Basement Reno And In-wall 205g Reef

[unibob]

I will have some pukani, shelves and TONs of branches available for Sunday.


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[EricTMah]

What do you mean by DIY rock? Like totally from scratch?

What I was thinking about doing is assembling the dry rock with putty or aragacrete and acrylic rods outside of the tank, then giving them time to cure and release any existing phosphates.

The rock from my current tank I plan to stack as the large seamount, using a bunch of epoxy - and would like to use some dry rock and acrylic rods for the bottom of the structure if I can. The island structure I am planning to build 100% from new rock that is assembled and cured outside of the tank.

Yes! I mean making your own rocks out of concrete!

I have a bunch of white portland cement here that I'm sure I can spare enough to do what you need.

I went through it when I built my tank. I'd gladly walk you through what you'd need to do. It's quite simple. Just time consuming.

 

[curiousphil]

Just tore down a bar area that was built into one corner of the basement.... I don't think I want to see the size of the arms on the guy who drove in these nails LOL:

 

[curiousphil]

Found a whole nest of mice in the walls... all dead

 

[sunnykita]

Found a whole nest of mice in the walls... all dead

oh that can be nasty, we had a similar incident years ago. Momma mouse got in between the insulation and plastic and made her nest. They all died, had to open up the wall to find it. Thank goodness it was barnboard and easily removed.

 

[curiousphil]

oh that can be nasty, we had a similar incident years ago. Momma mouse got in between the insulation and plastic and made her nest. They all died, had to open up the wall to find it. Thank goodness it was barnboard and easily removed.

Yeah that's where this nest was too, behind the plastic and inside of the styrofoam. Thankfully that is all we have found - no live mice. Was just a little sad to see a bunch of dead mice.

Majority of the basement is now gutted down to the studs. The dunpster is about half full. Next we need to move stuff from the old kitchen area over to the new storage area on the other side of the basement, then we can start tearing apart the kitchen. The passageway to the new tank area is all clear so I'm ready to move in the stand whenever it is ready - decided to go with 2 inch tubing for the stand. Plan to have the kitchen all cleared out before the tank arrives so that I can just build around it.

 

[curiousphil]

Made a decision on what to do with the ceiling.

I went into this project assuming that a drop ceiling would be the most economical (read: I felt like using a fancy word for CHEAP) option. Now that I am fleshing out my bill of materials and doing some cost analysis, I see that drywall is the winner - with a huge lead! And that is using the same green bathroom/mould resistant stuff that I plan to use for the rest of the walls in that half of the basement. If I was to use regular drywall, it would be no contest.

Anyways enough rambling... get to the point of the post Phil! Beth did some browsing on Pinterest and this is the look she has chosen (and that I have promised to try and replicate! She's lucky I'm pretty handy... I've always tried to abide by the Red Green saying of "if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy!!!"):

 

[jroovers]

It all looks good Phil - a ton of work but exciting and I'm sure will be rewarding at the end of the day!

I think Tyler's advice re: the skimmer is sound. The CO2 will be okay for a while if needed, but definitely will be too small once you have a load in the tank. Double the rating is probably about right for a well stocked tank. I wouldn't use my CO2 on more than a 150 or maybe a 180, but that is probably starting to push it.

If you are considering a wave maker, let me know, I bought Davesolo's one expecting that I was going to do an upgrade, but since no one committed to buying my 120, I'm just going to start it back up eventually and the wavemaker will be overkill on that tank.

 

[curiousphil]

What wavemaker did you buy from Dave? I've currently got a WP40 wave box but it is both big and noisy...

For a skimmer I have been talking with Brandon about buying Darryl's old SWC 250. That skimmer looks like it will be more than adequate .

 

[jroovers]

What wavemaker did you buy from Dave? I've currently got a WP40 wave box but it is both big and noisy...

For a skimmer I have been talking with Brandon about buying Darryl's old SWC 250. That skimmer looks like it will be more than adequate .

Yes, that would do it. I got the Tunze 6215 Wavebox from Dave. I was planning on setting up a 180 gallon tank, 4 long by 3 feet deep and 2 feet high, and thought the box would have been perfect for it. Would take up way too much space in a 120 tho, even a nano would probably be overkill. If you are interested shoot me a PM and I'll set it aside for you, otherwise I'm probably going to post it up for sale in the next month or two once I get a bit more settled in the new place.

 

[BIGSHOW]

Good call with mold resistant drywall. I did my entire basement, bar and stands out of it, ceiling included.

 

[curiousphil]

Thanks Dave, happy to have my thoughts validated.

 

[curiousphil]

My body hurts..

But the kitchen is no more! Mostly...

 

[curiousphil]

Kitchen totally gutted except for the sink. Need to get some shutoff valves so that I can leave some copper stubs there for when I install the wet bar down the road. Right now the copper is soldered directly to the faucet... ugh lol.

I also have a non demolition update.... the tank was shipped yesterday!! Should arrive Monday or Tuesday. Gotta move some things and lay down the pond liner before it comes.

I haven't posted a picture from this angle before... this was taken while standing between the two aquariums, facing what used to be the wall between the kitchen and the rest of the basement. Beyond that first wall was also a second wall which I depicted in my first post.

And here's an updated picture of the fish room area, which can be directly compared to the pictures from post 2.

 

[yveterinarian]

Lots of work but well worth it in the long run!

 

[curiousphil]

Definitely lots of work but it will sooooo be worth it!! Seeing all this empty space has got me super excited. All walls are now removed except for the walls around the tiny bathroom under our stairway. We figure that while we are doing all this work, we may as well tear down that wall too and make the bathroom a little bigger/nicer.... it's super ghetto as is. The wood paneling on the walls is all warped as though it's absorbed all the stench throughout its years of use... will be nice to put in fresh drywall, new flooring and a shiny new vanity .

Here's some more demo shots I took after hauling out all the scrap and sweeping up...

Empty kitchen, standing where the window used to be

Standing from the same position but looking further to the right. All of this stuff is going to be moved into a storage area I'm going to build near the washer and dryer, shown in the next pic

The storage area will go here

From another angle...

And a view of the existing tank area standing from the old kitchen

Aaaaaand finally..... Aaron just sent me this a couple of minutes ago....

 

[curiousphil]

Planning the layout....


Old layout (before demo):

Post demo layout (current):

Planned layout (post reno):

 

[curiousphil]

Aaron says this is the way he will be buried....

 

[Poseidon]

Looking awesome Phil!

 

[jroovers]

Man, looks like a ton of work, I'm tired just from looking at the pics! Your new layout looks good. What are your plans in terms of a drain and exhaust - do you have a drain already in your soon to be fish room, and do you plan on venting the tank to the outside? One of my concerns with a tank this size would be the humidity, especially in a basement.

Aaron says this is the way he will be buried....

lol, too funny... not sure about the plastic decorations, a large SPS colony might be a little nicer