Basement Sumps 20/20 hindsight

[AdInfinitum]

So the other day I was cleaning up a really very very minor spill...(siphon hose slipped out of my hand for just a couple of seconds... : )...so it missed the towel I had down...no problem, the dining room carpet soaked it up easily  .... when my wife came into the room....

Her unexpected reaction...Sooo...How hard (read how much$$$) would it be for you to move the sump into the basement?

Gee honey...It would be a lot of work for me to do it....but since it will make you happy, I will... just for you....  of course she's not really that gullible, but nonetheless....WhooHoo! ;D

What I am looking for from all you hardcore basement sumpers (whose POTM submissions have been revisited for study)  are the things that you wish you had or hadn't done when you built your systems.

You know...the things that you were sure you needed but ended up being unnecessary, or the things you thought were add-ons but ended up being the best thing you ever did, or the things that you ended up adding after the fact and thought, "I wish I had designed this in originally".

 

[Darryl_V]

-Sump to hold equipment at waist level height for easy working
-sink near sump and skimmer for easy clean up
-separate water change tank / vessel that is plumbed in
-minimal wattage pump that works well (because electricity is expensive)

something that might be nice is frag tank but that can be worked in later if wanted/needed.

 

[spyd]

I agree with everything Darryl said. A waste high sump is an excellent addition. I use a plumbed in water change tank as well. No more buckets with a setup like that.

 

[Blob-79]

totally agree with everything said above. Especially the water change tank. My water change tank doubles as a detrius settling tank. So when I do water changes i siphon out the crud in the bottom of the tank,  it gives detrius and free floating particles a place to settle. Keep in mind I dont run filter socks.

If you do go with multiple tanks in the basement (ie-waterchange tank, frag tank) make sure you plumb it all so you can take either of them offline if need be. Also leave room for expansion.

I also find it really nice having a manifold branched off of my return pump. I use excess flow to power my reactors.

 

[TORX]

Blob has the basement sump thing down pat. He has a great set up going with all the above noted items. Great set up, just a little creapy down there. Put up some dry wall or something already lol.

 

[Neopimp]

-Drill and plumb the sump to the house drain or sump pit.  Open a valve drain some water.  Easiest thing. My top off tank is just a rubbermaid Brute garbage can under the table. Has a Mag 9 in it that i turn on to pump water into the sump.
-Should have used union valves like blob has done.

I wouldnt change a whole lot about the set up except for larger drains and a couple more valves to isolate things,

 

[AdInfinitum]

OK...I was thinking DT height already just trying to minimize the increase in head pressure (hadn't really considered the ergonomics aspect...)

Was thinking about having the first section (where the drains enter) open for the odd time that I want to use some mechanical filtration with a drain built in to that section for water changes.  I like the idea of a settling area since I don't like using mechanical media regularly, so as long as the flow is baffled, the first section should serve that purpose. 

I was hoping that I could run my line from the make-up water barrel/tank/tote into the second section (was thinking gravity feed, but a pump would be simpler) so that I could open the drain in sec.1 and the feed into sec.2 simultaneously to do water changes quickly enough to avoid significant mixing of old and new water during the change without turning off the main pump.  Anyone do it that way or do you shut the pump down for changes?

Another question...Is there a reason that nobody uses a deeper tank with a full surface shelf of eggcrate (or two half shelves) 6" down for frags and the remainder of the space below for chaeto/macro's/fuge area?  One light fixture, high intensity at the top for the frags, partially filtered below for the algae, lots of pods to feed the frags... if it was a good idea everyone would already be doing it so there must be a reason that they don't??? 

Being able to isolate the various components without affecting the core system is a great idea and/or having plumbing pieces that could fit in at various unions to bypass sections if necessary would be cool.

I plan on building this with sufficient headroom/expand-ability to accommodate the eventual swap to the acrylic "monster in the garage".  I thought about plumbing in the 200gal as well, but I like the idea of having the two systems isolated just in case...

Thanks for all the suggestions guys...all the theory in the world is no match for hands-on experience  8)

 

[Neopimp]

I have a small 2 gallon reservoir for fresh rodi water to deal with evaporation.  It is grvity fed to the section of the sump with the return pump.  The flow is controlled with a float valve.  So water evaporrates..... return section water level lowers... opens ups the float.. allows water in.. then closes at the right level.  Since the reservoir is so small it will not have a huge issue on the tank if the float fails and drops all the water into the tank.  The resrvoir needs to be refilled everyday though.... so if you are doing it manually its a pain.  If you have an apex or a reefkeeper system, get a small 1/4" solenoid valve and hook it up between the rodi system and the reservoir.  HAve it turn on for 30 minutes everyday to top of the reservoir and you dont need to even think about adding water to the system.  I havent looked at it in 6 months.  You do need to put a float switch in the resrvoir tank so it stops when it fills up.

Yes it take a little bit before the ppm meter reads 0.  Like 30 sec.  I can deal with that. Anyways 4:30am  time to go to work.

Cheers

 

[Neopimp]

And yes I have thought of doing that kind of frag setup.  So if you follow my dimentions on a 75 gallon sump , you will have a frag section about 18 inches long.  or go with a 125gallon 6ft tank  But stick with the 18x18 size tanks or shallower.

 

[AdInfinitum]

I picked up what will be the main component of my basement build today.

It's an old plant tank from a "Super Pets" I believe.  It has some minor damage to one divider and has plenty of surface scratches (it is going to be a sump...), but otherwise it is a professionally made commercial piece 3/4" acrylic throughout and around the 200gal range. 72x36x24 at the tallest end 14 at the shallowest.  Just a bonus...as you can see, it is already drilled with bulkheads and came with some plumbing pieces.

Changes the plan from using some tanks that I had already...so first off I need to get rid of some stuff to make room for stand construction...

 

[pulpfiction1]

Nice.......

Sent from my HTC Incredible S

 

[spyd]

Nice looking sump. Hopefully, they didn't treat their tanks with any chemicals. That would be the only worry about using the sump from there.

 

[teebone110]

Nice!

If you end up not using it, let me know.

Where did you get it?

 

[AdInfinitum]

Acrylic is pretty safe chemical-wise, actually generally lower retention levels than most other "food-grade" plastics like pex/poly that have higher affinity for phosphates.  I will be removing the silicone mess that they "repaired" the crack in the one divider with and welding it properly.  Silicone has a very high affinity for copper...but was not likely used in a plant tank anyway.

The guy I got it from had used it to keep freshwater gamefish for a short time but very low-tech no medications involved.

I had watched it on kijiji for a quite a while and when the sump project developed I checked and the price had moved into the 2 digit range.

BTW re: the Red Slime thread in General Reef Discussion, you can see in the pic the cyano residue on the panels.  The guy had a lot of cyano growth in his fresh/cold water system... cyano is a truly amazing creature!

 

[Boga]

Good topic. It is exactly what I needed. I am working on a similar project.

While I am drilling, I will add an extra electrical conduit for future electrical/remote expansions. Just in case, to run cables for sensors, controllers, etc.

 

[Poseidon]

very nice pic up ! i saw that tank for awhile to... woulda been cool just no where for me to put it...
would love to see it up an running though!