Basement Sumps

[xxxbadfishxxx]

I am considering adding a basement sump to my current 50 gallon tank. This will be part of a future upgrade to a 120 gallon so i would like to make it a 40 gallon breeder that will have a sump, fuge, and frag tank as an all in 1. It would be ideal to have it directly below the tank, but it would be easiest to have it around 10 feet to the side and in the basement.

My tank is not reef ready, so i would most likely use a Lifereef or Amiricle overflow. I would imagine i would have to use soft return and drain lines and not have it hard plumed. The main thing is i do not want any floods, especially the display overflowing since it is upstairs. Is having the sump in the basement any more risky then having it below the tank? What size return pump?

Just looking for some ideas, safety features, and some advice from people that have them.

Thanks,

Jeff

[greenhut]

Such setups are very common. I was not so lucky, and had to run my wet room about 45' on the opposite end of my house from my tank.

I used 1.25" spaflex for return pluming and 2" spaflex and hard pvc for the drains. This was for a 150 gallon mixed reef with about 300 total water gallons. I'm thrilled with the wet room - it keeps noise and mess out of the nice living area, and provides a place to work.

As for risk, the more pipe you run, the better chance of a flaw. At the same time, increasing the % of your total volume that primarily resides in the basement reduces risk. if you do have to run horizontally, be sure to look into venting your drain lines.

I used the head calc on reef central, and found it to be pretty accurate. My personal preference is the Sequence Reeflo line of pumps, but Iwaki and Blueline are some other good ones to check out. You might want to split the required return volume across two pumps in case of a failure.

Good Luck!

jeff

[xxxbadfishxxx]

yeah, the reason for the basement sump is so i can have a bigger sump and a frag tank. Plus it would make my living room 100% quieter. I am not sure what you mean by venting the pipes, is this so air bubbles dont form?

I am worried about having the pump keep up with the suction from the u-tube over flow, from what i understand, if i have a siphon break that would be bad news and my display will overflow.

External or Submersible pump?

[tpenn187]

if it were me i would do a bigger sump, maybe a 75 just because you are putting alot in a 40 breeder. imo. you can get 75 gal tanks cheap and it would give you much more room, or do two tanks one for the fuge and skimmer and the other for a frag tank. i have never done a basement sump but i do know a friend that did one and he set up multiple tanks for different functions.

[tpenn187]

i didn't see the pump question, i would defiantly do an external pump for the amount of water you will need to move over a good distance and head hight. they also have hardly any heat transfer. i think my buddy was using a sequence dart. he thought that the pump was efficient for the amount of flow that they produce.

[Jetdrvr]

I did mine with a 100gal rubbermaid stock tank and a Reeflo Barracuda.



It's the best thing I ever did. I am about to add a fuge next to the stock tank and an external skimmer fed either from the return pump or the drain line. It gives you lots of space to work, expand your system and doesn't let as many bad things happen in the event of an overflow.

[Sk8r]

It's even better if you've got a utility sink and floor drain.

But even in a finished basement you rid yourself of so much of the noise---and the temperature stability is good, too: last night my front door came open in a 20 degree blow, and the tank came through fine, thanks to the sump.

You also have room for anything you want to do: a 32g kalkreactor/topoff is my latest, and I love it.

[sjm817]

Go bigger with the sump if you can. Use a separate fuge.

Here is my setup, which has changed some from that pic, (different skimmer and baffle layout), but you get the idea. Water changes are so easy!

[younglcy]

A basement sump is a great addition. If you have the room, I'd also recommend using a Rubbermaid stock tank. They're huge, fairly inexpensive and very well built (except I'd use a high quality 2" bulkhead instead of the cheap bulkhead that Rubbermaid supplies). My drain lines (for a 75 gal tank) are 1 1/4" corrugated pool pipe (no elbows or seams) attached to two 1" (700 gph) Lifereef overflows. My return line is 3/4" spaflex (no elbows or seams), running off a pressure-rate Uno Marlin pump. The pump puts out slightly more volume than the overflows like, so I throttle back the pump a little (5-10%). I also wired a high-level shut off switch which turns off the pump if the level in my tank (or overflows) gets too high. It's saved my hardwood floors a couple of times. The run from my tank to my fish room is about 45', 35' of which is horizontal. The overflows make the most noise by far ; the plumbing runs are extremely quiet, as long as you don't have long vertical drops (think Niagra falls).

[Altpers0na]

the only thing stopping me is putting a huge ( 2x 1" ) hole in the floor

[sjm817]

I cut a rectangular hole (through my new hardwood floor) the same size as a heat register. If I ever moved, all I would have to do is drop in a floor register vent and you would never know it was there.

[Altpers0na]

you know how much trouble you just got me in?

now i need a sump level alarm or a reliable ato...

[sjm817]

My wife was all for the basement sump. Water changes are done in the basement instead of the family room. Its all good.

[xxxbadfishxxx]

yeah, i am in the same situation, my tank is right on hardwood floor, i was thinking of running it through the wall, but that would be a huge PITA. SJM, i am going for exactly what you have, but i might enclose it in a closet because our basement is finished. Would humidity be a problem? So are you saying that you would put a fake vent in the floor? got any pics?

[sjm817]

Just cut a rectangle hole the same size as a drop in vent register. I dont have a pic that would show anything special. Humidity may be an issue depending on the setup. Keep it vented.

[Jetdrvr]

Humidity has never been a problem for me and i have had mine for over 2 years now.

[RicGio]

I dropped my plumbing down thru the wall and sole plate. It is a non loadbearing wall and my tank is an in wall. Think my wife would shoot me if I drilled (4) 2" holes in my hardwood floor!