fish room in a shed outside?
 

so i havent even gotten any livestock into my tank and im already thinking of expanding... wow

ok anyways, this has been going through my head. I was going to put a few holes in the wall and plumb outside into a "shed"

has anyone ever plumb outside? is there any drawbacks into doing this? im guessing I have to insult the shed to keep heat in.

btw its not really a "fish room" but somewhere for a big sump, bigger than display.

I'm not speaking from experience but if you're not nice to the shed I doubt it's going to make this easy for you.

What I would do is maybe add some insulation?

I know I've seen people plumb their chillers outside successfully. A lot depends on how cold it gets there. Perhaps have the shed built right up against the exterior wall like an addition? Maybe building code plays a part in doing this properly as well?

you would have to insulate as well as add a heater to the shed and run it all winter to keep from freezing up not only the lines but your tank inside not to mention if it drops your tank temp too much if a heater fails... i personally like the idea but think there is too much room for mishap not to mention if a neighbour kid breaks into the shed and pees in the sump or worse.. lol

I have plumbing that goes outside into a small shed that houses the chiller, never had a problem in the winter but I am starting to have overheating issues now that summer is here, the shed traps and transfers too much heat (even when left open to vent the chiller), kind of defeats the point behind the chiller, I am dealing with close to 1000 gals on the system, I think a smaller system would see even greater temperature swings. I know Lance has the sump for his corner tank outside in an insulated box and has not had a problem but it is well insulated and right against the house.

he is in north van, you dont really even get winter there, a nice space heater and some insulation and you should be good to go!

just because we had no snow for the Olympics doesn't mean we dont get winter!! ive seen almost 1 inch of snow before!!!

lol i have seen alot of snow on the island before but it never sticks around long. and its more of a slushly snow than real snow. haha

Snow doesn't always mean extended periods of cold temperatures. I think Regina typically gets weeks of -25 C on a regular basis thru Jan & Feb, whereas the coast will rarely see anything colder than -10 C and that might only last a day or two. I spent many years in Cold Lake Alberta and it was crisp, let me tell you.

oceanics prop tanks are in a barn/shed type thing. their corals and fish seem to handle it just fine