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Brandy's Fish Room Build Journal


Brandy

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I'm so envious! Here in Texas the ground is basically solid limestone so all the houses are slab foundation and it's exceedingly rare to find one with a basement. There are tons of houses with pools, though, because that's somehow different? No idea lol

Congrats on your new place, and I'm super looking forward to seeing what you do with this awesome new fish room! 

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Hah, if there had been a slab on grade house I would have been thrilled, nothing to support!! The ground here is jello. The basement is at least a cement floor. But I will have to be very careful about the 200 gallon I want in the livingroom...

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On 6/11/2021 at 3:26 PM, quirkylemon103 said:

any indoor ponds planned? I can't wait to see what you do!

I mean, I don't think I need ponds...but I admit I might have priced the totes out. Not sure what I need to put in them, but I am going to go with "if I build it, they will come". 

But will they fit down the stairs?!😨

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On 6/11/2021 at 5:29 PM, Brandy said:

I mean, I don't think I need ponds...but I admit I might have priced the totes out. Not sure what I need to put in them, but I am going to go with "if I build it, they will come". 

But will they fit down the stairs?!😨

maybe you could build some large plywood ponds on site? I think a 12 x 3.5 x 3.5 foot ponds with arowana and rays would awesome. with a lid of course the humidity would be a nightmare 😬

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On 6/11/2021 at 5:29 PM, Brandy said:

I mean, I don't think I need ponds...but I admit I might have priced the totes out. Not sure what I need to put in them, but I am going to go with "if I build it, they will come". 

But will they fit down the stairs?!😨

might have priced, means intend to buy. cant fool us! 🙈

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Following along for sure, what a dream space to work with! I rarely see anything of that size in a private home to turn into a fishroom. Please include as much of the “mundane “ stuff as possible so I know what I need to do when I buy my first house and start building my fishroom. I have the air system worked out but plumb I  my, electric, water etc is all so over my head 😅

those indoor totes are calling my name now haha, might have to include some of those in my build now…

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On 6/13/2021 at 12:14 AM, Steph’s Fish and Plants said:

Following along for sure, what a dream space to work with! I rarely see anything of that size in a private home to turn into a fishroom. Please include as much of the “mundane “ stuff as possible so I know what I need to do when I buy my first house and start building my fishroom. I have the air system worked out but plumb I  my, electric, water etc is all so over my head 😅

those indoor totes are calling my name now haha, might have to include some of those in my build now…

start watching This old house on pbs or youtube.  the show covers lots of the basics of everything home building related. watch enough and you can have a good idea how to go about it when you get a place to build out.

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@Steph’s Fish and PlantsI can second that. There also used to be a readers digest (of all things) book of home repair that was basically the "for dummies" version. As a young woman I often had trouble getting older male hardware salesmen to take me seriously. Knowing the right words and terminology for things went a long way towards remedying that. 

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/complete-do-it-yourself-manual_readers-digest-association/265084/item/2088396/?gclid=CjwKCAjw2ZaGBhBoEiwA8pfP_sU1SWVS9bPn211mH5l-3MxxV_YoTrt-vQmP_S6-rAyOIwZj8Pm6AxoC4_YQAvD_BwE#idiq=2088396&edition=1671858

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On 6/11/2021 at 5:29 PM, Brandy said:

But will they fit down the stairs?!

I was thinking those stairs are going to be your limiting factor.  But what a great basement!  The concrete floor and those posts and beam are going to look incredible there too!  I'm following this for sure.  However long it takes.

When I was buying my house all the basements were "finished".  When I told the real estate agent I needed a basement what was at least partly unfinished, she asked if I was trying to "build equity".  I told her no, I need places for plants and fish.  She gave me a look like I'd suddenly gone quite mad right in front of her! 

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  • 1 month later...

So I warned you all that this might be slow. 

All 10 tanks were successfully moved. I lost a few juvenile acaras, and about half the rummy nose tetras. The shrimp, snails, guppies, neons, Bettas, puffers, Rams, and various large fish came thru just fine tho.

The plants less so, in the heat, in an open bed pickup, tho they are beginning to recover.

16264912771914599352159886870800.jpg.b1386cc3b761fc8982c873d01a0183e1.jpg

These two are in my living room on the floor. The basement needs plumbing and a ceiling... I can't get tote ponds down there so I'm going to go with a row of 100g stock tanks eventually. Unfortunately the first one is already occupied by some squatters...

PXL_20210712_152748344.jpg.a71a8cee32ebcb92ba92a5e120802312.jpg

But! I did score the best Craigslist freebie yesterday!

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That's going to go in the living room soon! The question is... Do I go with a UGF, sponges/corner matten, or just circulation, plants, and MTS? 

I'm leaning hard toward a @Daniel inspired simple box o' water plan. Much like a super sized 1930's aquarium.

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