Basement Build (300+ Gallon)

[Twicksisted]

Alright... well heres some pics from today (day one)...
I have started with the room finally after a lot of planning as to what size the tank was gonna be, the filtrations etc...).
Its a ground level basement room in our house which was a storeroom for old junk. (hence the shabby state of it)
Stage one was getting a van to remove years of old crap that had piled up.
It was literally packed to the ceiling with old goods and I got this done a few months back so that ~I could see what I was dealing with.

The room needs to be completely tanked (waterproofed) off as there is a lot of moisture in the walls as the one side of the room is underground. The opposite side isnt wet though as that leads into the kitchen and garden).

I have ripped out the old boards down to bare brick, taken out the ceiling and have started painting a waterproof bitumen layer on the walls.

Loads of dust from the ceiling that came down and the walls which were stripped. (head and shoulders AD hehe)

This is the side the tank will go... if you can picture it as I am having a hard time at this point)

Painted the first layer of bitumen waterproof sealant paint (black)

Little bit of screwing around to keep sane

Next on the list is to put up a waterproof membrane on the walls, held up by batons over which I will put up plasterboard walls and insulation.

First off though, I need to get the floor levelled and the equipment is arriving in a week... level it as much as I can with the tools and use floor leveller. Then the walls and finally the ceiling.

I then will build a brick & cement stand for the 300+ gallon tank which will go on the opposite side of the room to what you can see in the pics...
I will post more pics as I go along, and will probably ask loads of advice from all you knowledgeable dudes at MFK whove gone through the same toil to get their dream tank.

I am going to also install a drip system into the tank aswell with water constantly cycling in and out the tank slowly (draining into the flowerbeds) so this is going to be something different for me.

 

[aropal]

Make sure that overflow doesnt run to something in the garden that you dont want to grow too much; waste aquarium water is powerful stuff!

Lookin' forward to the series.

 

[danny]

 

[dr_sudz]

what are the planned dimensions of your 300+?

 

[Twicksisted]

The overflow could drain out onto the lawn, or just go into the drain that the kitchen sink go's into... I think I prefer the idea of using it for the garden though as its going to be real good for the lawn

The planned dimensions are: 84Long X 30High X 36Wide...
This is what I gathered from the other folks on the forum, will be sufficient to grow my Clown Knife fish to his max size and give him plenty of elbow room to turn around.

Also, with this extra width I may have a chance of trying my hand at keeping a stringray or two (which has been something that has always been out of my reach)

 

[JonF]

I'm looking forward to following this!

 

[Derpeder]

very cool. keep lots of pics coming.

Do you have the space to make a larger tank or is size limited?

 

[Twicksisted]

I was originally going to go for a 7ft X 24" X 24", but did a littleresearch into my Clown Knife who is growing rapidly and needs the 36" width...
7ft X 30" X 36" is the max im going to go becuase the room is also going to be my studio and I have loads of gear to shove in there.

Also I had a hard enough time convincing my GF with this build hehe... any bigger and shes probably gonna freak out hehe....
I did a calculation and im looking at almost 1500litres at that size (390 gallons!!!) so I think thats gonna have to suffice
At that size and width I could even try my hand at keeping a Ray or two

I am going to have a lot of interesting photos as theres no way of getting the glass panels down the stairs, or a completely built tank in the room, due to the door frame and staircase... basically im gonna have to take the downstairs kitchen window out and make a straight line into the room from the back of the house... either that or remove floorboards upstairs and drop the tank down from the front door...
(havent told the GF about this yet though hehe... thinking ill drop it on her last minute)

Either way thats quite a few weeks away still... and dont worry I will have loads of pics (to remember the stress by, and for your viewing pleasure)

 

[aropal]

Can't you get the thing in from the back Garden into the basement since it's a garden level basement?

I once brought a sofa into a house that way, but since there was no access to my back garden directly from the street I had to carry it over the fences of two of my neighbours' back garden fences to get to mine.

Might be a bit of a juggling act with the rather more delicate sheet of glass but could well prove less painful than telling the girlfriend that you've got to rip up the floor.

 

[Twicksisted]

Yeah i'll have to carry it through the back garden... but wont fit it through the kitchen door which is at an angle the glass wont fit through having the passage wall so close, so I have to remove the kitchen window (glass)... pop it through there over the counter and sinks...hehe. What could possibly go wrong

(I actually saw a similar thing on someone elses post on here which is where the idea came from)

Taking up the wood floor upstairs and dropping the glass down is a last resort... it only got done about 3 years ago, so its not going to be the preferred route to take!

I am waiting now on a diamond head grinder to level out the concrete floor with... because it was a spare room the floor isnt great... so we have to take it down a few inches and use floor leveller to make it all straight.... also need to lay a pretty solid foundation for there the tank is gonna be as its gonna weigh in at around 1.5tons (1500 kilograms).

Have also decided to build a brick stand for the tank, as this will save me around £350 and be a lot more solid than anything I could get out of wood.

Will start work again on it this weekend... so will post up some more pics then