Detour ahead!!

So I’ve been caught up day dreaming about having a real man-cave area of the basement that’s all ME.  Where I can move all of my computers and ‘junk’ occupying a bedroom on the main floor as well as all things related to my fish-keeping habit.  I figure there’s no reason to waste the back side of a massive tank by surrounding it on 3 sides with walls, so I plan to have the tank visible both from in the office as well as the ‘workout’/entry area of the basement where things like the treadmill and whatnot can go.  Perhaps I’ll exercise more when I can pedal my way around the ocean floor? 🙂

Luckily the way the house was built allowed me to yank down two walls that were not load bearing and ‘sister’ in a doorway where I felt there should have been a walkway when the house was built.  It worked out nice that the original doorway was the exact size of the area I opened up and there was enough joist overhang that after knocking it in place with a sledgehammer the doorway now carries the load.

The corner of the basement will house the life support system for the main tank and also some grow-out and quarantine tanks, etc.  Changing the walls will give people access to the area that is plumbed for a bathroom without people having to trek through my office and fish equipment room on movie nights.

On with the pictures for a better representation of what I started with and what I aim to create.