125g Build. Should I do a Small Fish Room??

[sweatervest13]

Like the title says I am starting a new set up build. I ordered a 125g reef ready glass tank from Great Lakes Aquarium. I am having it custom built because I opted for black silicone and I wanted the centered overflow off center by a couple of inches (because I have a 2x4 support dead center of the stand I am building). I was up last night having a drink with the wife looking at the freshly stained stand and I got to thinking... Can/should I do a small fish room? The spot where I am putting the tank is a cove in the basement with a large closet to the left (looking at the tanks left). IMO it would be a great spot to do a little fish room. I wanted to put a 55g tank under the stand and make a DIY sump with a fuge. I think it would be a tight fit under the stand, so thats why I thought of just doing that 55g in the next room as a fuge and under the stand put a 30g or something as the sump with skimmer.
What all would be involved in setting up a fish room? Would I need to use an external pump? It should not have to work as hard because It is not fighting gravity as much as an underneeth sump. Right? Head loss would be less?
When I ordered the tank I just went with the standard overflow rated for 1000 GPH. If I do a two tank deal for the sump and fuge should I upgrade to an 1800 GPH overflow?? Split the overflow line and direct it under the stand and in the fish room?
I am not super handy but I get by and think that this is something I could do. Well, with a little help from my SWF friends!!
I kind of need to get this thought our pretty quick but I am not an expert and would love help with a design. Any takers? I would need to call GLA and tell them I want the bigger overflow by early next week before they start putting the tank together.
I must say I am very excited to do this

Thanks
Ryan

 

[2quills]

I would upgrade the overflow. There's really not much of a need to push more than a 1000g through the system for that size tank but if it were me I'd still like to have a greater drain capacity just because. Can we see a shot of the closet next to the stand? It might help for trying to visualize ideas.

 

[sweatervest13]

 

[2quills]

Hmmm. If the choice were mine I think I would knock down the wall on the left side of the tank, frame up a new wall along the front of the tank and have an in wall aquarium and a slightly larger fish room. The stand looks nice.

 

[sweatervest13]

Here are some pics. The closet has drywall about 4' back then it is cement wall. So I could go thru the drywall NP. I think will do the larger overflow just in case.
Here is a pic of the 1800 GPH overflow.
Here is a pic of the 3 valve level customflo return like. I already did this upgrade.
Let me know what you think.

 

[2quills]

I think you made a good choice.

 

[acrylic51]

What did the upgrade on the overflow cost you extra??? Back to the main subject, any fishroom is always a good idea no matter how big!!!!!!

 

[sweatervest13]

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///forum/thread/385803/125g-build-should-i-do-a-small-fish-room#post_3385723
What did the upgrade on the overflow cost you extra??? Back to the main subject, any fishroom is always a good idea no matter how big!!!!!!
I think it is a $45.00 up charge. But I have not confirmed that they received my email to do the upgrade yet. Their store is only open Thurs - Sunday
so I will have to make sure that they can do it.
Really for the fish room I was just thinking that it might be easier and I would be able to add more water volume to the system. Right now my setup in the basement for my 29g tank has kind of took over and there is stuff every where. My stand is just a metal frame and you can see all stuff that you need to keep a tank up and running all over the place. With using that closet (If I do) it would help me keep it all contained. Plus I would be able to do a 55g in the fish room and a smaller tank in the stand. I am not sure how I would set it up. Should I do the sump in the fish room and a refugium in the stand? I think that I would need to split the overflow line, one under to the stand and one to the fish room. Would I have to have a slight angle in the pipe going into the fish room? I am no pro at designing a system or even the plumbing it self, but I am willing to try (maybe).
I think that I will try to design something crude and see how it flys. BTW any help would be awesome!!! lol

 

[acrylic51]

Draw away.....some very good heads around here and surely you'll get a solid plan!!!!!

 

[2quills]

Definitely like to see some kind of drawing of what you're thinking about. The only downfall that I see with the idea is that you would see the plumbing on the side of the stand passing back and forth between the wall and the stand. Also height might be an issue for what you're talking about doing. Since your drain will come out of the bottom of the tank, it will have to run horizontal and pass through the wall, then into a tank then come back through the wall and into another tank under the stand. If for some chance you happened to do that I think it would be better to have a fuge in the closet and the skimmer and return pump under the stand.
This is just my opinion but I really don't see any reason why you couldn't have plenty of sump room keeping it all under the stand. I know the center vertical piece on your stand is not removable since you used plywood skin and 2x4 vertical bracing there. But I think you could easily do a 2 tank set up underneath the stand and get plenty of extra water volume for the system. Then you can use the closet for a quarantine tank, frag tank, store your water change container...etc. Maybe you could make a small hole in the wall that you could pass some plumbing through for pumping water in and out of your tank for water changes. How close is the closest water source to that closet? Is there a water line that you could tap into and run some plumbing over there to hook up an R/O unit in that room?

 

[sweatervest13]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/385803/125g-build-should-i-do-a-small-fish-room#post_3386043
Definitely like to see some kind of drawing of what you're thinking about. The only downfall that I see with the idea is that you would see the plumbing on the side of the stand passing back and forth between the wall and the stand. Also height might be an issue for what you're talking about doing. Since your drain will come out of the bottom of the tank, it will have to run horizontal and pass through the wall, then into a tank then come back through the wall and into another tank under the stand. If for some chance you happened to do that I think it would be better to have a fuge in the closet and the skimmer and return pump under the stand.
This is just my opinion but I really don't see any reason why you couldn't have plenty of sump room keeping it all under the stand. I know the center vertical piece on your stand is not removable since you used plywood skin and 2x4 vertical bracing there. But I think you could easily do a 2 tank set up underneath the stand and get plenty of extra water volume for the system. Then you can use the closet for a quarantine tank, frag tank, store your water change container...etc. Maybe you could make a small hole in the wall that you could pass some plumbing through for pumping water in and out of your tank for water changes. How close is the closest water source to that closet? Is there a water line that you could tap into and run some plumbing over there to hook up an R/O unit in that room?
You know what... I think that you are right. I kinda feel that I am pushing an idea that keeps getting more difficult to make work.
Plus I found out that I was too late to do the upgraded overflow. I could have but i would have had to pay double for the upgrade. I like the Idea of a two tank set up under the stand. Well, maybe three cause I want to do a ATO system. If I have some down time tomorrow I will sketch up something. Whats the best way to upload a sketch?? I am really not good at this. LOL

 

[acrylic51]

What is the width of the openings for your doors on your stand? What is the inside useable space inside the stand as well?

 

[sweatervest13]

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///forum/thread/385803/125g-build-should-i-do-a-small-fish-room#post_3386099
What is the width of the openings for your doors on your stand? What is the inside useable space inside the stand as well?
I am going to have to get a tape measurer on it when I get home from work. But, the tank is 72x18x22 so the footprint is 72"x18". The top is a bit bigger then the footprint of the tank, so the inside is minus the size of the frame and skin. The floor of the stand does not cover the entire bottom. I was a bit cheap and did not want to buy a whole piece of plywood to have a single cut out bottom. So I used three scrap pieces of plywood I had and patched it together. The very ends in the bottom are not covered, maybe about 3-4" on each end. I am losing a bit of space there.
I kind of like 2Quills idea of doing two tanks to get more volume. I am pretty sure that I can not have a tank hanging over the edge (would even a bit be out of the question??). I would guess that the inside is 64"x16", I have 2x4 vertical supports in the middle so there it might be only 14" wide.
I think thats why I might not be able to get a 55g sump in there because it gets narrow in the middle. Two 29g tanks, one on each side I think would fit.

 

[1guydude]

u guys are kinda speaking another language to me lol....
I like the idea of having a fishroom though...when i get a house im totally dedicating a room to my fish. First thing ill do is rip the carpet up and replace it with tile. That should be a blast (sarcasm)!
Good luck with the build sweatervest....ill be watching!

 

[sweatervest13]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 1guyDude http:///forum/thread/385803/125g-build-should-i-do-a-small-fish-room#post_3386166
u guys are kinda speaking another language to me lol....
I like the idea of having a fishroom though...when i get a house im totally dedicating a room to my fish. First thing ill do is rip the carpet up and replace it with tile. That should be a blast (sarcasm)!
Good luck with the build sweatervest....ill be watching!
Thanks Dude!! It is a bit of a different lauguage for me too. LOL I am learning as I go and I am very thankful to get some advice from great people here.
Usually a fish room is kinda hidden from the DT. You know where you can do all the messy stuff, and then have a nice clean display tank. But I don't think that it will work for me. Well I won't have any plumbing for the tank in there at least. But 2Quills had a good suggestion to make it kind of a fish room and do all the messy stuff in there but keep the sump and fuge under the stand. Dang I am super stoked to get this puppy up and going!!

 

[acrylic51]

Sorry posted on your other thread a bit ago, but with that space available underneath and with the tank still in the early stage of building; I don't see any problem with being able to get a 1 piece sump through the openings.....Just a good guess from the pic, but I dry fitted a 43" sump in my buddies stand with the tank in place and all the plumbing still intact, and it wasn't super hard to get it in......His sump dimensions are 43"x15". He could have went longer, but to not redo any of the plumbing, I built the sump around everything that is already in place. Don't forget to take into account if your going to using external pumps. There was a time I would totally forget about the space those things eat up......