The noise doesn't bother us, having 13 tanks and being in the hobby for 15 years myself and Greg much longer.... it's not an issue time will help with. We have a tank on our night stand and at one time had 6 tanks in our bedroom. But this is our preemo entertainment room. A 65" LED TV, awesome surround sound and power theater recliners. WE may be use to the noise, but everyone else who flocks to the "Coolest Room Evah", are not.
A friend of ours did this locally who lives more inland and north of us. It gets hotter than heck and it's the place at the base of the mountains where all the air pollution settles so you can almost taste it. If he can do it... we can do it. It was SO nice having such easy access to the sump and equipment.
The sump will sit just outside the patio door. Going outside to access it won't be a problem. Our patio door is even open 24/7 and as we type, I'm sitting out back with my laptop enjoying a beautiful day as I do everyday here in California. We don't even use a kitchen garbage can... LOL.... we just walk whatever we have around to the outside trash. THEN you have to consider how much walking I do to feed my fish. It takes me at least an hour. I feed every fish in the front room (2 tanks) a single piece of food, move to the garage (2 tanks), then go to the TV room (1 tank... soon to be 2), then go upstairs (4 tanks). Then I go back to the beginning and do it all again... and about 10 more times. THEN factor in my Orange Spotted Filefish which are upstairs in my office. I go up there and feed pellets and flake food about 5-10 times a day. WHEW! I'm tired.
What's holding Greg's portion up is, plumbing tanks are great fun and a fabulous learning experience every single time. But we're talking about a hole in the wall of our brand new house.... I don't want to learn it HAS to be perfect. And we all know you learn the best lessons through your mistakes.
What's holding my project up is I'm afraid to stain this beast of a stand. This is a huge tank in the middle of our house.... what if I mess it up! I've been practicing on scrap and I find I'm getting better.... so I need to practice a little bit more. Maybe this weekend if the dentist doesn't kill me on Friday. We got the molding for the trim... so now I'm practicing my miter cuts.
The stand is an actual part of the house now, for I built it using a pre-exiting divider wall.... there's no second chances.
We're also considering an auto water changer which will occupy the space under the stand.
Long story short... we're chickens!
