Fish room complete!
by
, 03-06-2014 at 03:59 PM (6874 Views)
Howdy Reef Addicts!
I have finally completed the fish/equipment room in my basement! I built a 6' x 8' room that will hold my sump, filtration, water top off, chemicals, etc. All reef related items. I will also have a 10gal quarantine tank set up here.
I thought that the room was going to be plenty large, but now I find myself wishing it were larger, and there isn't even anything in it yet! I ended up using a high-gloss white paint for durability, even though I didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to my horrible drywall finishing, I chose function over form.
I ordered Armstrong VCT tile that was 79 cents per square foot at Home Depot. I was incredibly surprised at the huge color selection, and how easy it was to install this flooring. If you have ever installed ceramic tile, VCT is about one and a half million times easier. IMO. The main reason I decided to go with the VCT (aside from price) was that all I needed to do to my concrete floor was simply vacuum and wash it. If I were to do an epoxy (and expect it to last), I would need to etch the floor and/or fill some of the cracks I had, and I didn't want to mess with any of that.
(Hopefully Melev can tell me if I did the next part right?) After adhering the tile and letting it sit 4 days, I used a PH neutral cleaner (Armstrong's datasheet claims the Excelon tile doesn't need to be stripped out of the box and recommends a PH neutral cleaner with a red pad). After the floor dried I put down two coats of an acrylic based sealer, then 5 coats of wax. For these chemicals I used the ZEP family of products that Home Depot carried. All in all I really enjoyed working with the VCT and I think the floor looks great! Only time will tell how it will stand up to the salt water.
I put in two GFCI outlets that are on their own 15 amp circuit (with the room lighting), and haphazardly placed two porcelain base lamp sockets on the side walls (since there is no ceiling). The light bulbs are both LED. I'm not sure whether or not I am going to add a ceiling. I have also yet to add a door.
Most of my plumbing came in from Savko today. I need to determine whether I am going to try to reuse the flex pvc from my 180 build or just order another 25 feet for $25 + shipping. I also need to make up my mind on deciding exactly where in my living room I am going to bring the plumbing up through the floor. The 60g cube is going in a corner, and I need to decide if I am going to bring the pipes up in the corner or along one of the two walls. At some point in the next year or two I'd like to add a 120g tank (48"x24"x24") and I am not sure if I will want to locate it on this wall and move the 60 to another location or put the 120 in another location.
The rock from my 180 has been cycling in some Rubbermaid containers for the last two weeks. I'm doing a fish-less cycle with ammonium chloride and Dr. Tim's One & Only. Haven't checked chemicals since I set it up, should probably do that today.
I ordered an RLSS 6i protein skimmer, and a Hydra 52 (just to be different...actually I agonized over this a lot. Ended up going with the AI for the cheaper Director (even though I'll probably get the reeflink one day anyway) the EXT rail system, and its low power usage). The Hydra 52 hasn't shipped yet, but I ordered the EXT frame mount and the Director as well. I need to order another MP10wES when I get around to it (read: get paid again).
The stand that came from Deep Blue is pretty freaking flimsy. I would certainly not pay $260 for one of these stands ever again. I could have built something very nice for that amount of money (less probably). The tank itself seems quite nice though. I applied black vinyl backing (not pictured yet). I'm probably going to take out 3/4" to an inch of sand before I fill it. I'm also thinking about soaking the sand in saltwater for a week or so because I have read (The Reef Aquarium Vol. 3) that new/dry sand can significantly drop alkalinity. Has anyone noticed this?
The pictures as viewed on my computer are rotated correctly. But they aren't rotated correctly here. I'm using Windows 8.1. I was wondering if it automatically rotates the pictures based on metadata from the phone's gyroscope, and maybe it only does that in the viewer, doesn't modify the files themselves? Sounds good.... any ideas?
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