Major Debate on a new tank....

Well ill start from the beginning so you know my issue....i bought my house when i was 19(better than renting right) well this being my first house i didnt really for-see the future(fish tanks, my son etc) it is a 4 bed/2.5 bath house which is great...only problem is the layout SUCKS! small living room down stairs and one bedroom plus the kitchen and bath and a half down stairs. upstairs is where my 75gal is plus 3 bedrooms(mine, my sons, and my man room which we use as the living room) plus laundry and other bathroom...now on to my delima, i want to build a 150-200 gal tank(i know i cant put it upstairs) but if i dont really spend much time downstairs would it really be worth all the work and time and money spent? at first i wouldnt think so, but itd be the first thing you see when you come in the door and space for a maintenance room wouldnt be an issue. so what are yalls thoughts?

 

Could work out with planning and a change of habits.

 

id love to move everything down to the living room, but then i wouldnt have room for the tank i mean i would go spend the time cleaning and maintaining and all....

 

depends. I'm a total fishlover so I'd definitely go for it, but if you think that it won't really be noticeable since its downstairs where you usually aren't, then maybe you shouldn't. depends on how u feel about it

 

thats my problem lol, im a fishlover as well, and ill see it everytime i walk downstairs or leave the house or come in...just "fishin" for thoughts...i kinda figured id get alot of "do it"s lol

 

is renovating to make it more appealing be an option?
could be completely unrealistic for all i know, but if you ended up with a better overall layout you could probably argue that it will add value?
just putting it out there lol

+1 for do it anyway, i'd love to be greeted by an awesome tank when i come home

 

i would to, although i see my 75 when i first come up the stairs...ans i can renovate, i started to take the wall down in between the living room and bedroom, but its a supporting wall...i could jack up the floor and brace it and put a pillar, but thatd get super expensive

 

I think a bigger question is how much do you dislike your house's layout? It doesn't sound too bad to me but if you don't like it you might decide to move in the not-so-far future and moving another big tank would be a big pain. But although I've never seen your house, I don't see why you couldn't have a larger tank and a tv or something in the main room. You might have to get a wallmount and a flatpanel if you don't have one but you can get some good deals on craigslist, especially with people switching to 3D tvs and getting rid of their perfectly good LCDs/Plasmas.

But if you really won't see the tank unless you're maintaining it, I feel like you'd hate it since it would be more of a chore than an enjoyment. If I only saw a tank when cleaning it and doing water changes, I'd enjoy it as much as an xbox with the red ring of death.

 

I would suggest putting the tank where you would be able to spend the most time viewing it. When I built my "man room" in my basement, I built my tank into my wet bar as the back splash. Great view if you're at the bar and every one enjoy it whenever we have a party. However, over time we spent less time in the basement and more time upstairs so when we move from this home I plan to build the next tank upstairs with the sump and maybe a fishroom in the basement. good luck.

 

in this market id lose about 30 grand...buying a new house just for a fish tank isnt really worth that to me, i guess i could put the tv over the fireplace(that for some reason the people before me decided to close in) that is an option.....