Hello all,
 
Jeff was kind enough to remind me that I hadn't posted my fishroom thread on the club's forum yet, so with my apologizes here we go...
 
Things have finally settled down enough at home that I should be able to get started on the new fishroom next weekend. This will be my third attempt at building a fishroom, and I am hoping that what I have learned over the past 30 years in the hobby will result in a much better finished product. I am also looking forward to sharing this experience with others on this forum, and that will include listing actual costs in case someone seeing this is interested. I am also looking forward to hearing some ideas from all of you that may help me along the way, or that will prevent potential mistakes. I will warn you in advance that I tend to ramble so these posts may get rather long, but I do promise to provide lots of pictures.
 
I have had the chance to visit a few other fishrooms over the years and have found that each hobbiest has their own style. What I am hoping for is to have more of a "finished" look, while still being functional. Something along the lines of what you might see in the display area of a good store. The walls will be framed, insulated, and covered with moisture resistant drywall. Racks will be standard 2x4 construction, but I am hoping to eventually face them with something that will take a nice wood stain.
 
From the drawing below, you can see that the room will be "L" shaped. The long wall is 21', and the back wall is 15'. As you enter the room (bottom) there will be an 8' long work area on the right side with countertop/cabinets/sink/water hook-ups/etc. The left side will be for water aging/storage (four 55 gallon drums), with a rack of 10 gallon tanks above for fry.
 
I wanted to keep the work area visually seperated from the display area, so there will be an open doorway dividing the two rooms. The display room will hold approx. 1,000 gallons, which I feel is about the most that I will be able to keep up with at this time. The right side and far wall will consist of racks holding 30 gallon breeders on the top shelf, and 40 gallon breeders below. The left wall will have a rack of 29 gallon tanks (3 on each level). I do have almost 8' of clearance in the basement so I could go three high on these racks, but I really don't like working on tanks that are very high or very low.
 
The center section will have two 75's and a 125, although I am not totally set on that configuration. I don't have any of those yet, so I may move some things around to work in four 75's instead.
 
I don't plan to have any automatic drain or fill systems, but will have a central air system to power the sponge filters. More on all of that as I get to those portions of the build. I would like to get this project done by Thanksgiving, but we'll see how that goes.
 
More soon - wish me luck,
 
Dan
 

Looks great Dan!

Thanks for the comments everyone.
 
Jeff - Sorry that I won't be able to work your stands into my plans, but I like the concept. Hopefully those dimensions will help the club get them sold after the convention. I know what you mean about house hunting with an eye towards future fish space. It was very high on my list.
 
I spent some time today moving the lumber into the basement and getting my work area set up.
 

 
 I am off tommorrow and I plan on geting most of the walls framed in. Here are a few pictures to give you and idea of the space I have to work with.
 

 

So is there any progress to report Dan?

Boy - time really flies when you aren't paying attention. Construction has been at a stand still for the last few weeks (just too many other projects that need to get done first), but here are a few pictures anyways. It's looking like this build will end up being a winter project after all.
 
Main walls are up. I just have to frame in the doorway.

 

 
The plumber came in last week to replace our pressure tank and re-route the laudry room supply/drain lines. Since he was there, I had him tap into the supply lines in preperation for this project. I had him install shut-off valves on each line, so that I can do the rest of the fishroom plumbing without disrupting the whole house.
 

I had some time this past weekend to work on the water supply. There are two sets of hook-ups; one to fill the water storage/aging barrels and the other set is for the sink.
 
I had planned on using copper for all of the supply lines, but after gathering everything I needed at the store I realized it would cost me well over $120 in supplies. Ten foot "sticks" of 1/2" tubing were around $9 each and I needed 80 feet, but right next to the copper pipe was 1/2" CPVC, which was only around $2. I really wasn't looking forward to sweating all of those joints anyways, and would much rather work with the CPVC. The total cost of supplies (including valves) was under $60.
 
For those that are not familiar with cpvc, it is rated for both hot and cold water supplies and is safe for drinking water use.
 
I still need to install some bracing/clips, and solder the copper fittings (slip x MPT) to the shut-off valves so that I can transition from copper to cpvc, but I have run the rest of the supply lines to their termination points. Pipe ends are currently capped so that I can pressure test the lines. The caps get cut off after the drywall is up so that the various supply valves can be installed.
 
Some assembly required:

 
I used a short boring bit to drill 7/8" holes through framing:

 
Some of the supply lines. I had to drop down on the left side to get below the main beam of the house.

 
Sink hook-up:

 
Water storage hook-up. I wish the pipes would have come out straighter, but I didn't have enough pipe to re-cut them. Plus, it will be hidden so no one will see the less than perfect rough-in:

 
In case you are wondering why there are three supply lines for the water storage... We are on a private well and have a water softener. I don't want to use the softened water for water changes , but I will use it to feed my RO system. Therefore one line is for hot water, one is for cold well water, and one is for cold "soft" water.
 
Hopefully the electrician will be out next weekend to do the wiring, and then I can begin insulation and drywall. The heaters on my one functional basement rack are running a lot more than I would like, so the sooner that I can get them into an insulated space the better off my electric bill will be.

Wow - Two updates in the same month!  
 
I was motivated last Saturday, but didn't feel like messing around with the rest of the insulation, so I decided to start on the drywall instead. A drywall lift is definately the way to go for ceilings. My dear wife helped me carry the full sheets into the basement, but after that it was a "one man show". 8 sheets up in just under 4 hours.
 

 

 

 

 
I finished the insulation yesterday and am hoping to get the rest of the drywall hung this weekend.
 

 
 
 

Another month has past in this never ending project, and I'm really bored at work, so I figured it was time for an update. I don't have any recent pictures, but you wouldn't notice the differences anyways.  
 
April was a busy month around the house, unfortunately is was mostly outside projects that ended up receiving my attention. Taping is basically done, and I was able to get the electrician to come over to install the light fixtures and outlets a couple of weeks ago. I would have preferred to wait until the painting was done, but I needed him for some other work, so I figured that I would "kill two birds with one stone". Having light and power has made working in the room allot easier though. I've given up on trying to estimate when I will be done, but I really want this project complete in the next few weeks.
 
Originally I mentioned that I would provide information on the cost of the fish room build so that others would have some idea what a similar project might cost them. I am only including the costs to construct the actual room since the number of tanks and stand construction could vary wildly in similar builds. These aren't exact numbers since I already had allot of odds and ends to start with, so I am just estimating some of those costs (plus I am terrible at keeping track of receipts). I'm a little afraid of what the final number will be, but here we go anyway...
 
Room dimensions:
Utility room 8' x 8'
Display room 10' x 15'
Total floor space = 214 square feet
 
Permits: $80.00 Total
 
Framing: $270.00 Total
Lumber (40-2x6 and 25-2x4) $230.00
Supplies (Nails, tapcons, masonry bits, etc) $40.00
 
Plumbing: $75.00 Total
 
Electric: $690.00 Total
Wire $135.00
Electrician $200.00
2 ceiling fixtures $25.00
34 boxes and associated outlets/switches/covers $150
5 Arc Fault breakers $180.00 (ouch - would have only cost $40 under the old code)
 
Insulation: $150.00 Total
 
Drywall: $260.00 Total
30 sheets of 1/2 inch moisture resistant sheetrock $190.00
4 buckets of mud $40.00
tape/corner bead $30.00
 
Primer/paint: $75.00 Total
 
 
Grand Total for project: $1,600
 
I am definitely over budget on this project and a big part of that has to do with the electrical system. I'm sure that I could have made due with half the number of outlets, but I think the functionality of the room will more than make up for that. The days of "daisy chained" extension cords are in my past. Not worrying about blown circuits, and having a single switch to turn on all of the tank lights will be a major improvement over the last couple of fish rooms that I have built. The extra $140 for the new style of circuit breakers that are now required by code was also an un-anticipated cost, but it's good piece of mind to have everything professionally done and inspected. In addition, one of the electrical circuits is actually for the workshop that will be on the other side of the basement so I should probably knock $100 off of the fish room total.
 
There is still allot of work to do, and I'll try my best to keep you updated.
 
Hopefully, there will be an open house in the not too distant future.