Ultimate Fish Room designs/locations

[monza]

I've had and ran a fish tank from a fish room in the basement, I would not do it again.
It can be done and done right, but one word WATER. It'll be on your main floor one day, no matter how good you are or your set up. Also lots more plumbing and pumps.

I did large scale 320 gallon display tank and yes it be easier on a smaller scale, but.... water.

[Dez]

Originally Posted by monza

I've had and ran a fish tank from a fish room in the basement, I would not do it again.
It can be done and done right, but one word WATER. It'll be on your main floor one day, no matter how good you are or your set up. Also lots more plumbing and pumps.

I did large scale 320 gallon display tank and yes it be easier on a smaller scale, but.... water.

I would have to disagree on this one. My basement is finished but no one really spends any time down there. I have my tank on the main floor pretty much viewable from everywhere on the main floor except the laundry room and washroom. It's even viewable from the front yard and back yard. There is no way I could have made maintenance and water changes/frags etc this simple without the basement fish room. I only have about a 4 foot by 10 foot room as my fish room but it makes everything easier. 7 minute water changes (about 40 gallons). Large sump - easy access to everything. There is no floor drain but the sump pump is in there so anything spilled of large volumes would get pumped outside. Temperature fluctuation is not much of an issue because the basement is cool. I have one pump that pretty much runs everything (skimmer, frag tank, water change tank, another 20 gallon tank, main tank and the valve is still closed off slightly). Noise of equipment is not an issue if it's in a closed basement room.

I wouldn't change anything about my set up except the fact that I should have custom ordered my tank instead of using an old used tank with scratches in it.

Hope this helps, you can check out my tank build (Mark had a link to it earlier in this thread) for all the details of the setup).

[Madreefer]

I'm with Dez on this one too. Pretty much all the same reasons.

[monza]

I never said it's not a viable way of doing it and can work great for you. I stated I would not do it again. The OP asked about a master piece fish room, mine would not be on a separate floor...

Curious Dez how long have you had your multi floor set up?

Edit: Dez checked out your tank thread, nice work looks great!

[bigmac]

Thanks to all who have replied so far.

Kevin-It's too early for congratulations as we are just starting to look around at builders, find the model we like, approach the bank, etc. You have nailed it as to what is required in that room. The utility sink is a must for me.

We are a family that uses the basement quite often in our current house (because it is developed). Eventually I would want to develop the new basement anyways; maybe putting everything in the basement would kickstart me into finishing it earlier than planned. At this point my internal common sense is telling me to lean towards everything in the basement.

Please keep any suggestions coming.

[bigmac]

Update:

A new house it is!

I've got some very early discussions going with Kevin at Red Coral about designs for the new tank (possibly an 8' with a divider in the middle for two different views of the ocean-corals/reef safe fish and the other side for non reef safe fish and inverts) or 1 full 8' so that I can explore (guilt free) the Tang world.

I'm stoked to say the least; so many options.

I'll definetly start a tank build thread on this one; as I didn't do it on my current 100 gallon.

[monocus]

if you are worried about the hardwood in the dining room-use a tile floor that looks like hardwood-i am almost completed my fishroom in the basement and am using black granite as a border,then white/grey marble,with a black/brown marble in the center-this way if there are any spills i don't have to worry about the floor

[bigmac]

I have decided to put this tank in the basement as an inwall and it's own dedicated fish room.

We have decided that the basement will be finished; therefore I made the decision that a basement application will work for me. I have it in my head that temperature issues will be less than on main floor applications (which may or may not be the case- but my brain has made the choice).