Garage Conversion For Fish House

[boldtogether]

Heater, pumps, powerheads and airpumps all draw current differently and at different rates. Heaters are only as efficient as the current available to them....and electrical service with questionable reliability is best left to a professional. I'm not even talking about bare minimum...if you use this space as a fish room, what you start out with is definitely going to dictate what you add later.

 

[kniesh]

Thanks, I am going to try and update these electrics to at least 3 times. Just depends on what the electrician says when he finally comes out.

 

[Ihsnshaik]

My father uses his two car garage use his room. He has a 750 and 500 gallon tank in there and also a 150 gallon. He has tons and tons of saltwater fish with reef. The only problem he encountered was humidity which would turn into mood if he didn't fix the issue. Side of the garage made a opening with a thermostat to let air out once it passes a certain temperature. That worked but in the summer got so hot in the room he put a A/C system in there. He has some custom water drip in there as well the plumber put in for him it trickles like a drop every few seconds.

It gets really complicated especially with electrical! He got a seperate fuse box just for the garage because it tripped the fuse before randomly.

Cost a lot to run as well

 

[kniesh]

Thanks, the running cost is fine, it's the initial work of the electrical stuff that concerns me, I will find out for definite next week though. Wife will kill me if it's too much given we have only just bought the place

 

[deeda]

Could anyone answer this electricity question please? I am running 200watt heaters mostly, with a voltage of 120. so this means the amp usage is 200/120 = 1.67 each?

I only ask as the big filter I'm running is run off a 240 Volt, from 55 Watt so would come to - 0.23, which seems very low?

1st question is correct - 1.67 amps.
2nd question is 0.23 amps.

Amps = watts divided by volts

 

[kniesh]

Thanks, thought so, just doubting myself when I seen how low the filters were

 

[kniesh]

So thought I'd add a few pics of how the garage is now, just a mess but hopefully will help at the end to see the change. The electrician came out an is running something from the main house off re-unforced wires to make it at least 50amp, so that should cover what I need!! Only costing 500 for that an a lot of new sockets etc too.

Unfortunately the insulation has been put off due to my dad moving house too, so that's a month away which means a high electric bill for a while I guess.

 

[kniesh]

Having been in a while now, starting to think the floor, and the ceiling are the concerns

 

[pelleeklund]

I'd use the ceiling beams to drywall the ceiling. Closing it off would probably help you keep that heat in. You may be able to plywood the top and get yourself one of those drop down stairs people use for attics. Then you could use the space above for storage. As far as electric, the contractor would know better than me seeing as you are in a different country. As hard of a sell as it may be to your wife now, I'd go all out. Maybe there is a possibility for a small backup generator to protect in case of an outage, if it helps with the wife, say it's for the house as well as the garage. I think this is going to cost you a load one way or another but your place looks awesome so I'd keep it tight to follow suit. You've got a really nice property there bud, do it right the first time and you'll thank yourself later. If you don't you'll probably end up doing it again and cursing yourself for not bucking up the first time. Either way I'm curious how it will turn out, you've got the guts of an awesome fish room there.

 

[kniesh]

Thanks, I actually think my Dad putting off the insulation will help with the sell for the Wife. It means we wont have a massive outlay straight away on the insulation etc, so if it holds out the way it, the longer we wait, the more money i get to spend I'd say. As for the generator, this is a definate consideration as we were informed sometimes the electrics will go (it's out in the middle of nowhere), so it may be needed