Gup’s New Fishroom Build

[Guppysnail]

Until recently I rented out the basement as storage space. Our house was larger than Hubby and I needed. Storage tenant is leaving.They stopped paying rent so space available now.

So I decided my fishroom-s needed to go downstairs to make it easier on me.

Currently they are two converted spare bedrooms.  One room still partly what used to be my dressing room.  It’s now dual dressing room that is not working well as a dressing room and a squished in fishroom.  
 

When I put out my tote for water changes and bucket I siphon out used water there is no room to walk. It’s a step careful and try not to trip situation.  I get water by running a hose through the house from the kitchen and used water goes out the window or to the bathroom down the hall. I store my buckets in my bathtub because I’m out of room. Very inconvenient and requires moving them every day to shower.  
 

Working in my rooms means everything I’m currently using for whatever fry hatch setup sits on the floor in front of tanks.  I bought rolling shelves but they don’t roll over the throw rugs I use in front of each tank to protect the carpet.  
 

The house is split level so rooms are above the garage on the second floor.  The basement is actually the first floor. 
 

This is the basement. 13’ x 26’ plenty of room.  😃

My Hubby ❤️ and friends from Smallworld Aquatics are helping me. One is a contractor.  

The challenges 

The room hits 44 in the winter. The HVAC was not installed correctly by the houses first owners. It was an attempt at finishing the unfinished basement. The foundation stone stick uncovered 3 inches into the room and works like ice packs. The garage is not insulated and drafty. We run a heater in the garage over winter to keep the pipes from freezing (they froze and burst one year)

The only plumbing down there is hooked to the washer. No faucet available.  No drain other than closed sewer line the washer is hooked into.

3 plugs wired to a circuit containing mainly outlets outside, in the garage. And my laundry room. Not usable in capacity for 20 plus tanks.

I bought the electrical supplies to run more sockets  my breaker box has room for more breakers.

I bought the flex duct but they were out of boots the size I needed. Gup is learning to HVAC 😲

Hubby bought the paint and flooring. He also helped me get the first coat on.  The insulation board will be delivered Saturday to cover the exposed foundation concrete  

 

This party has officially started  🥳

Flooring,  utility sink and beautiful island Hubby surprised me with  ❤️

[NikkiRae]

That is a lot of tanks and plants! good luck on your renovation 🙂 

 

[Odd Duck]

How exciting!  Plus a lot of work!  I wish I had a mostly empty room to move my tanks into.  I’ve got to move so much stuff out of my Offish before it can become my Offish that I’m still mostly stuck in idle.  😂 

You can still install a sump that sits under the utility sink so your sink drains into it.  Keep the tanks all on stands and you can still get a decent drain rate with your python or generic equivalent.  That’s what we’re going to have to do for the Offish.

[reefhugger]

Oh my stars what a project.  You've got fantastic assistance and a good place to convert to a fish room dispite the challanges.  The pothos and tanks against that beautiful color will be so beautifull.   I'd love to have a utility sink like that.  Mostly dragging tank items out to the hose on the lawn to clean.  Props to hubby for the lovely and useful cabinet.

[Guppysnail]

Both coats of paint are on. Trim is painted.  Carpet and tack boards are up. 
 

the lower 20 inches of 2 walls are exposed foundation stone that sticks 2 inches into the room. We are in process of putting up 1 inch insulation board over it. We already picked out the wallpaper for over it. 
 

Next step is redo the duct work. 
 

The vinyl flooring was delivered. 
 

It’s coming right along at Gup’s old people pace 🤣

NOT a scale drawing by even the most wild stretch of the imagination.  But a rough draft layout. 
mAlso those stand are all double tank stands.  They each represent 2 tanks.  All these tanks are current  the only new tanks being added are a 40B and 8 10g tanks for breeding and grow out  

[Odd Duck]

That’s going to be awesome!