Travis and Jessica's 400G Build

[A_CoupleClowns]

Originally Posted by worm5406

With this being a 400g, how many pass through do you have? From the overflow to the drain area?

There should be at minimum 2. Just for support, stability, and more importantly flow. All it is is a hole anyway.

-- -- - --

Nevermind I just looked again at the build cad drawing. It is on the back wall.

Yes you got it, the weir is CNC'd right into the back wall.

[SPotter]

One of my overflows/durso drains. No gurgle, no waterfall sounds, no air sucking. What little noise you do hear is from the sea swirls on the return lines.

[worm5406]

Nice. My 180 sounds the same way. Everynow and then I block my top hole to make sure things are running good. Sucks it right down.

[A_CoupleClowns]

Originally Posted by SPotter

One of my overflows/durso drains. No gurgle, no waterfall sounds, no air sucking. What little noise you do hear is from the sea swirls on the return lines.

Yeah that's mint. If we can get ours that quiet we are good to go.

[A_CoupleClowns]

**Update**

Due to the logistics of the basement fishroom (tons of plumbing and drilling through floor joists to dodge the up and over) we have decided to change the plans a bit. The wall that the 400g is up against is the garage on the other side. We are going to frame up/insulate a fishroom inside the garage along this wall. Something around 8'x8'x8'h. The garage extends out a bit on both sides of the garage door so there is plenty of room out there. This should also help keep the humidity out of the house.

The one small downside is there is no sink/faucet out in the garage. But I will be able to run the ro/di lines out there no problem. I could plumb a drain and run some cheap PEX plumbing lines for a faucet but we are wondering if it will really be needed? May even take up valuable space in the fish room. We will have a 4'x5'x2' (300g) sump/mangrove/frag tank eating up a large chunk of the fishroom already. And we are going to set up an auto water changing station, taking up another decent portion of the room.

One of the best parts about the garage fishroom, Jessica is really happy to be keeping the fishroom out of the laundry room/basement. You know what they say, Happy Wife = Happy Life.

Going to pick up the lumber for the stand today, I like working with wood so should be a hoot.

[dave.m]

You will want a sink and taps for cleaning and maintenance in the fishroom.

Dave.M

[worm5406]

As long as a sink is not too far. Cleaning out a skimmer and taking it inside the kitchen makes for a mad significant other. (BELIEVE ME... That is why I am divorced now.. HAHAHAHAHA)

[SPotter]

Having just built a fish room in my garage a few months ago all I can say is go as big as you can. My room is 12x7 and I currently have tanks on 3 of the 4 walls. 8x8 will fill up very very quickly!

[Oldude]

Originally Posted by A_CoupleClowns

The tank dimensions are 96.5 x 36 x 27H, the front and both sides are starphire glass. We decided on these dimensions after looking at "olddudes" threads, you could say his awesome setup inspired and got us to actually pull the trigger.

What a great compliment - thank you. I am looking forward to following along with your progress.

[A_CoupleClowns]

Originally Posted by dave.m

You will want a sink and taps for cleaning and maintenance in the fishroom.

Dave.M

Yeah after what you guys said and thinking about it a bit, we are going to run a sink and water. The easier its is to clean in the fishroom, the cleaner we will keep it.

Originally Posted by worm5406

As long as a sink is not too far. Cleaning out a skimmer and taking it inside the kitchen makes for a mad significant other. (BELIEVE ME... That is why I am divorced now.. HAHAHAHAHA)

After hearing this we are running a sink no doubt about it!

Originally Posted by SPotter

Having just built a fish room in my garage a few months ago all I can say is go as big as you can. My room is 12x7 and I currently have tanks on 3 of the 4 walls. 8x8 will fill up very very quickly!

Now that you mention it your right we might as well go a little bigger, we only get to build the fish room once so we want to do it right. We are going to do 8x10, that should give us a little extra room for a small sink. We are also planning to put a bunch of shelving up.

My good friend is a Journeyman, he said he will stop by tonight after work and frame up the room in around an hour. Gotta love a little help from your friends.

Originally Posted by Oldude

What a great compliment - thank you. I am looking forward to following along with your progress.

Keep up the awesome work, we are glad to have you following along!

[worm5406]

Originally Posted by A_CoupleClowns

After hearing this we are running a sink no doubt about it!

Yeah there is nothing like a skimmer smell. I can clear out a house in seconds. I normally do it when I want to them to go and do something productive.

[A_CoupleClowns]

Originally Posted by worm5406

Yeah there is nothing like a skimmer smell. I can clear out a house in seconds. I normally do it when I want to them to go and do something productive.

LOL! Using it to your advantage, brilliant!

[SPotter]

I would have loved to have a sink in my fish room but the best the builder would do is put a hose bib on the wall in the garage where I was going to build the fish room. Even that drew attention from the town inspectors when they came in for their final inspection. But since the weather is nice down here most of the times its easy to take my skimmer outside the garage and clean it near the sewer drain.

[A_CoupleClowns]

Originally Posted by SPotter

I would have loved to have a sink in my fish room but the best the builder would do is put a hose bib on the wall in the garage where I was going to build the fish room. Even that drew attention from the town inspectors when they came in for their final inspection. But since the weather is nice down here most of the times its easy to take my skimmer outside the garage and clean it near the sewer drain.

Our plan was to hose everything off out front. We even have a hot water tap in the front for the hose. But with Minnesnowta winters I think that will be pushing it a bit too long and we would end up cleaning stuff inside the house. I was also going to just plumb a sink with the drain going out into the rocks in our yard for waterchanges but I thought about it and that would eventually create an ice rink out there come winter

[A_CoupleClowns]

Well it is time to give this thread a little substance!

Here is the stand. Still need to seal it and skin it.



Here is the view from the entry way when you first enter the home.




Here is a photo from the dining room table area, its a nice spot for the tank because you will be able to see it from so many different areas of the home (dining room, breakfast bar area, living room and entry way). Try and ignore the ghetto sectional couch, we have a new sectional that we are getting to replace that couch so we wanted copy a sectional until we get it


The dogs never miss a photo opportunity. I have caught the black one listening for the t5's to click on and then heading over to sit in front of the tank for a little viewing session. They are both awesome and love the fish, sometimes I think they are waiting for one to jump out, wrasse fish stick...


Here is a photo of Ella to even it out. She is a blue Doberman, although its hard to tell in the low light.

[dave.m]

It's a good thing you're getting rid of the couch. None of the sections are set up to view the tank properly.

Dave.M

[A_CoupleClowns]

Originally Posted by dave.m

It's a good thing you're getting rid of the couch. None of the sections are set up to view the tank properly.

Dave.M

Yeah those couches are huge and just don't fit the room well at all. We are still going with that basic shape for the sectional but not as long and also a smaller size couch. It would be cool to put 2 rotating recliners/lazyboy's on that end by the aquarium. When the time came to sit in front of the tank and admire, we could swing the recliners around and enjoy. I think you just gave me a pretty good idea there.

[A_CoupleClowns]

My friend came over and framed the room up for us last night. We settled on 7'x10'x8'H. Now its time to pick up some sheetrock/tape/mud, insulation, wiring/outlets, light socket/switch and a door and I think we will be able to call it a room. We are making progress so that's a good thing.

We also need to pick up some plywood for the top of the stand and some trim,wood and paint/primer to skin the stand. Homedepot has been making a killing off of us lately, LOL.

[worm5406]

Looking good. Is he available in the DC area?

[A_CoupleClowns]

Originally Posted by worm5406

Looking good. Is he available in the DC area?

Thanks!

Nope, now he has a full schedule of fishroom builds in the Minneapolis,MN area

[Newbie Aquarist]

I wish I had a fishroom if I was thinking when I upgraded. I love your dobermans. They are beautiful. Keep up the good work.

[A_CoupleClowns]

Originally Posted by Newbie Aquarist

I wish I had a fishroom if I was thinking when I upgraded. I love your dobermans. They are beautiful. Keep up the good work.

I'm sure you could find a way to make it happen if you needed one, just look at that mountain of Kessils! You better tell, well warn, your visitors to bring their shades

Thanks! We LOVE Dobies, they are so loyal and intelligent. And thanks we will try, just need to keep opening the wallet and getting things done ... All of our livestock (fish/corals/snails/rock) is crammed into two 100g stock tanks downstairs, so this project is a top priority! We have had no losses in the stock tanks so far so its going good. Pretty crazy because the stock tanks were filled with 100% freshly mixed reef crystals water, I thought the parameter shift would take something down for sure. Some corals did take a hit color wise but that is to be expected I guess. All fish are out and about eating and the tangs look to be fighting as usual, bastards.

[A_CoupleClowns]

Just ordered 350lbs of dry rock. We went with regular rock for the lower part of the structure and shelf rock covering the whole top of the structure. Basically just aiming for a long reef cove look. After looking around a bit we decided to use reef rocks.net for the dry rock. Contacted reef rocks and Steve really hooked us up big time. Steve is also going to hand pick us some special shelf pieces to really step our build up a notch! So awesome. We will get some good photos up of the rock up when it arrives

Got the wood and trim to skin the stand today. Hopefully get the stand skinned and all mostly finished tomorrow.

[stinkyreef]

Looks great! Who lost their parking spot in the garage?

[worm5406]

I bet he lost his. LOL With a threat if there are any scratches on her's.