New house, first fish room- questions

[kkirkt]

I'm in the process of designing a house (with an architect). I would like to have a small fish room (more of a closet) adjacent to my main tank. In the "fish room" I'd like to have a shop sink (for setting up plumbing to the tanks), room for a few breeder tanks, and room for prepping changeout water.
Complicating factors, I'll be on a septic system so I'm thinking of having water change 'waste' head to a separate outdoor drain (not to the septic).

What other things should I be thinking of?
High electrical outlets (minimize risk of H2O & e-)
Door/access panel to get to display tank sump?
Insulate "fish room"
Water resistant flooring (with lip around edge)
Dehumidifier/extra ventilation

I know I've read through a few of these discussions in the past, but when I did my search I couldn't find the posts I thought I remembered.

Any suggestions are welcome- I'd rather design it right from the beginning.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[celebrist]

I change 300 gallons a week it goes right out my septic when I had it pumped last time the guy said it looked really clean I think having that water run through that holding tank actually helps get the Solids out to the leach field also if you're on well why would you need to prep for water changes


P.s. don't forget a build thread!

 

[TwoHedWlf]

I change 300 gallons a week it goes right out my septic when I had it pumped last time the guy said it looked really clean I think having that water run through that holding tank actually helps get the Solids out to the leach field also if you're on well why would you need to prep for water changes

Hmmm...I've always been told that solids making it into your leach field is very bad and will clog it up, It should only be relatively clear water. That's the whole point of having several settling tanks beforehand to minimize the solids that make it out to the leach field.

Clog up your leaching field and you're in for a nice big bill.

 

[celebrist]

Hmmm, I may have to rethink things but my vac truck guy said things looked great. We should revisit this next summer and I will have an update

 

[Tropical Joe]

Sounds like you are going big. If so--- I strongly recommend the Neptune System. Leak detection and auto water changes are a few of the great things with this system. Your notified right on your phone or tablet.

 

[Blakewater]

In my opinion the MOST important thing you should be aware of for multiple tanks is that you put in good wiring that can handle the high electrical needs non stop and breakers with high tolerance as well. If you are going to have any tanks with a sump you definitely will want the wiring to be able to handle the consistent energy need.

 

[Yoimbrian]

There are different types of septic systems, but more importantly different sizes. Ideally do you have the design gallons per day of your septic tank? If not, look up your city / state ordinances to get what they should be designed for. Somewhere around 100 gallons / day / bedroom is fairly common. The average person uses 50-75 gallons / day with showering / toilets / laundry / etc (though can be MUCH lower if you have high efficiency appliances and a low flow shower head / take short showers, or conversely much higher...).

For flow you actually ideally want to be in the sweet spot in the middle. If you are too high of flow the solids does not have time to properly settle, and you will indeed get solids into your drain field, which can eventually lead to the drain field plugging up, which is obscenely expensive or even needs a totally new system. However if you are too low flow its not ideal either, the water can get stagnant and low oxygen and it doesn't work as well either.

For flow rate you also need to be careful. Septic tanks are designed for standard household flows and short duration, you don't often dump 50 gallons down the drain at once in a normal day. So, if you drain 400 gallons over the course of an hour doing a massive water change the water will get displaced way too fast to settle, and that is quite bad as well. So you want to make sure the water drains slowly over time, so either do big water changes into some sort of hold tank, do a lot of small water changes, or have a drip system.

So if you have 2 people in a 4 bedroom house and don't waste water on other things its not bad at all to dump a few hundred gallons per week extra in there, but if you have 6 people in a 3 bedroom house - certainly pump that aquarium water into the garden.