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So I'm Building Stuff Again. 150g Plus Fish Room. (2 Viewers)

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Illusiveman

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All seriousness though, are you referring to the fish room?
Correct. If it was me doing that project, it just one of the things I would have considered before the build, I like to build budgets. Wife has me on the Dave Ramsey craze.
 
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Cody

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Correct. If it was me doing that project, it just one of the things I would have considered before the build, I like to build budgets. Wife has me on the Dave Ramsey craze.
Well, I don't really have projection of cost, nor do I care so much. It's something that I want to do. I'm thinking I might make a sting ray tank, which would be awesome.

Having said that, I guestimate that my current cost for electricity is about $150 per month and that includes temperature control and roughly 17 lights, which are the most energy consuming parts of my fish room and tank.
 
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Cody

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It’s about that time. FISH ROOM EXPANSION, BABY!!!

So I started framing out the fish room expansion. I’m going to go from 7’x7’ to 9’x18’. I’ve long ran out of room and I realized that one of my favorite parts of the hobby is building. I’ve been in a reefing rut lately so I figured this would spark my interest. My intention is to build a wall outside the current fish room from the left to the right sides of my garage. Once that’s finished, I’ll tear down the old fish room and have it all open.

Here’s the current fish room for a “before” shot.

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Getting the bottom and top squared out so I can fill it in. I used 2.75” cement screws to secure the base to the cement with a little help from my hammer drill.

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Cody

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Securing the ceiling boards was a bit of a challenge. The joists above my garage run left to right, same as the wall. Unfortunately, the position for my wall was between two joists. So, I went into the attic and secured six 2x4s between the joists for me to attach to. It took forever because the joists aren’t straight up and down, and they’re narrower at the top than the bottom. Solution: cut them short and shim them.

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Top and bottom secured. Now to add another layer on both for support and to decrease the length of stud that I need. With just one layer on the top and bottom it’s slightly more than 8’. Pro tip: use a laser leveler. Its basically cheating. Last time I used a plumb bob on a string and that was more challenging

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Cody

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Clean up that garage bro! lol
I’m moving too much crap around. It will be cleaned soon. I’m removing pretty much all of the tables except the cnc router table and the table saw. I’m going to replace them with collapsible tables so I don’t take up what little room I have left.
 

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^^^That's a lot of stuff to move Cody. I'm using a 3/4 ply as a table with some saw horses, technically collapsible.

the larger fish room is gonna be nice.
 
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Cody

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^^^That's a lot of stuff to move Cody. I'm using a 3/4 ply as a table with some saw horses, technically collapsible.

the larger fish room is gonna be nice.
It looks like more than it is, really. Once I get rid of the extra table and organize the rest, it will be pretty empty in the front half of the garage.

I’m going to finish the last bit of framing tomorrow then get started on the electrical. I currently have two 20amp circuits dedicated to my fish room. I’m going to add two more, so I need to run some more cable through the attic. Perfect timing for the cold front coming in.
 

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It looks like more than it is, really. Once I get rid of the extra table and organize the rest, it will be pretty empty in the front half of the garage.

I’m going to finish the last bit of framing tomorrow then get started on the electrical. I currently have two 20amp circuits dedicated to my fish room. I’m going to add two more, so I need to run some more cable through the attic. Perfect timing for the cold front coming in.

The more the better but I think 2-20A is more than enough unless you are going to run a bunch of heaters and chillers. My 500/g plus 200/g sump was
running fine with 2-20A in the fishroom.
 
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Cody

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The more the better but I think 2-20A is more than enough unless you are going to run a bunch of heaters and chillers. My 500/g plus 200/g sump was
running fine with 2-20A in the fishroom.
I agree that two is enough, but I’ve got one chance to put these in, and it’s <$200 to add two extra outlets. Might as well. The biggest lesson I learned from my first build is that you should build more/bigger than you want. As soon as I was done with the first room and put in the tanks, I immediately thought “I’m gonna need a bigger boat”.
 

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Adding more outlets definitely worth it especially if you are doing it yourself and easy access.
 
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Cody

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Kinda hard to see because the wall is so wide but I took a panoramic of the finished framing. I’ll be running electrical wire in the attic today. Perfect timing with the colder weather!

As you can see, the door frame is on the right and the 32”x60” window frame is on the left. The two squares on either side of the window are for two window units. The room is fed by the central AC but it’s not enough to keep it cool. I’m using two window units that will turn on at different temperatures. The reason for two is so that if one can’t keep up, the second kicks on. Also, if the first fails, the second kicks on as a backup.

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RR-MAN

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Looks great Sir!

To save on electricity insulate the garage as much as you can - even the garage door.
 
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Cody

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Looks great Sir!

To save on electricity insulate the garage as much as you can - even the garage door.
It’s already insulated.

Luckily I got the framing done yesterday. Went in the garage this morning and hit the garage door opener. Didn’t work. Turns out my coil snapped last night. Oh well. Luckily, I’m in the attic running electrical cable today!
 
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Cody

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The more the better but I think 2-20A is more than enough unless you are going to run a bunch of heaters and chillers. My 500/g plus 200/g sump was
running fine with 2-20A in the fishroom.
I decided that I’m only going to add one more 20amp circuit to the room. Once I rewire the two circuits that are currently on my fish room I’ll have a total of three 20amp breakers and a 15 amp, for a total of 75amps in the room. Even if I doubled my projected electrical consumption, I’m still fine.
 
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