Poet Posted June 18, 2015 Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 Hi all. I hope I've come to the right place? Have moved into our house in Auckland, and am thinking about setting up a reef tank again.. This time in a single car detached garage. Mostly (all) because of the mrs not wanting it in the house. The garage will need to be insulated/gibbed. What else will be needed to maintain 24.5-27*? (I'm assuming greater temperature swings here.) From wiki: The average daily maximum temperature is 23.7 °C (74.7 °F) in February and 14.7 °C (58.5 °F) in July. The absolute maximum recorded temperature is 34.4 °C (93.9 °F),[21] while the absolute minimum is −0.6 °C (30.9 °F) Am I getting in too deep here? The tank would be 180cm x 70cm x 50cm. Around 600L? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calculator Posted June 18, 2015 Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 Can be done, the less insulation you have the more you have to pay in heating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted June 18, 2015 Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 I used a portable heat pump(suki) when I lived in Invercargill worked a treat but as previously said you will need lots of insulation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted June 18, 2015 Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 I'm in Auckland with a marine tank in my house however I have used my garage in the past for tropical tanks. Garage internal access,concrete block, uninsulated and during the summer my heaters rarely came on. At the moment I am hatching brine shrimp out there and once again the heater is not often on. I would think that with the summer heat in an insulated garage you will need a chiller. I have one and in the summer it runs on and off for around 10-12hrs a day. A heat pump might be the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poet Posted June 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 Thanks guys, this is all food for thought. Running costs is what's got me thinking.. I would be saving money on lighting by running 3 of these But the heating cooling might push me over the edge, along with weatherboards, insulation, gib etc. Any ideas to convince the mrs to let a 600L live in the house? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calculator Posted June 19, 2015 Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 Using natural light makes it hard to control the likes of algae in fresh water, I haven't had a salt water, but imagine it is not great. Even inside you will want to get a heater for the tank, unless the room is prominently heated to 25+. maybe it is just better to ask forgiveness then permision? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted June 19, 2015 Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 If you own the house put solar panels on the roof. We have 36 panels, I have a 450 and a 215 litre tropical tank and a 250 litre marine and we return 2/3rd of the power from the panels to the grid. This year we have a power credit every month. Why does it need to be in the garage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poet Posted June 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 Yes we own the house which is a bonus. I'm the sole income earner in our relationship, two kids (4yrs and 7months) so extravagent spending is kinda out of the equation. She gets extremely peeved every time I bring it up being in the house which is why the garage was an option. It peeves me off as she has got her A) kitchen, B) Wardrobe, C) bathroom, D) Deck. The house will be cheaper to control temperature, cheaper to set up.. But louder and even worse, trying to get it through her. The garage will be an arm and a leg to board/insulate/gib, more expensive to heat/cool.. But easier to get past the witch! The reason for the size is wanting to keep Angel/Tangs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted June 19, 2015 Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 Why does she object to a tank in the house? Would it be worth taking her to visit some people with stunning set-ups (Adrienne for example ) to see what an asset they can be to the home? They are also excellent entertainers and calmers of small children and babies. :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted June 19, 2015 Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 They also make a big mess if they breakI know from experienceand that leads to a lot of lost brownie points and lots of grovelling. :facepalm: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poet Posted June 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 Apparently time spent on my mid sized tank in the past, admittedly it was Zeovit, time consuming and I was still learning a lot. She is not a fan of pets (wanting a dog got me into fish in the first place.) I can make the tanks look somewhat good, at least appealing to the average joe, perhaps not the avid fish/reef keeper. Here was my ~400L or so sorry for the poor image, it was from an old version iPhone. And the algae shouldn't be a problem with tubes as I have a few very good methods for stripping phosphate and dropping nitrate in S/W. I took on board and learnt a lot, barely meddled with the small nano. I think this is more than enough room for what I'm after that nano is 45cm for reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted June 19, 2015 Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 Wow, love your previous tank. That's amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poet Posted June 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2015 Well progress has been made team, there has been compromise however, but good none the less! *I have a couple defence force courses coming up end of the year - after that I can start (my choice.) *Give up smoking (something I've been meaning to do since our second child was born - her/our choice.) My hands are worn out from various housework/finishing up the renovation jobs - I'm sure this was a contributing factor. A two page pro's versus con's was written up. Inside the house and Halides came out winners, the garage would cost thousands to do-up, and the only spaces for a tank is under South-facing roofing. There would be too much up front costs to risk not having enough light with sun tunnels. Twin 250W, with 120W of DIY leds in the middle, about $17 a month to run both isn't bad, considering I already have the leds and one halide unit. Sometimes you just have to swallow your pride and put your foot down at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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