Fish room ideas? doing a shed for a fish room.

[Milad]

Anyone have some do's and don'ts for fish rooms? Im going to be building a 4x7 shed outside my place and putting a small hole through the wall and plumbing everything outside. should I worry about thing? anyone ever built a shed for a fish room? anything I should worry about??

Im also going to plumb a cube frag tank into the bedroom and maybe throw a carpet and some clowns in it.

[Buzz]

I would imagine temperature high in the summer and low in the winter. You could insulate and seal it up really well to help with temp swings but that may hinder gas exchange. Definately doable but would it be a pain in the ace to always have to go out side to check on you pumps dosers or whatever you will be running in there?

[reefwars]

Personally I like the idea of a fishroom in your shed kinda somewhere to chill and play wth the toys. I would guess that you will have to deal with frozen pipes by having it joined to the house and having the room heated, now if he power goes out you'd want to make sure that badboy is sealed good as small places get cold quicker. If it's not joined to the house your gonna have to find a way to keep PVC from not freezing in the winter and not changing your tanks temp in the summer when it's hotter and the pipes warm. Also depending on where you live a permit may be required if it's not already built or if you plan to have electrical done. I think it's all do able just pictureany possible scenario and have a solution and a back up plan

Also I would imagine it's not cheap but but this hobby never is lol

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Good insulation is a must and maybe have an extra hole for blowing out hot, humid air from the display tank?

Wire in 2 breakers to make sure you have enough power for all the toys for your tank/sump. Split everything so that if one breaker blows, you'll still have a heater, some circulation, etc. working till you flip the blown breaker back on (otherwise your tank may be in trouble).

Placement of windows (if any) to consider. Direct sunlight on your sump could heat up the water a lot in the summer.

BTW, Mr.Fish built a whole extension on his house to fit his DT & fish room.

[Myka]

Don't forget individual GFCI outlets (not GFCI breakers), air exchange, and a dehumidifier. Gypsum is generally not the best choice for a dedicated fish room as it absorbs too much moisture. If you use a good outdoor primer sealer before using outdoor paint, and you have a good dehumidifier you can get away with it though. I know you don't get very cold in Vancouver normally, but do protect your plumbing from freezing. It just takes one cold snap to crack your plumbing.

[Milad]

the shed will be right up against the house so the pipes wouldn't be exposed at all.
I was just going to run a few GFCI outlets out into the shed without doing a sub panel

Is a dehumidifier really need? also what is an air exchange? I was going to put a vent to remove air from the shed and also a vent for the chiller.

I also was going to insulate the whole thing.


And I dont have a problem going out to the shed every once in awhile, I estimate the door will be about 7 feet from one of my house doors. truth be told, I really just want a super easy way to change a filter sock! lol, and of course better management of all the "gadgets" and reduce everything to one big pump and add volume to store live rock. o and forgot a big one, use my HS skimmer since the stupid thing wont fit under my stand.

[sphelps]

Putting the equipment outdoors is totally the way to go if you can do it as it keeps all the noise outside as well as the majority of humidity and general mess. This is very common practice with large expensive tanks, especially in the states.

A large chiller can easily compensate for hot days and if you sealed your equipment you wouldn't require air exchange or a dehumidifier, you may just want a fresh air vent for the skimmer (perhaps this is what people mean by air exchange as it wouldn't make any sense to have both a dehumidifier and an air exchanger).

You'll want some kind of heater in the shed to keep it above freezing in the winter and obviously good insulation will help in both summer and winter months. I'd recommend solid foam as it's waterproof but realistically you can use any insulation provided the vapor barrier is adequate.

I'd also look into adapting a solar water heater into the mix, would probably keep your water warm all year round and offset the power cost for the chiller.

[untamed]

I don't think there would be any risk of pipes freezing in normal operation since they would have 80 degree water running through them all the time. The only risk would be a pump failure during very cold weather. Consider running two pumps to minimize that risk. Backup power supply might also be a good idea since power failures always happen when it is cold!

[reefwars]

Would need to make sure you build on a concrete slab as all that rock and water etc. Istoo heavy for most homemade garage floors. And I would insulate any piping as the warm temp n winter will create condensation. As noted before vapor barrior to keep your shed from rotting from humidity is very important in any Insulation job. If you drywall you can use an aquaboard but I doubt you'll have that much moisture. If you attach the shed to your house I would recommend contacting your city office to find out if a permit is needed which I would say it is, also if you are running any electrical and I'm not sure about aquarium plumbing you would want to check with your home insurance that you would be covered in the case of any fire or flood. Does your house have siding or something else?? If it's siding then lucky for you it's very very very easy to cut holes or remove a section if needed if it's stucco or stone/ brick etc you would want to ask ourself is it cost effective to do so as it's hard to replace and take out...but def not impossible, it's too bad your all the wY in Vancouver I love theses kind if projects and always love a good challenge. If you need any building advice when the time comes pls don't hesitate to ask before paying someone to do it.. If again that's he route your planning

[Milad]

the buddy that made my the stand is going to help with the shed.

If I tell the city im going to attach it to the house, what will they ask for? drawings? etc? can they refuse it?

Also I dont get why I need extra heater, you guys probably know better than me but if the tank water is always 80degrees and its constantly going through the sump, etc and the shed is sealed, why would I need to add a external heater? If anything wouldnt I want to have more internal heaters?