What would you do for a fishroom prep?

[5y5tem 0verload]

If you had/have the opportunity, what would/did you do do prepare a fishroom? How would you prepare it? I'm talking about sealing the floor, and wall prep, etc.

[Joshsmit56001]

I woulkd do the entire room in tile in case I ever had a flood it would be easy to clean up!

[5y5tem 0verload]

I had planned on expoxy for the floor, so that's not really too much of a concern unless someone has a better way. I'm more concerned with the walls because of moisture.

[syrinx]

If your starting from scratch you could use green drywall which is water resistant. If not you could at least do a good oil based paint. That will be pretty dang watertight!

[5y5tem 0verload]

The room is a spare guest bedroom which we hardly use. Guests will now have to sleep elsewhere :D I know greenboard throughout would probably be best, but is it worth all the extra work for a room that's already finished?

[smmscott]

if there is a way to do a floor drain, It is worth while. If you don't decide to do greenboard do a nice base molding to prevent water seeping up the drywall in the event of a flood. A water source is also nice so you won't have to lug water around.

[5y5tem 0verload]

One of the walls is an outside wall with a window. There is an outside faucet on that wall. I'm to try and tap into that for my RO/DI unit and probably run the waste line out the window. I was planning on some type of base molding on the floor with caulking where it meets the floor and then a coat of whatever I use on the floor to the top of the molding.

[vair]

How about a electrical sub panel, and GFIC plugs for every thing you plug in. Venting to the outside.

[dukes707]

i recently finished workin on my fish room. a couple things i suggest is having everything planned out ahead of time. this is worth repeating, have everything planned out ahead of time. where the tank will go, filtration schematics, i also recomend a dedicated electronic switchboard with a GFCI so you dont short the rest of your house. a seperate circut from your breaker would be better if you can do it, but still use a GFCI. if you cant tap a new circut off your breaker then it would be helpfull to find out what runs on the circut you are using. it would suck really hard if you crashed your hard drive cause it was on the same circut your tank stuff was when it tripped.
with the floor, if you have tile thats great, makes things easier, just make sure its sealed and water tight. my room has carpet in it, so what i did was put down some 5mm clear plastic sheeting i got from walmart under the tank and components with a 18" border all the way around so spills wouldnt wreck the carpet (cause we all spill sometimes). also i put the same plastic sheeting behind the tank on the wall to protect the it from splash and saltcreep from the sump. makes clean up easy, just wipe and your done.
tank maintenance is simplified if you have a bathroom in that room. i am lucky enough to have a full bathroom in mine so water changes are a snap. ro/di is plumbed right into the bathroom and goes out into the tank no problem. also remember if you have a window in the room the natural light from that window might conflict with your lighting needs, so think about that when you are determining tank placement.
if you have central heat/air you might want to take that into consideration as well. i keep my vent closed and my tank is on the opposite side of the room to help maintain consistant water temp. also i keep the window cracked in the room for oxygen circulation. if you keep the window closed and air vent open you might have probs with Co2 build up and pH stability unless you already get really good circulation in that room. plus the air in that room will get really humid so wall paint may take some thinkin about. i cant remember if a latex based paint is better for humid areas, you can ask at home depot for more info on that.
thats all i can think about right now. just a few thing that i wish i would have put more consideration into before starting. hope this helps. good luck on the room.
-Francis

[dukes707]

forgot to mention, make sure the circut you will use can handle the amount of wattage/amps you will be drawing for your tanks needs. if not you will burn it everytime, maybe cause a fire. be careful. remember to check, check, then re-check. cant be too careful with such investments (house/tank).

[nyvp]

actually better than green board is the new hardy backer. I did my whole fish room in that stuff. Much different.. quieter, stronger,mildew resistant but twice the price. Hardy can sit in water full time and not break down. Green you can see what areas have been wet.

[5y5tem 0verload]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9162428#post9162428 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dukes707
i recently finished workin on my fish room. a couple things i suggest is having everything planned out ahead of time. this is worth repeating, have everything planned out ahead of time. where the tank will go, filtration schematics, i also recomend a dedicated electronic switchboard with a GFCI so you dont short the rest of your house. a seperate circut from your breaker would be better if you can do it, but still use a GFCI. if you cant tap a new circut off your breaker then it would be helpfull to find out what runs on the circut you are using. it would suck really hard if you crashed your hard drive cause it was on the same circut your tank stuff was when it tripped.
with the floor, if you have tile thats great, makes things easier, just make sure its sealed and water tight. my room has carpet in it, so what i did was put down some 5mm clear plastic sheeting i got from walmart under the tank and components with a 18" border all the way around so spills wouldnt wreck the carpet (cause we all spill sometimes). also i put the same plastic sheeting behind the tank on the wall to protect the it from splash and saltcreep from the sump. makes clean up easy, just wipe and your done.
tank maintenance is simplified if you have a bathroom in that room. i am lucky enough to have a full bathroom in mine so water changes are a snap. ro/di is plumbed right into the bathroom and goes out into the tank no problem. also remember if you have a window in the room the natural light from that window might conflict with your lighting needs, so think about that when you are determining tank placement.
if you have central heat/air you might want to take that into consideration as well. i keep my vent closed and my tank is on the opposite side of the room to help maintain consistant water temp. also i keep the window cracked in the room for oxygen circulation. if you keep the window closed and air vent open you might have probs with Co2 build up and pH stability unless you already get really good circulation in that room. plus the air in that room will get really humid so wall paint may take some thinkin about. i cant remember if a latex based paint is better for humid areas, you can ask at home depot for more info on that.
thats all i can think about right now. just a few thing that i wish i would have put more consideration into before starting. hope this helps. good luck on the room.
-Francis

That's just the type of answer I was looking for Francis.

The room is a 10 x 12. The tank is going to be viewable on 2 sides. The window is going to have an AC unit and a window fan unit. I have 2 20A circuits on my current 225G tank that I'm going to move over to the fishroom and then I'm going to add 2 new 20A circuits giving me 4 total. There will be a chiller outside and I'm contemplating adding a dehumidifier in the fish room. I think I'm going to pull the carpet up and expoxy the floor. I'll probably replace all the sheetrock with greenboard on the walls that the tank is actually going to be touching and like you said, find out what type of paint to repaint the others walls with that is semi moisture proof. The room does have a central AC vent which is closed now and I'll keep it closed.

nyvp - I'll look into the hardy backer. Thanks.

[Craig Lambert]

I would also put a drain in the floor and run the pipe to connect with any outdoor drain lines you might have such as a downspout that runs to an underground line. Or else just run the pipe somewhere out from under the house where you feel it would be safe to dump 50 gallons of water. (in the event of a spill/flood). I see a lot of tile recommendations. Is there any chance of tile cracking under the weight of a large tank? (Don't know..just asking). I would think linolium would be good to. It makes for easy cleanup.