Room in basement > room under stand

AquaReeferMan · #1 12/07/2007, 10:16 PM

Hello everyone. Just figured I would share my project with you all. I used to have my a 30g sump/fuge under my stand, now its down in my basement. I just got sick of crawling inside whenever I needed to do something. So Mishap and I cut through my floor and pumbed everything up. I am running an Oceanic Model 4 sump along with a 20g long refugium. Water is being pushed by a Coralife Turbo-Sea 1740P. Its no nice being access everything standing up. Needless to say Im very happy with the outcome.

Here are some pictures.

poppin_fresh · #2 12/07/2007, 10:23 PM

pics didn't work...but as a fellow basement sump guy I know what you mean. I would never go back to sump under stand.

spamreefnew · #3 12/07/2007, 10:27 PM

i want to do the same.. what is a good mag drive pump for this? mag 7 8 or 9? and how much extra heat does the pump genarate with the extra head pressure???

poppin_fresh · #4 12/07/2007, 10:31 PM

The pump you need will depend greatly on your setup. You will need to plan it out and then use the headloss calculator on the main RC page to see if and how much flow the pump will create.

Every foot of pipe, ball valve, elbow, etc, will affect the flow from the pump in some fassion. The calculator will tell you approximately what to expect for flow. Exactly how much heat a pump will add though is an unknown.

AquaReeferMan · #5 12/07/2007, 10:38 PM

Yeah you will need a higer powered pump. I used to have a Mag 12 under my stand but that wouldnt even come close.

AquaReeferMan · #6 12/07/2007, 10:45 PM

poppin_fresh Yeah Im am going through a stray voltage problem right now that I cant seen to figure out. It coming from the sump/fuge area. I got a ground probe until I can figure it out. Got right into the cut on my finger. I might need to replace some pumps.

Heres the pictures again. Hopefully they work.

shootist · #7 12/08/2007, 03:22 AM

It looks great but I cant help thinking that your skimmer and sump are simply not going to be nearly large enough for the massive coral prop. system with grow out tanks and fish breeding equipment that you will be installing now that you have sucessfully seized control of the basement from the hositle(wife) occupying forces. Great battle man you are doing us all proud.

mattnano · #8 12/08/2007, 04:30 PM

nice set up im doing the same thing for my friends 90 gallon and we have the same skimmer, what are your thought on the bps 3c so far I love it but its the first skimmer we have ever used. Are you thinking about upgrading or are you content with it?

Pmolan · #9 12/08/2007, 04:46 PM

You need some 100gal rubbermaids down there. Skys the limit now!!

Quote:

i want to do the same.. what is a good mag drive pump for this? mag 7 8 or 9? and how much extra heat does the pump genarate with the extra head pressure???

I use a mag 50 for my setup. I also have it providing flow for other things.

poppin_fresh · #10 12/08/2007, 06:59 PM

AquaReeferMan use a votlage meter to see just how much voltage you have. Chances are, like my tank it is being caused by a little bit from every device. The ground probe might actually be making things worse!

I have found that small cuts on my hands feel a lot like stray voltage, but I dont have the sensation on a non-cut finger. I think it is just the way SW is.

FishTruck · #11 12/08/2007, 07:51 PM

Nice work!

I too finally gave up the under tank crawl routine and won't ever go back. Sooo many more options for you now!

Ryan.

lflint · #12 12/08/2007, 08:41 PM

I have a 65 on the first floor that is connected to many tanks in the basement. I use an Iwaki WMD-40RLT to move water up to the first floor. It is very quiet and moves tons of water. I throttle it back a little on the 2nd floor since the overflows can hardly handle all the flow. Be sure to put a valve near your tank so you can regulate the flow there (or shut it off in case of emergency).

AquaReeferMan · #13 12/09/2007, 03:09 AM

lflint I have a bunch of valves thrown in the mix. Two on each drain, one on the fuge, and one for the return pump. Along with 2 check valves. Plumbing it was pretty fine. Its so much nicer.

asm481 · #14 12/09/2007, 08:03 AM

Time to replace the sump with a huge stock tank! Good luck finding the stray voltage. I wouldn't let that wait.

Pierce · #15 12/09/2007, 10:47 AM

Basement sump is the only way to go. No more water spills on the living room carpet, no more acclimating new arrivals around the kids, and overall not nearly as much stress!!

One thing about yours I understand but would like to warn you about. Hard plumbing everything. I did this with my previous tank and what a pain in the butt. Leak after leak. If you bump any of those pipes, it could leak or break your tank. When I saw your setup, I instantly pictured water on the floor. I know it looks cool, but flexable tubing is MUCH more forgiving. I learned my lesson and my life got a little easier.

AquaReeferMan · #16 12/09/2007, 11:53 AM

mattnano, as for the skimmer goes, I am very happy with it. Works like a charm. I got it out at MACNA. It has far exceeded my expectations. I get great skimmate out of it. I am going to add a mesh mod into my needle wheel pump and add a re-circ pump onto the body of the skimmer. I really dont need to but I figured it would help out a little more.

Pierce. I personally dont like the look of soft plumbing. So far Ive only found one leak and fixed it. I have no problem finding and fixing leaks. I have an endless supply of PVC at work. Water changes are so much nicer now. Before I would fill up my brute trash can and let it sit in my living room for a couple of days. The woman always complained about it sitting in there. Now it just sits downstairs next to the sump until its ready. Everything is just so convenient now.

syrinx · #17 12/09/2007, 12:54 PM

The pros use hard lines pretty much exclusivly, there is a much higher risk of hose clamp failure in softlines than a properly plumbed PVC run.

mcrist · #18 12/10/2007, 03:56 PM

I agree the basement is the best place for everything unless your lucky enough to have an empty room behind the fish tank.

Pierce · #19 12/11/2007, 08:34 AM

syrinx,

Are we looking at the same pics? This is a flood just waiting to happen. There are very few if any professionals on this site so most should stick with using flex tubing.

mcrist · #20 12/11/2007, 08:52 AM

Pierce,

Are you referring to vinyl tubing or flexible PVC?

AquaReeferMan · #21 12/12/2007, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pierce
syrinx,

Are we looking at the same pics? This is a flood just waiting to happen. There are very few if any professionals on this site so most should stick with using flex tubing.

There will be no flood, I am not clumsy when it comes to my fish tanks. There are plenty of pros on these forums and plenty of people that use PVC. Just because you dont know how to properly plumb a tank dont tell others not to.

mcrist · #22 12/12/2007, 08:02 AM

My entire tank is plumbed with hard PVC and I see no problems with using standard PVC. I will agree the flexible PVC is easier but not necessary.