# Fish room in basement



## sdgier (Sep 10, 2014)

I currently have a partially finished basement that I am putting a fish room in the finished part. Currently the room is about 14' x 11' that is insulated and also has 1 well window. The room is also connected to a separate bathroom. I currently have 9 tanks running and the humidity is getting pretty bad and I plan to have many more tanks. I plan to install 2 humidity controlled bathroom fans and am hoping that cares for that issue. My second issue is that i'm considering removing the walls on the foundation side of the room as well as the wall separating the room from the bathroom and gutting it to make it user-friendly for my fish addiction...we don't use the bathroom for its intended purpose anyways. This is for 2 reasons: 1. So I reduce the amount of potential mold buildup inside the wall and 2. so I will have more room.

So here are my questions:

Is there value in keeping the walls (assuming there is insulation within the walls)?
If I remove the walls, will there be a significant difficulties in keeping constant temperatures? Does anybody have an unfinished basement and how do you keep the temperature constant and also keep the mold from growing?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Are you using snug fitting lids on your tanks? If not, this would definitely help to keep the moisture down in the basement.

I'm not sure of your question about removing the walls on the foundation side of the room, could you explain this a bit better?

I'm assuming you have a normal basement that is mostly below ground, correct?

Is your basement heated or cooled by the furnace or A/C, if you have it?


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## sdgier (Sep 10, 2014)

Yea, I didn't make it clear. I'm unsure if I should take down the walls or not. They do serve a purpose in that the insulation will help the room, however, I'm more concerned about mold growth. Basically If i can't control the humidity, then there will certainly be mold growth in the walls. Was wondering what others who have a fish room in their basement do. Is the added insulation worth keeping the risk of mold?

The basement is a pretty standard basement, i have several well windows and it is heated via furnace as is the rest of the house. The walls in question are from a room that was built by the previous owner for their mother who moved in with them. Now the house is mine and I'm seriously considering removing the walls for the fish room and going bare foundation wall or maybe a sheet of 4/8 insulation glued to it......


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

OK, the room was previously built out using 2x4's, insulation and drywall, correct?

I also have a full walkout basement though mine is completely finished except for the furnace room. It had a finished bedroom in the basement that I wanted to use as a fish room and I too was concerned with the possibility that mold would get into the insulation and walls.

We removed all the drywall, studs and insulation in the room (11' x 14') and used 1" pink wall foam, attached with adhesive directly to the two concrete block walls, taping the seams, after painting the walls (below grade) with Drylok sealer. We then used 2x4 studs to make the walls, with the flat wide side against the wall (to gain space), installed shallow electrical boxes, did the wiring and then put up drywall as normal. The remaining two walls are just normal interior partition walls with no insulation in them.

We opted to install a zero clearance drop ceiling in case we needed to access the space for future wiring or plumbing options. We did not insulate the ceiling rafters and left space at the rim joist where it meets the exterior wall and the rafter so that any moisture that may get into the wall cavity can be dispersed into the rest of the basement. We did insulate the rim joist cavity with some scrap 1" foam to a thickness of 3" to reduce cold transmission into the house but didn't fill it completely.

The room does have a ceiling heat and A/C register but also has a 30" x 30" operable window for ventilation. I currently have 15 tanks in operation in this room, all have tight fitting lids and I have seen no problems with condensation, mold or that muggy feeling that is often found in rooms that have a lot of aquariums in them.

I think the key is proper planning. I did a lot of research before building the room and argued with the boyfriend about needing a ventilation fan to the outside but so far we haven't found the need for it.


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## sdgier (Sep 10, 2014)

Deeda, that's exactly what I'm looking for. I was weighing the pros and cons of the work to basically rebuild a perfectly fine room. I think I'm going to tear them down, use foam insulation on the walls and seal with drylok. thx again!


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## sdgier (Sep 10, 2014)

Deeda, In re-reading your post, i did have one question, why did you go over the drylok covered foam on the concrete walls? Was it cosmetic or did you do that to serve another purpose?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I applied the Drylok to the interior cement block walls that are below grade first, let it dry and touched up any spots I missed. Then we installed the foam board to the walls with adhesive. I probably wasn't clear in my original post.

I do want to note that my block walls were dry and I've never seen any moisture on the surfaces nor any efflorescence, it was just an extra step I took to reduce the chance of moisture leaching into the living space from around the foundation.


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## Mschn99 (Dec 24, 2012)

I have no experience with a basement fish room, so ill leave the stuff i dont have first hand info on to people like Deeda. But i do have some suggestions for things that work well in a fish room.

The first is the coolest thing for a fishroom IMO. I cannot take credit for this idea, my father in law came up with it. If your going to be into the walls with plumbing exposed, that would be the time to install it. I have a Low Temperature mixing valve for manual filling of tanks. The water comes, plus or minus 2 degrees, out of the tap at whatever i manually set the valve at. Here is a pic and its a must have for any fishroom of mine for now on.


The second thing i would give thought to would be doing a water change system, but that takes much more planning and thought. I wish i had done all my tanks now. My fry rack is on a constant drip (although you can do a manual not constant drip too). Its 14 20L, 6 29's, and 4 100 gallon Rubbermaid tubs.

Something to consider as well is a dehumidifier. Now this is where im making a suggestion with no experience. But that leads me into something i do have experience in which is your choice of paint. This was something that i took very seriously, and actually paid to have my fish room painted which for me, took a lot to do as i do things myself. I had a professional, with experience in painting the "hot yoga studios" around here come in with a special two part paint that is extremely mold and mildew resistant. The primer had to cure a full 48 hours before painting and it does NOT chip or flake. Its extremely good paint. I considered going with a good exterior paint from a chain store, but reconsidered. Now one thing that is different from me to you is i let my room be high humidity. Its in a garage, and i can get away with that. It actually allows my tanks to stay closer to the air temp by having the tanks loosely sealed enough just to prevent jumpers and the humidity high. I heat the air, not the water in my room though.

And i dont know what filtration you have, or what you plan to do.........but a central air supply (i prefer linear piston pumps when they will do the job) and sponge filters can really make your filtration simple and easy.


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## babbelman (Nov 2, 2014)

I have my 150 tank in my basement. I put all my filters and sump in my furnace room. Works good that room has a cold air vent to to outside my home has no added humidity.


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