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New to BAR, want some input from more experienced Bay Area reefers

gaberosenfield

gaberosenfield

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Hi everyone,

My name is Gabe. I'm a graduate student studying fungal biology at UC Berkeley. I set up my first reef tank in college in Dallas, Tx. I absolutely loved the Dallas Fort-Worth Marine Aquarium Society, so the first thing I did after getting situated here was look up the Bay Area equivalent. Now that I've moved to the bay, pretty much every part of my life is better than it was in Texas...Except I haven't had a stable enough living situation to set up another reef tank yet! I just signed a lease for a small townhouse in North Oakland that has a private garage. I have permission from the owner to set up an aquarium in the garage only (since it cannot damage the floors there). The garage is situated underneath the townhouse, with interior walls on three sides. My question to you all is this: will it pose a huge problem to have a mid sized system (75 gallon DT, 50 gallon fuge/algae tank, and 30 to 4o gallon sump) in a garage like this in the winter in terms of heating? I am fine with the tank getting down to ~73-74 at the coldest, but I'm not sure how cold it will be in the garage mid winter. My guess is the temp in the garage will be in the 60s most of the year. Any opinions on whether it will be prohibitively expensive to keep the aquarium heated in the winter or whether I would need to add insulation to the tanks or something?

Thanks,
Gabe
 
For summer, it depends on what direction the garage faces. In winter, I've done tanks in similar situations in Oakland. I'd actually make a false wall using some plastic.
 
The garage faces north, though it wouldn't get much sun either way considering it is covered by a house and a building is directly south of it.

So you're saying I should build temporary walls to wall in the tank area so it retains heat? What exactly do you have in mind when you say plastic false walls? I really appreciate the input.
 
Winter is where some other parts parts of the country get that white fluffy stuff, right?
:)

Yes, your utility bills will definitely increase. Mine do, noticeably.
I have my sump/fuge in the garage.

Part of it is the drier air in winter, not just the cold. More evaporation = more heat loss.
Insulate bottom and back of all tanks, and all pipes. It helps slightly.
Acrylic insulates a lot better than glass.
Enclosed cabinets help. But that is tricky to do without messing up O2/CO2 and getting mold.

Temps can get near freezing at night. But no worries about pipes cracking.

+1 on hanging some plastic, so you don't lose all the heat when you open garage door.
Reduce the exhaust fumes a bit also.
 
Ahh, I forgot to mention that I will most likely not be using the garage for my car. My girlfriend and I want to turn the garage into a sort of basement room to increase our living area. I have a parking space directly in front of my house for the car. Clearly I have my priorities in order :D

Are you thinking of hanging plastic sheeting (flexible) or more like actual walls with frames and plastic attached to both sides? In terms of hanging plastic, I doubt my landlord would allow me to drill hooks into the ceiling to hang anything, so would you guys suggest building frames out of wood or PVC to hold up the plastic?
 
If there is a house over it, pretty sure it has to be rocked.

I'm talking about hanging 6mm or so plastic sheeting, like you get at HD. Flexible. If you want it to look nice, frame a simple wall and rock it.
 
My garage (dry walled, insulated) is on the bottom floor of a 3 story town home building, and I don't think the sun touches it no matter what time of day or season.

Temp in the garage is about 80-85 degrees all year. Hope that helps. If I wanted a tank down there, I'd need a chiller.
 
Building a simple structure that's "floating" with 2x2s or the like should be fairly easy, and you won't have to attach to any walls. Use rigid foam insulation to help hold the heat in, and you should lessen the impact on your electricity bill.
 
I live in North Oakland, just south of the border with Berkeley, just west of Rockridge. It will definitely be an issue of keeping it heated, rather than cooled.

Thanks for all of the input everyone. I will definitely seal the cracks around the garage door. I really like the idea of using foam boards for a simple wall. In fact, since I plan on converting the garage into a sort of living space any way, maybe I should just put up foam boards on all the walls of the garage for extra insulation and paint them. It's a single car garage, so I suppose that would keep the small room a lot warmer and allow my girlfriend and me to make it feel more like a room than a garage. If that doesn't work I will just build some floating walls to make an even smaller room around the tank, as you guys suggested.

I'm already glad I joined BAR :)

Now I need to find a 75 gallon tank. Off to the for sale forum!

Thanks again,
Gabe
 
Welcome! I'm also a graduate student at UC Berkeley, in the Materials Science and Engineering department. I like it cool in my apartment, so I rarely run my heat even in the winter and it gets pretty cold in my apartment. I've got 2 30 gallon tanks and I don't have any issue keeping them at 78 even if it dips into the 50's in my apartment.
 
Welcome! I'm a UCB alumni myself.

Depends on your garage placement. It can either get really cold or really hot. Be prepared for a chiller!
 
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