Is it possible to have a Reef tank in the garage in Colorado?

[Jar*Head]

After couple days of thinking and planning on where i should put the tank in the house. It is going to be tough to set the tank inside a small town house. I thought about turn a part of my two cars garage into a fish room and house the tank. But i did not thought about the SNOW . I don't know how insulate the garage is in Colorado but for California my garage super cold during the winter. I guess my question is:

1. Is it possible to setup my reef tank in the garage?

2. Have anyone had there reef tank in the Garage before?

3. What type of problem have you encounter?

4. Do you think it is a bad idea?

[johnstelting]

1. Is it possible to setup my reef tank in the garage?

Anything is possible.


2. Have anyone had there reef tank in the Garage before?

Probably not for long


3. What type of problem have you encounter?

Other than freezing the fish not many others.


4. Do you think it is a bad idea?

Do you really want me to answer this question?

Now that I've been "mean" to you.

If you completely close off that part of the garage (i.e. make it into a room and have good heating it would work.... but would be really expensive. Opening and closing the garage door into a regular garage would cost you too much in heat during the colder months.

Good luck.

[roguemonk]

You would just need to invest in plenty of wattage of heaters to keep the water at the right temperature. If you're willing to swallow that extra cost (both up front and in the electric bills) I don't foresee a problem. Just don't close the garage door and leave the car running. Carbon Monoxide is just as bad for fish as for us. :-)

But if there were a long power outage your fish would be slightly more at risk than those who live in houses where the ambient temperature at least STARTS higher when the power goes out. So you might also want to invest in a generator for emergencies (but so might your neighbors who really only have a few extra minutes before their fish and corals start dying if the power remains off!).


Full disclosure:

1. Yes
2. I don't know of any
3. N.A.
4. Ultimately, no, with proper preparations. See above. :-)

HTH,

Brad

[reefkoi]

We have a guy down here with an inwall 180 with the tank and all the equipment in the garage. I'd say you could throw up a temp wall and just put a space heater in there for the cold times.

[Dave & Monica]

I love looking at my tank; I can spend countless hours... I think most of us here are the same... Hanging out in the garage in winter doesn't seem like fun.

I would think you can do a combo as is mentioned by reefkoi, put the display tank in the house, and all the plumbing and such to a room in the garage. Might want to ask yourself do you really have to have a 600Gal if the house isn’t big enough? Would the military move a 600gal tank? Good luck with whatever you decide. /r Dave

[Jar*Head]

Hmmm, i knew it is going to become a problem. Thank you for all the helpful info. I guess the tank will be in the house .

Dave, the tank is 480g. The military will move everything that i own. I rate up to 9k lbs. My entire house , the tank and it equipment weight about 3-4K max. As for the big tank, i made my promise this is my LAST tank. So the wife let me get any size tank as i want . Plus the tank already ordered

[Dave & Monica]

Rock on! I looked at the wrong Current tank for the size - 480Gal is awesome still. I think as long as you insulate the floor, you can easily heat a room off the garage. Heat (summer) is an issue too if the garage is west facing. In fact our gym is off the garage (separate from the main house heat and AC) and it is quite warm/cool when the door to the main house is left open.

[waynesworld]

I think a tank in the garage would not be that hard the one thing that you would have to have is a generator as a power outage in the winter would be real bad. Heating it is just like heating a hot tub out side there.

[Jar*Head]

How often does power outage take place during the winter? My biggest nightmare is power outage. I hope it doesn't happen every often. What generator do you all use for the house or aquarium? John Deer j/k

[roguemonk]

I haven't had a power outage during the winter since I started running my tanks in July of '05. I bought a small gas-powered generator on ebay for maybe $250 delivered? You can get something comparable at Home Depot or Wal-Mart for less than $400 I'd guess. Compared to the price of replacing all the livestock if it DOES happen that's a steal. And, as I said, don't think that people with their tanks in the living room are safe either. It won't take long for the tank temp to dip below 60 degrees in the dead of winter and that's enough to do the trick (if it gets down to 40 who cares? They're all dead anyway...).

I don't know if there were power outages in Denver/Aurora last year in the three big blizzards. It's not like the rest of the country where they get ice storms and/or floods. A tree downed by snow can happen and cause an outage, and in the mountains things are dicey, but I think here we're, by and large, pretty stable. In the summers there used to be occasional rolling blackouts but I don't think it's happened lately and it's not as much of a problem.

But as someone mentioned you might also need a chiller for the summer to prevent the tank overheating. That adds another pile of dough, but it is still feasible if you budget for it.

Thanks,

Brad

[Jar*Head]

I already bought the 1hp aqua logic chiller. I have seen some generator at Home depot using natural gas. It is very pricey but it doesn't cost $4 per gallon like gasoline.

Lots of people wondering why i sold my tank too early and here is the reason.

I spent
$250-$300 monthly on electricity
$100 on salt mix
$30 fish food
Not include adding fish, corals, frags, equipment etc.

If i get rid of the tank, i could saved at least $500 monthly and use that money to purchase stuff for the future tank.

[Zooid]

I don't see a problem with the tank in the garage if you have it in an insulated heated room.
I plan on putting up some insulated walls in my garage so I can build a fish room in mine. Maybe I can reclaim some of my garage space that I lost to my wife hehe.

[Dave & Monica]

Power outages happen, not frequently, but more in the summer - ranging from 5-30 min in duration. I have just an UPS to keep water flowing but I'm about to buy a whole house generator for the heat, AC, fridge... peace of mind.

[reefkoi]

A Generator is a good idea no matter where the tank goes, your water will dip down into the 50's even if its in the house with no furnace.
I'll have Dan post here, he has his 180 in the garage and maybe he can respond to some of the issues.
Seem's to me the warm summer is a problem and he had to add a vent fan, but I know he doesn't have a chiller so maybe that's why.
C

[normanviking]

Hi, Sorry it took mae a while to get here. I have a 180 in the wall and everything in the garage. I also have a 300 gallon trough in the garage with all my equipment. Love it. it does get cold in the winter. Just buy some more heaters. I insulated my garage. Not much of a problem. My 400 watters keep it warm in the day. In the summer I just run a fan across the trough and it keeps it at 77. I just had to cut out the hole and do some reframing. I love the setup.

[Jar*Head]

Thank you so much for the input Norman. I do have a few question as i am clueless about construction .

How do you insulate your garage?

What material do you use?

Does it cost an arm and a leg?

Is it easy to do or do i have to hire someone?

How hot is it in the summer?

[waynesworld]

It depends on if your garage is finished (meaning do you have sheetrock or paneling on the walls or do you see the 2x4 studs?)and how it is set up it may have been insulated.

[The Grim Reefer]

I saw a tank in the Garage in Montana. What he did was an in wall setup. He cut and finished an opening into his dinning room. Looked way cool.

On a town home I am not sure if you could pull that off but it would be worth investigating.

[Jar*Head]

After a long talk with the home owner lastnight. He said that the garage wall is already insulate. May be i need to do something with the concrete floor, seal the garage door the best i can, may be insulate the garage door? I have couple other obtion. But cutting wall is not one of them because i try not to upset the HOA folks... Will cutting wall affect the integrity of the structure? I don't want the house, roof and god know what else may sit on me someday lol

[Deuce67]

It all depends. More than likely it will affect the integrity. If the wall is sitting on a concrete footer, you will need to put up headers and king studs. Easy task for an experienced framer but a nightmare for a rookie.

[Jar*Head]

Final decision. No wall cutting ....

[jonthefb]

you can also purchase insulated garage doors. This is what my parents have on their garage and it keeps the garage suprisingly warm without needing any space heaters, etc.

cheers~!
jon

[Jar*Head]

Do you happen to have any info on that insulate material?

[The Grim Reefer]

Ah one thing you are forgetting is we do have summer here. I would be at least if not more worried about heat come summer. My garage is insulated except for one section about a foot from the top on one wall and it gets damned hot.

[Deuce67]

Yup, my garage is an inferno in the summer.