Introduction...

[thegrimreefer]

I sent this off to JP, who thought I ought to post it:

Hi,

Just a note a quick note of introduction...
I've been trying to get to a meeting to join for a few months now, and it surprisingly seems likely I'll be able to attend this month's.

I thought the least I could do is to introduce myself before I just avail myself of your hospitality (Honey, who ARE all these strangers?!?!).

My name is Ron, I live in Inver Grove Heights in the SE metro area.
10+ years ago I had a 100 gallon reef, and was fairly successful with it, until the front glass seperated from the rest of the tank. I sold off all the livestock and rock, and haven't been back into the hobby for a while.
Now I'm planning to set up a 125 gallon, with a very small room behind it, in the basement. As these types of projects seem to go, my desire to fill a box with water has turned into a "lets finish the whole basement while we're at it" project, which is slowing things down phenomenally.
Hopefully, there'll be a 125 display, a 75, and two 40br tanks running in the room with a 55g as a sump. Those are the tanks I have on hand. It'll be a big project just getting that all designed and plumbed together.

Last time I sort of sorted things out myself, there was no web to search, though I had USEnet aquaria newsgroups emailed to me. One of my postings from April Fool's day 1992 ended up on thekrib
http://www.thekrib.com/Misc/reef-joke.html

I'm looking forward to a joining the group, I've been reading the forums here for a while, and you seem like great bunch.

Oh, and I'll be happy to take MY turn at hosting a meeting, once the basement's finished. It'll be a while!

Regards,
Ron

[the_colonel]

Welcome to TRT, and soon to TCMAS. Look forward to meeting you on the 15th.

[Irenicus]

Welcome Ron! Look forward to meeting you!

[David Grigor]

Ron, with that amount of water located in the basement. The main concern I have is that you have done you homework on ventilation to handle the humidity all of those tanks are going to cause. With fresh air exchanger and proper humidity controls you should be fine but what to make sure you are aware of it and have a plan.

I had a 320g tank in the basement for about 2 years before I had to shut it down becuase of humidity issues it caused in our home ( built in the 50s ) and was not willing to invest more $$ into the home to address those issues since we do not plan to stay here that long.....

[Sea monkey]

what kinda of humidity issues did it cause ? what are the best solutions ?

[thegrimreefer]

It's a walkout basement. The house does have an air exchanger, though there's no duct from it to this room. I'm thinking that the room and exposed wood will be painted with two part pool paint. I have already installed a vent fan to the outside to exhaust hot and moist air.

[David Grigor]

Ryan, to do it properly would require most likely require a fresh air exchanger. High humidity, any electronic equipment, tools etc. rust, All wood trim on windows are ruined. During the winter, our windows ( upstairs and downstairs )had a solid sheet of it ( on the inside ). We do not have any replacement windows, they appear to be the originals......

Our daily evaporation was 6-8 gallons a day depending on the weather conditions.........

We had a 80pint dehumidifier that consumes 600w of electricity would run constantly and is not a good solution when you have that much evaporation.

[Sea monkey]

fresh air exchanger make your heating/cooling costs go way up ? know an approximate cost of buying and installing one ?

[David Grigor]

While not 100% effecient they transfer some of the heat/cooling from the out going air to the incoming so not loosing much heat. Scott Olson had one installed in his house and he said it made a world of a difference with his tanks and was able to remove the glass covers that he was not able to beforehand. I don't recall him saying the heating/cooling costs were dramatically ( if any ) but shoujld definately confirm that with him at a meeting or via email.....

I believe they operate around 80w so they aren't expensive to run. Like many things there is a wide range especially with installation and can run $1800 on up.....

[JnS]

welcome Ron

Ryan- the zoa project always has a draw back., this is just 1 of them.

[Loverotties]

Welcome to TRT!!

[chazz-66]

Welcome