Reef-ready house?

[Armando]

Which "features" in a house would make easier/better/possible to put a large tank? Power/structure/plumbing/drains/etc. Just curious...

 

[Jim Tansey]

Finding a bag of money in the attic.

Jim

 

[Liam]

two things would be:
to have at least a 150 amp electrical service and to have a plumbed basement

 

[Liam]

And for the Amonut of tanks you have Armando you had better make that at least a 200 amp service

 

[Armando]

how hard is it to have a non-plumbed basement plumbed with a drain?

 

[~Flighty~]

Finding a bag of money in the attic.

Jim

LOL

A drain in the floor of the basement is nice. I like having an unfinished basement for the fish room. That makes it easier for supporting the tank too. Extra room in the electrical panel is good, but not too expensive to fix compared to the cost of a house. Septic system is probably bad. I always wanted a way to use natural lighting like those solar tubes, but you can't do that with a two story.

 

[Shallowwaters]

Is this anything like living in a glass house?

In-basement sumps & frag tanks make a tonne of sense.

I have thought that it would be nice to have a basement entrance from my garage. Carrying pipes, salt buckets, etc. through the house is a PIA.

A way to add postive venting in a basement would also be good if you have a lot of gallons churning through a system. Cold and humidity = mold. This would also cut down on salt dust.

 

[ReeferMedic]

how hard is it to have a non-plumbed basement plumbed with a drain?

Probably very expensive.........

 

[ReeferMedic]

And for the Amonut of tanks you have Armando you had better make that at least a 200 amp service

I just went from 60 amp to 200 amp. I wouldn't even bother with 100 amp service if you are going to upgrade any way. I still have quite a few extra spaces to fill in my breaker panel.......

 

[Armando]

usually houses have laundry in the basement. in this case, it's already plumbed and ready, right?

 

[Aquaman_68]

how hard is it to have a non-plumbed basement plumbed with a drain?

Pretty much all basements have the plumbing for drains. Its in the main drain. You would have to tap into this.If the pipe is higher up in the basement you will have to get a pump box to push the water into the drain. If you want to put a bathroom you will need a stack vent.

 

[ReeferMedic]

All depends on where the original owners had it plumbed in. Alot of people have laundry rooms on the first and second floor. Or, you could tap into the main drain.........

 

[~Flighty~]

get a house with laundry upstaris, makes much more sense than lugging clothes everywhere. If the basement has a work sink or a bathroom or laundry then it has pipes. Think about a spill and what that would meen in the basement. No carpet and a drain right in the floor makes even a large water spill no problem.

 

[Liam]

usually houses have laundry in the basement. in this case, it's already plumbed and ready, right?

This would mean that you have hot and cold running water but it does not mean you have a drain.Most washers can pump their waste up 8 feet where they can then plump into the 1st floor waste

 

[Liam]

There are ways around not having a drain.Like aquaman said,you can get a johnnies up flush system and pump your waste up into the 1st floor drain.Also as someone else said,i would try and find a house on town sewer.The large amounts of salt water you dump into a septic will likely affect its bacterial function.

 

[MarkO]

Armando, Ideally you'll want the 500 gal. (min) tank to be adjacent to the bar. The tank should serve as the visual backdrop for the bar. This way you get a great view from the stools that would be only about 5' fom the tank. A tank weighing about 5000 #'s, you're "mantown" will likely have to be in the basement, but that's ok. Because basements are usually dark, so not too much ambient light for the home theater. Make sure you have a bathroom downstairs, or at least a urinal, because it's a pain having to go up a flight of stairs. But I'd go with a full bathroom, because you'd probably want to rinse off before and after a relaxing dip in the jacuzzi.

 

[nickoz]

We just bought a house that has septic and I did alot of research on having a tank with a septic system. There are a few good threads on RC. There was one person who builds/maintains septic systems and has a reef tank and he said that there is no problem dumping salt water into a septic. There was someone else who has had a septic system and salt water tanks for 20 years and they said they have dumped their water changes down the drain without any issues with his septic.

I am not sure what I am going to do yet. I would like to try to use some of my RO waste water for irrigation.

-nick

 

[aha24]

what if your moving to Texas and they dont have basements? no really I'm not kidding

 

[Armando]

oh boy i miss my condo already definitely not having a water bill, not having to worry about where the waste water is going and having a dumpster available 24/7 will be missed.

I never thought I would miss a dumpster!

 

[jovreef]

We dont have basements in FL...we just make a closet into a pump room One guy in our reef club here made the guest bedroom into the pump room and added a shark pond in it.