanting to be fed. :D Honestly Mark, you really don't give yourself enough credit, you know what you're doing even if you won't admit it. You also put a lot of time into research and planning and that goes a long way. Your reef will be spectacular. ;)

Did some more plumbing on the system over the last few days.

Fixed the missing shutoff at the return pump
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...2-29215842.jpg

Completed the return plumbing in the main cabinet
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...2-30110048.jpg

At some point here I have to rinse out my sand and plumb in the new RO unit. Just so much to do on this!

Ok mark enough clowning around you have a understanding wife so tell her sweetheart can you give me some time to get this done. There you have it don't make me call Doug to head over there and rattle your doors.
Quit messing around and put water in there

man, so jealous of all you guys and gals with your fancy schmancy fish rooms.

Haha...I'll tell her my new orders right away!

Funny enough, I had most of yesterday to work on things and even then, only a little got done. The real SOB of that plumbing was that TruWye. It sounded like a good idea at first, until I realized that the angles of the split were around 65°...and I was up till 1am trying to make 45's and 90's compensate. If I was a true plumber, the concept of turning the 45's would have come to me much earlier.

I'm very impressed with your fish room. Congratulations on an amazing build!

I wish this was at my house. :mrgreen:

*chuckle*

Well, I haven't had as much time to work on the tank in the last few days (what with New Years and all) but I did have time to put up the new 65" Panasonic Plasma I got in my theater room. Don't mind the mess and no, that audio rack is not supposed to be there...a refrigerator is. I have an amazing PSB speaker system going up as well, once I find speaker mounts that I like.

Oops...forgot the pic.
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...2-31175616.jpg

Crap Mark, now I need a bigger TV because your 65" makes my 54" look tiny. We picked up Kef speakers that sound nice for a reasonable price, running them on a Onkyo amplifier. I was never able to find speaker mounts I like so the darn things are still sitting in weird places. :lol:

Got the quarantine tank in place today...next will be the frag tank. Slow going but steadily moving forward.
Gotta have pics to prove it!
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-02190553.jpg

Mark, that's a small QT for a big reef, no? Maybe you're planning one small and one bigger? <- There's an idea! :D

Same thoughts here
Maybe that's an invert QT :wink:

Okay so given what people have said, here are my thoughts. That tank is a 30G...I just don't have the room for more. I was planning on getting rid of my 70g once the fish are out and yes it would fit, but I wouldn't be able to service my return pump if I put it in place. I'm not sure what else I could do. A bench for working with test kits and all the reefing stuff we regularly play with will be going on the opposite wall. The frag tank will be going in front of the return, but its low enough to easily reach over.

I guess if my fish grow big and get sick then that 30 won't work very well. For those of you with big tanks...what size is your quarantine?

Sorry, we don't mean to pick on you :razz:
Wow, that's a 30g ?
Looks like a 20 tall in the pic

My system is only a 75g and I currently have a 20g QT that I've been using for new fish, but I plan on a larger one soon, before my critters grow. Probably gonna need a 4' 50g or so
I'm only thinking about what you would be faced with if something happened to your DT, and you had to put all your fish in a QT at once ?
I'd think you'd need at least a long 50g to house all your dudes. The bigger the better - 75-100g

If you don't mind an idea, and to keep access to your return pump ...
Have you thought about building a pony stand for a bigger QT ?
Just something with, say, 1 to 2 foot feet or such, right on top of your bench
If I judge your space correctly by your pics, it looks like you have room for at least a 3 footer, if it was high enough to access your return pump

I have a couple QT. My display is 90 gallon, the biggest QT is a 40B. The reasoning is sometimes I want to add more than one fish at once. Or, maybe I want to add a pair of Banggai, so I buy a group, and when a pair forms I move it to the display. Or a shoal of Yellow Tail Damsels or Anthias. I also have a 10-gallon QT for small fish (or a pair of Clowns).

I imagine you're going to have a few big fish, like Tangs maybe? They are very active of course. I would want a 48" tank as QT once some bigger fish come along. Before that, a 50-gallon would be a nice size. Fit it in somehow!

This is my long-term thinking
Where are you going to put all your fish if you need to remove them from your DT ?

My QT is a 77 gal...I can QT fish for you. :wink: I have a gorgeous Fowleri Tang for you as well.

Thank you for all the ideas. After looking back into it, you were right that it's not a 30, but just a 20 tall. I will have to see what I can come up with. :)

Hi Mark, Happy New Year. I hear you've been leading a crazy life. I bet your glad it's winding down now. I have a thought about your QT.

What about keeping the 70 and down the road installing a shelf above the water storage tanks and housing it there? I know it's high but you are a tall guy and the number of times a year you will be using that tank will hopefully be minimal. Anyways just a thought. Can't wait to see it again in person!

I was just in the room measuring thing out Kevin. I think above the water storage would be too tough. Keeping it where the current quarantine is might have to be the answer. Going up with that much weight and with the HVAC plumbing that is already there might be too tight to work with.

Ideas are all welcome...I will keep measuring my options versus the space.

Don't sweat it.. Can you not just put the qt on the opposite wall as sump and use the 20g tall as a sump for it to keep it completely separate from the main system.

Personally, I don`t like to have a bunch of equipment attached to a QT because it is too hard to disinfect if the need comes along. I prefer to just have a simple tank with lid, dim light, airstone, heater, and a small powerhead. Pretty much what you have in that 20-gallon tank. I think your 70-gallon tank would be too complicated for a QT. Some fish some even need the powerhead and would do best with just the airstone. You definitely don`t want an anorexic fish spending energy swimming against a powerhead. I like to use a couple good-sized pieces of live rock and a few PVC pipes. If there is disease outbreak, remove the live rock, and the PVC pipes that the fish is already familiar with will remain in the tank. Just remember, as soon as the tank has no live rock it also has no means of dealing with ammonia so you need to use a detoxifier.

Do you have space as soon as you walk in the room to your right? You could put it on a stand that has shelves in it for storage...2-in-1 oh yeah! :D

When you walk in, you are along the right side. On that side are the electrical sub-panels for the room itself and the generator auto transfer switch. I was hoping to have a counter built there for me to work at. Got to have somewhere to do testing, mix chemicals and play with the electronics on the tank. I do have an old 33g Hagen tank cycling rock right now. It's 3' long. Again, this won't fit where the current quarantine tank is unless I block the return pump.
The 70 is self contained. It's not reef ready so my current overflow is "over the side" I just thinks it's too big for that room, unless I want to work at a TV tray.