SantaFeDiscus fishroom ground up!

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Hey everyone I decided to condense my earlier thread "My new fishroom" (http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=37693). Most of the pics were lost in the updating of the website so I have decided to reupload the most relevant pics. To those of you who didn't read the previous thread I broke ground June 23 of this year with the intent of building a new addition onto the house that would include a room for my fish. The addition is 20ft by 18.5ft and half of that includes my fishroom. I obviously had profesional help with this huge undertaking but it was still a challenging project considering at the time I was going through chemotherapy. Everything is finished except the last coat of plaster and coloring. Right now this room is working out just fine and I couldn't be happier. :) Enjoy.
Fred

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Before

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After

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Starting to break ground

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Footing

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another

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more

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last footing pic

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Laying screen

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Last screen pic

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This was a tough day. We had to move 300 80lb bags of concrete by hand to the back yard!

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Layed 20ft by 18.5ft slab.

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another

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Started framing

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Framing 2

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Last framing

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Putting on osb

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osb 2

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putting in windows

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Insulating with 1in styrofoam.

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Putting in plumbing.

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Electrical

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insulation

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Drywall

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Mudd and Tape

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another mudd and tape

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Window sills, carpet, paint.

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another

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getting ready for plaster laying wire mesh.

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Plaster

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another plaster

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Snow!

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Latest most recent pic of fishroom.

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Lights off.

[PaintballFan07]

lookin good!!

[Discusgeo2]

Fred you done a great job. Looks like you had your worked cut out for you on that project with everything else going on. Once again great job.
George

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Fred,
Thanks for taking the time to compile this photo essay. Of course, that also meant you had to have the presence of mind to remember to take photos at each stage, which can be really tough to do when things are going wrong or conversely going too good. Give you credit for keeping up with the shooting. It's a very nice room.

[cal]

Hi Santa….:)

I was going to ask you for the previous pix but you already posted here. So thanks for that and I want to say that is like you are building a new house basically, it is looking very nice and tidy and very well-prepared.
And I am inspired and so impressed by your project

WELL DONE

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Paintball- Thanks! :)

George- I am glad you took a look at were your fish went to, they again have a happy home. :) I was sure impressed with your fishgarage too. ;)

Peter- I new ahead of time that I wanted to build a thread showing the progress of the construction of my fishroom. I just had to remember to take pics. I thought it would be insightful as to how things are built from the ground up. It's a good size for me right now and I am happy with it.

Cal- Thanks! I am glad your inspired! My intent was to inform and get feedback as to new ideas for my room, but if your inspired after following this thread then terrific! I planned for months before we broke ground so I had hoped to have a neat and tiddy room to relax in and watch my fish. :)

I took more pics tonight and have decided to post a thread in the photo section showing my tanks of fish. Here is the link (http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=40864).
The following are more pics of the room.

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pic of new tank and fish

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another

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last pic

[DISCUS USA]

Great Job Fred.
Man you made it look so easy ,simple and organized ,,looks like you do construction for living dude..

Now i want to demo the old leaky roof shed in backyard and do same design as you :) ... BTW about how much do you estimate spent on materials for this project.

The fish and fishroom look great ..

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Hector-
Thanks! I don't do construction for a living I am a personal trainer. But when I lived in Sacramento I bought a fixer-upper Victorian 1896 home and remodeled everything! Took out stairs, walls, doors, redid the electrical and plumbing. I had never touched electrical or plumbing before but I saw the potential in the house so I bought some black and decker how-to books and dove right in. :) That was the start of my construction experience. Our budget was 25k for the addition but before we started that we built a "portal" (thats what they call a porch down here). So $25k built the addition and portal and only half of the addition was the fishroom the other half we made into a storage room and a larger bathroom for the master bedroom. I would say the fishroom ate up around 7-8k. Anytime you do an "addition" it will cost more than if you just build something new. The shed your talking about could be destroyed and rebuilt much cheaper than if you tried to tie the same size space onto your existing building. Tearing down an existing wall and trying to tie the old house into your new addition can be tedious and time consuming but can look good as well. At first I was going to do what you are talking about, a shed in the back yard, but after many revisions to my plan we went with the addition instead.
Thanks again,
Fred

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Hector-
Here is a pic of the "portal".
Fred

[Cosmo]

Hey Fred... it says something about a man who loves some little fish so much that he'll actually build a house from the ground up just for them ... ahhh, not sure exactly what it is, but I'm sure it's something :D

Looks awesome, both the build and the fish... gotta be proud, and, must be really satisfying having the fish all around knowing what you went thru to get there :)

Question though.... was the winter scene interspaced on page one and page three to indicate the passing of time?... sorta like an old movie ? hahahaha

Fantastic job Fred, wish you lived closer :)

Jim

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Jim-
I really do care for those little critters and I knew I could do a better job of it if I had an easier means to do water changes. Plus, the fish are very thearapudic for me and being completely surrounded by tanks of fish with the lights off is awesome! :) Also, it may seem like I did a lot of labor for just a plain old room to put fish in, but when I outgrow that room and move to a different location it will make a great art studio/hobby room for someone. So I felt this addition would add to the resale value of the house and here in Santa Fe the market is crazy. The average price of a home is well over $200k and there are plenty of artist types who would appreciate that room. But, probably one of the biggest reasons in building the whole addition is that it was something to completely take my mind off of what I was going through. I attribute much of my rebound in health to this whole process of building and caring for my fish and I plan on keeping them in my life as long as I am here to enjoy them.
It is very satisfying sitting in my room and I already have thought of plenty to change the next time around. For this size of room what I am doing in terms of waterchanges works. But when I upgrade :) I am going to some sort of automated system. The other thing is I feel a little guilty going through so much water out here in the desert so come this summer I am going to set up an irrigation system that pumps my waste water to ponds, trees, gardens.
Let me know if your ever near and want to come by.
Thanks for your compliments,
Fred

[babyjess210]

Nice fishroom Fred!!! I'm trying to get my wife permission for a Shed/fishroom about 10'x 12' in back of the garage. Wish me luck!!
Kenny

[discus4life]

Nice fishroom Fred!!! I'm trying to get my wife permission for a Shed/fishroom about 10'x 12' in back of the garage. Wish me luck!!
Kenny

best of luck to you. if you do call me i will come by and help

[Cosmo]

Hey Fred,

I can only imagine how relaxing it must be to sit in the middle of a room surrounded by Discus tanks... sounds like the good life to me :) If I'm ever out in that part of the country, would love to stop by.. I'll let you know

Take care,
Jim

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Good luck Kenny!
Jim- It is the Good Life! Let me know when Mi Casa Es Su Casa ;)
Fred

[Ardan]

Fred,
It looks like a very fun fishroom and a great place to relax.
Thanks for sharing! and thanks for all the pics :)
Ardan

[babyjess210]

best of luck to you. if you do call me i will come by and help
Thanks Sanh!! I e-mail you on the water storage barrel

Fred
Keep the pic coming!!
Kenny

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Ardan-
Thanks, I enjoy posting pics!
Kenny-
What more do you want to see?
:)

[nanik]

Ardan-
Thanks, I enjoy posting pics!
Kenny-
What more do you want to see?
:)


Fred,

Maybe more new picture will be nice :D any picture will just do fine :D

[jambroz]

Fred, 6 years ago I convinced my wife that I had to get out the basement with all these tanks, I got my way but had to give some to her, it was a 4 month projest that I did mostly alone, except the help framing, 12ftx15ft is my half and she got a dinning room, laundry room...it really is relaxing to set in there...I have changed the tanks around 3 times now...should have bought stock in pvc and glue...its what we all need, thinking and planning
Jim

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Nanik-
I will post a couple of more pics later today/tonight.
Jim-
Sounds very similar to my project. Our rooms are even very similar in size:) Having your own room to relax in and to enjoy the fish is terrific. I have done the same with rearranging my tanks and tank racks. I have found that the fish in the uppermost tanks will do the best, they don't seem to like being on the ground level as much. So I put all my largest tanks on the top. I have found that I need more barrels for water changes. I now have a total of 480 gallons of water available for waterchanges in the barrels.
Thanks,
Fred

[ping]

Nice place to relax :)
Good work Fred :thumbsup:

Regards,
Ronny

[babyjess210]

Ardan-
Thanks, I enjoy posting pics!
Kenny-
What more do you want to see?
:)
Discus!!!! Dicscus!!!! And more Discus!!!!LOL It help to see more pics of your set-up so I can get helpful ideas on doing WC easier.
Kenny

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Thanks Ronny!
Thanks Kenny!
More pics are coming......
Fred

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Here are some better pics of my RP and Goldens from Nick @ discusbydesign.

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another red passion

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one more rp

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goldens

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another