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What would you want in a Fishroom - Hypothetically Speaking

chriscoli

Administrator
So let's just say....hypothetically speaking....that your significant other is interested in looking for a new house with a little more room than you have right now. let's just say that this move would allow you to get a better fishroom than you currently have. So in looking at houses, what would you need? What would you want?

Here's what I'm thinking so far....

Need:
-separate room that can allow heating of the room rather than heaters in every tank.
-access to water
-access to a drain or outdoors
-a place for my RO system
-enough space to consolidate all of my current tanks into this one area.
-location would be downstairs on concrete, not upstairs
-ability to put in a dedicated electrical circuit(s)

Want:
-slop sink
-unfinished walls/ceiling
-room for storage of fish stuff (or storage nearby)
-room for a prep table for bagging fish

What are your thoughts?
 

Jmty

Members
you cover every thing , but make sure you got room for expansion haha,my office getting smaller every day,grand kids play room is gone,few tanks outside man cave is only 1000 sq. feet NOT ENOUGH , 1 more thing good access to walkout basement :) good luck.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
Small refrigerator to store fish food and live cultures, so that you don't have to store them in your oenophile spouse's wine chiller or the family refrigerator.
 

spazmattik

Members
you cover every thing , but make sure you got room for expansion haha,my office getting smaller every day,grand kids play room is gone,few tanks outside man cave is only 1000 sq. feet NOT ENOUGH , 1 more thing good access to walkout basement :) good luck.
+1. i will be looking for a house this year and the biggest requirement is a walkout basement with access to water. lol
 

spazmattik

Members
Small refrigerator to store fish food and live cultures, so that you don't have to store them in your oenophile spouse's wine chiller or the family refrigerator.
nothing wrong with that ;) sharing is caring.. i keep my worms on the shelf next to the minced garlic. lol
 

npbarca

Members
Add some lighting options to light the tanks without having to have a light on most of the tanks.
 

chriscoli

Administrator
Add some lighting options to light the tanks without having to have a light on most of the tanks.


agreed! Most of my tanks are planted, but not all of them are....it'd be nice to have some room-level options rather than one on every tank.
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
I think you've about covered it.

Our place in Montgomery Village has a walk-out basement and a floor drain...but I had to hose in water from the upstairs bathroom. Not ideal but it worked.

As you know, I'm a fan of central HVAC, air light.

Framing in a fishroom in an otherwise unfinished basement is pretty simple. I've seen rooms (like George's and a couple of others) basically created out of clear plastic (kind of like Dexter does).

Matt
 

Reed

Very Fishe
The refrigerator should be big enough for at least 2 6 packs of beer in addition to fish food

Sent from my SM-G900V using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 

Becca

Members
Subfloor heating - it's more energy efficient.

I would consider something that made it really easy for me to drain my tanks to a storage container outdoors so I can use tank water for my lawn and garden.

I'd also consider plumbing a central system, if I was going to move the number of tanks you have to a new space and had time to think it all out in advance.
 

DiscusnAfricans

Past President
I just went through this process, made it tougher finding a house, but I'm pleased how it worked out.

Walkout level was a must for me, bringing tanks downstairs through the house can be really tough, if not impossible. We had to eliminate some choices for this very reason.

I think most of my other wants were mentioned above, just consider that some basements won't be perfect, but think about what can be changed.

For example, the house we bought had a walkout, with a separate room in the basement, but it was finished and didn't have water access. We were able to "unfinish" the room (mostly just removing carpet, we didn't mess with drywall) and have a utility sink installed. The room wasn't perfect, but we made it usable.

Finding a usable room is easier than actually setting it up, but things have to happen in succession...
 

chriscoli

Administrator
Ok, so here's a question (Matt's Dexter comment made me wonder about it). Given the choice, is it better to have a completely unfinished room, or a room with finished walls but no carpet?
 

chriscoli

Administrator
I'd also consider plumbing a central system, if I was going to move the number of tanks you have to a new space and had time to think it all out in advance.


Yep, already thinking along those lines. Not sure how I'd do it since this hypothetical house doesn't exist yet, but I definitely want to consider a central system.
 

chriscoli

Administrator
I just went through this process, made it tougher finding a house, but I'm pleased how it worked out.

Walkout level was a must for me, bringing tanks downstairs through the house can be really tough, if not impossible. We had to eliminate some choices for this very reason.

I think most of my other wants were mentioned above, just consider that some basements won't be perfect, but think about what can be changed.

For example, the house we bought had a walkout, with a separate room in the basement, but it was finished and didn't have water access. We were able to "unfinish" the room (mostly just removing carpet, we didn't mess with drywall) and have a utility sink installed. The room wasn't perfect, but we made it usable.

Finding a usable room is easier than actually setting it up, but things have to happen in succession...


Your recent experiences have been very much at the front of my mind with regards to this....I may have to pick your brain in the near future.
 
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