Garage Fish Room ideas wanted (follow up to last topic)

[emartin]

My family wants me to move most of my tanks, starting with the four I got from AMBUSHPREDATOR, into our double garage which has insulated doors (versus keeping 10 of my 11 tanks in the dining room). My 120g and definitely the 265g are likely staying in the area they are now though.

I forget how hot it gets in there in the summer....if we have do we'd get a ceiling fan or something installed in there. But in the winter recently it's been as cold as 60F in there...however the concrete is freezing but I am sure a cheap floor rug would be enough to provide some insulation from the floor...

Anyway I am looking for ideas on how to position them, ideas on dealing with room temperature, etc.

Here's a bad sketch I did in Paint of what the garage looks like. The shaded red area is where the tanks would likely go.

http://www.toadscastle.net/marduk/pics/garage%20fishroom.png


I haven't done measurements but for scale I believe the garage is likely at least 20-30ft by 20-30ft.... I'll do measurements later I guess to be sure.

[fischfan13]

My garage has been a work in progress...so I will share.

Concrete floor:
My wife works for a flooring retailer, and I covered a 20x12 area of the concrete for a few dollars when she told me about a remnant that was left over in the warehouse. You live near Eatontown, right? Go to Avalon Flooring and ask if they have any available remnants...if they do and you see something you like ask if you can get a better deal.

The walls:
Keep the tanks near the walls that are insulated...or better yet "interior" walls.

Garage doors:
Are they insulated?
If not, cover the doors up.
Old blankets, tarps...anything. If you want to spend a few extra bucks then go to HD and pick up some pink sheathing to place on the doors.

Heat:
My garage goes down to 60 degrees and I have no problems.
If you feel that you need a heater then purchase an oil-filled electric heater.
Again, HD has these for anywhere from $30 up. Delonghi had a nice one for about $70 that would shut off if it overheated or tipped over. Don't be afraid that it is oil-filled...you will never have to fill it again with oil.

Tank heaters:
I run two heaters in each tanks.

Hope some of this helps.

[emartin]

My garage has been a work in progress...so I will share.

Concrete floor:
My wife works for a flooring retailer, and I covered a 20x12 area of the concrete for a few dollars when she told me about a remnant that was left over in the warehouse. You live near Eatontown, right? Go to Avalon Flooring and ask if they have any available remnants...if they do and you see something you like ask if you can get a better deal.

The walls:
Keep the tanks near the walls that are insulated...or better yet "interior" walls.

Garage doors:
Are they insulated?
If not, cover the doors up.
Old blankets, tarps...anything. If you want to spend a few extra bucks then go to HD and pick up some pink sheathing to place on the doors.

Heat:
My garage goes down to 60 degrees and I have no problems.
If you feel that you need a heater then purchase an oil-filled electric heater.
Again, HD has these for anywhere from $30 up. Delonghi had a nice one for about $70 that would shut off if it overheated or tipped over. Don't be afraid that it is oil-filled...you will never have to fill it again with oil.

Tank heaters:
I run two heaters in each tanks.

Hope some of this helps.
The Garage doors are insulated.

With the heating, I figured if I had any tanks away from the walls it would definitely make the tank heaters struggle more to keep the temperature consistent... So one thing we thought of was a small room heater or even a large heavy duty one...preferable one with a thermostat on it to get it up to at least 68F in there. I even though of getting cheap curtains or sheets to divide that area off to try to keep heat from the heater in that area.

By the way what do you mean by flooring remnants? You mean carpenting or something? And Avalon Flooring is on Rt 35 right?

~Ed

[CJC]

Ed,
Remnants are what is left over from a roll of carpet or what the installer has left over from a job. They are all differant sizes and types, whatever type of flooring that comes in a roll.

The only problem you will have in the garage is in a hot summer. Someday maybe I'll introduce you to a good friend of mine, John williams. He has approximately 60 - 70 tanks in his basement. Last summer he lost over 2,000 fish due to the heat.

[emartin]

Well I know for a fact that the temperature does not get above 90F in the garage in the summer. I am thinking that the hottest it gets with the insulated walls and garage doors is mid 80s on 100F+ days (not that often this close to the shore (two miles)) which is still a bit warm which is where fans could come in handy. And then we though on particularly hot days to leave the door to the house open to let in some of the cooled central air on especially hot days.

The plus side though either way is I won't have to worry about heat for a good amount of time for now...

~Ed

[nick a]

Don't forget to figure in some way to dehumidify! Don't wait 'til your ceiling is dripping ---It's not just the temp/it's the humidity, HA!

Here, I have less worries about the cold. One dehumidifier set at 55 generates enough heat for my entire room (no heaters in tanks). The summer requires some cooling for my garage but the AC also removes significant amounts of humidity. Either one is running 75% of the year.

Do you have electric door openers? If so, you can move the limit switch on the door's down stroke so that you have a 3-4" gap at the bottom. This usually makes for a gap at the top also. During the summer you can move alot of humidity and moderate the temp by doing this and putting a couple of fans near the doors .

[AMBUSHPREDATOR]

Asside from the good idea's already mentioned, don't do anything until you figure out the electrical and plumbing issues. I would also consider central system and the plumbing involved. I have the drill for the tank's and I'll help you out when the time comes. In addition any plumbing should be expandable so adding new tank's to your system would be easy. Heating all the tanks with a central would be easier and you could have one or two heaters total , in the sump. In the winter I'd take huge plastic sheet's and roll the edges over wood and then screw the wood to the ceiling, at the bottom you roll the plastic over wood and let it rest on the floor. You can alway's roll and lift it for the warmer month's. For the warmer month's a small attic fan type built into to side wall would help bring down the temp's somewhat. and some are pretty small.
Take your time and do it once. We've all started up tank's without planning well enough and It never get's fixed. It end's up getting worse over time not better.

[emartin]

Last night it went down to 18F outside and 55F in the garage. Do you think that could potentially be a problem or the aquarium heaters should be able to handle it with some help from a carpet on the concrete floor? Would a room heater be necessary?

Also, I did the measurements of the dimensions of the garage.

From the garage doors to the back wall, it is 20ft. The other direction is just over 19ft. And the garage is just over 9ft tall.

Also, AMBUSHPREDATOR, I personally don't like the idea of a central system. I may do that if/when I get a large amount of tanks but currently I'd rather just stick with independent filters. Thanks for the offer though, and when I do decide on trying out a central system I'll give you a call!

With the electricity, I already know that putting several thousand watts and who knows how many joules on a single outlet in there would be very stupid. We're going to have to have an electrician install a few more outlets and I'll likely get one of those super long surge protectors that JEHMCO sells here http://jehmco.com/html/power_bus_strips.html

For water changes and stuff, we may eventually add a separate utility sink in there but for now I will just use the utility sink in the laundry room which is actually like 15ft from the garage door inside the house, so it shouldn't be a problem but I have a feeling I may need a python extension hose... Plus with draining I can just drain out into the street with unmedicated fish water or on the lawn...

With humidity, in the dining room which has a 265g, a 2.5g, 10g, 20g, 29g, and a 120g I am not having any issues with it so with my smaller number of tanks I doubt I'd have a problem at least not for now. I guess in the future we could always install an exhaust fan somewhere, put a vent on the door or something. For now though I don't think it's an issue.

And yeah we have electric garage doors.

~Ed

[fischfan13]

Ed, my garage has gone below 60 degrees on two occasions this year as well (I'm still trying to hold out before I get a heater for the garage). Both times the tanks stayed at 78-80 degrees.
Any tank that is 4' or larger should have two heaters. Anyone who has multiple tanks has to realize that there is a cost to keeping "livestock", and that as much as we would all like to cut corners on our electric bills we have to bite the bullet and spend a few extra bucks per month to keep our tanks running properly.
Of course the best solution, and most expensive, would be to have the garage heated separately from the rest of the house and kept at 78 degrees...not happening in most cases.
Keep lids on all tanks so that heat stays in. Keep water levels as high as possible so that when the outakes are placing water back into the tanks they do not hit cold air.

Good luck Ed...seems that you have thought quite a bit out.

[emartin]

The temperature the past few days went down below 50F to 48F. That shouldn't be a problem for the tanks and their heaters right? I'm assuming the heaters would just be working a lot harder, and it would be better to have two heaters per tank than just one oversized one...

~Ed

[Bev N]

In addition to keeping the lids closed you could also use some of that blue foam board insulation that Lowes has. There are a number of people that do that to hold in the heat.

There are now some new heaters on the market that are to be extermely energy efficient. They are the new quartz heaters that have copper in them. Edenpure is one that I've heard does an excellent job. That is the last thing we need for our basement fishroom so I can shut down the individual tank heaters and keep the room at 78...with the expection of discus and adoketa. Those will keep their heaters. I'm hoping to drop the electric bill down to half what it is while still keeping happy fish.

Humidity might not be an issue in your house where the air is circulating and I imagine you have air conditioning as well. You would not believe the amount of hummidity you can have in a very warm garage. We installed an air exchanger that we got from Jehmco. I did not want my house to feel or smell like a fishroom. Now the fishroom doesn't!

The advice someone else gave about making sure you can expand on your plumbing and electrical work is excellent. Tanks multiply at night while your sleeping..I swear.

I have lost count of the times we have added electrical work or plumbing as we discovered ways of doing things that make the room more efficient. I don't know that I've ever talked to anyone that set up a fish room just once without any improvements or alterations. The more tanks you have the more important that becomes. It's nice to be able to sit and enjoy them on occasion.

[Afreakin]

Make a room in the garage and insulate the walls. Put an exhaust fan in the ceiling for the summer heat. If you make it a perfect fit the tank water will keep it warm. The only thing to worry about is the humidity. Just a thought :bandit:

[emartin]

Make a room in the garage and insulate the walls. Put an exhaust fan in the ceiling for the summer heat. If you make it a perfect fit the tank water will keep it warm. The only thing to worry about is the humidity. Just a thought :bandit:
Currently making a room in there is out of the question for now...

My only capability is to hang floor to ceiling curtains or plastic sheets to try and insulate the area, and put in a cheap carpet since the concrete is a lot colder than the garage air itself.

I'm just worried though, that even with the carpet and sheets, that the cold could still negatively affect the tanks... I'm thinking the tank heaters will just turn on automatically more often but wanted to see what you guys thought...

~Ed

[fischfan13]

Ed, I never did check the temps in my garage the past two nights but I would conservatively say it was in the upper 50's.

[joe_jaskot]

Tell me the secret of keeping your garage temperature in the 50's when the outside temperature is in the single digits. My garage is like a meat locker. LOL!

[emartin]

Tell me the secret of keeping your garage temperature in the 50's when the outside temperature is in the single digits. My garage is like a meat locker. LOL!
You have to have insulated garage doors.

[joe_jaskot]

Insulated doors? If my house is well insulated and I turn off my heat, how long will it remain in the 50's if the temperature outside is in the single digits? My point is that I would not recommend putting a fish room in an unheated or non air conditioned garage. It will get too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer.

[AlishanAS]

You have to have insulated garage doors.

And a fireplace with fan insert. LOL

[Afreakin]

I've got it! Make your garage not a garage :dorky::shocked::clown:

[thewiz]

talk to spud his good at this.:a-okhand:

[AMBUSHPREDATOR]

Joe's correct , garage wall's aren't even insulated unless the other side of it is living space. Setting up fish rooms without proper safeguard's is alway's going to cost you more down the road than it would now. Wall off the side of the garage that's attached to the house and wall off the door leaving youself a ten by ten fishroom . All the walls will then be insulated. No extra heat will be needed . Honestly Ed , if you set up all the tank's and wildcaught fish you like, and it get's cold even once or lose power you could lose thousand's of dollar's of fish in no time. Hold off on buying new fish for a while and use that money to set this thing up right. The walls would cost about a grand but piece of mind and the electricity saved in a couple of year's alone would pay for it. Go slow and safe please don't be impulsive it will bite you in the.

[emartin]

I guess what I will do is buy foam sheets to insulate the one wall that's on the outside, and then just hang 10mil thick sheets floor to ceiling to wall off/insulate the other two sides...

We honestly can't afford to wall anything off, at least not any time soon. If we have to, I'll put in a small oil filled electric radiator to provide additional heat.

Anyway for now the bulk of my fish will remain inside the actual house, and at the moment those are the valuable ones. In the garage will likely just be growouts, quarantine, hospital, guppy breeding tank (for feeders), and eventually in April/May I'll have the new 150g up and running for madagascans...

Currently though I may not even put live fish in any of the tanks in there yet. I may likely just put all the extra tanks I got from AMBUSHPREDATOR in there for storage at the moment... After all I still have to build a stand for the 150g and reseal it...

Then we'll have to see how hot it gets in there in the summer... as long as it doesn't go above 84F it should be fine... Oh and about power, we are going to have an electrician come in and install a separate power line (instead of just attaching new outlets to an existing line already in the wall)... Otherwise, I'll just have to hope that our trees down break our telephone poles and rip the electric wiring out of the house like it did two years ago...

Thanks for all the comments.

~Ed

[nick a]

Ed, If you look at my fishroom, it seems like a very close fit to what you're thinking about. It appears you may just have to decide if you want to commit to a more permanent room vs hanging plastic sheets etc... The cost of putting in an insulated studwall across 20' is really very cheap. Insulating (if they're not already) the attic space above & the existing walls is dirt cheap. I'm willing to bet you'd spend more in a season or two for heating costs than both of those projects combined. Once you spend the few bucks to have a climate controlled room, the rest of the stuff is easy!