New reefer questions on build

[Morangus]

So I'm looking to get into the hobby... Have only had freshwater tanks previously but as a certified advanced open water / specialty night diver Thru PADI, I've always wanted to get into the hobby but have always been put off due to cost... That will be changing soon and I'm getting ready to start remodeling my house. With that being said I'm looking to put in a 300 gallon tank, viewable from 3 sides as its going to be part of the wall as well... One side will be my bedroom, other side will be the family room. It will sit on a stand that sits on a concrete slab. Because this is going to be my bedroom, and the fact that I'd like to have more then just one sump for water changes and giving more water in the system for stability, I'm looking to make a fish room about 30 to 40 ft from the display tank. My question is, I see everyone running their flow from the tank downward, but has anyone run their pipes upward. Say through a drop ceiling into a different room? I can't put in a raised floor and I'd prefer to not cut up the concrete slab to lay pipes... I can run the pipes through the wall because the doorway is at the end of the display tank which is going to be part of the wall and the opposite wall has a fireplace. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Rmckoy]

So I'm looking to get into the hobby... Have only had freshwater tanks previously but as a certified advanced open water / specialty night diver Thru PADI, I've always wanted to get into the hobby but have always been put off due to cost... That will be changing soon and I'm getting ready to start remodeling my house. With that being said I'm looking to put in a 300 gallon tank, viewable from 3 sides as its going to be part of the wall as well... One side will be my bedroom, other side will be the family room. It will sit on a stand that sits on a concrete slab. Because this is going to be my bedroom, and the fact that I'd like to have more then just one sump for water changes and giving more water in the system for stability, I'm looking to make a fish room about 30 to 40 ft from the display tank. My question is, I see everyone running their flow from the tank downward, but has anyone run their pipes upward. Say through a drop ceiling into a different room? I can't put in a raised floor and I'd prefer to not cut up the concrete slab to lay pipes... I can run the pipes through the wall because the doorway is at the end of the display tank which is going to be part of the wall and the opposite wall has a fireplace. Any thoughts or suggestions?

This sounds like it will be a very nice setup when it's finished .

 

[erichm20]

Can you put the sump and fuge under the tank in the wall and just put two doors on your bedroom side or is the wall too narrow?

 

[Ingy]

The issue I see is the evaporation and level control. Normally this occurs in the lowest tank with the lifter pump. You might be able to work the system with a smaller "lifter tank" beside the DT. The tank could be narrow (<14") to fit between a pair of studs and even be observable only from the bedroom. The DT would overflow to the lifter tank. The lifter pump would then pump to the sump upstairs (hmm, need a new name because by definition a sump is below - later). Then the sump overflows to the DT. Could work.
The lifter tank should be tall enough to accept all the backflow/overflow from the 2 other tanks should a power outage occur, but that should be easy if it is beside the DT. ATO would then be controlled by the lifter tank level.

 

[Ingy]

OOps. All that was based on a gravity return from upstairs. Just saw that it is supposed to be same floor. More difficult. Trying to tune 2 pumps going each way is very difficult.

 

[Morangus]

Gravity return from upstairs... I hadn't thought about putting the fish room upstairs... Although now I think about it that's very doable... Question though... What risks do I have with a pump that's pushing water upstairs and is external to the sump? With the return being gravity fed will I have enough flow back into the tank or won't that matter since ill have wave makers pushing water around anyway?

 

[Morangus]

I think I need to draw up my tank layout on paper and attach so you can see what type of room I'm working with too. Stay tuned..

 

[Morangus]

Also, would the lifter tank cause any water noise?

 

[Mebbid]

Generally a tank is sitting above the refugium. The refugium pump is pushing water up into the display tank while the water is flowing from the display tank into the refugium.

If you were doing this it would basically be reversed with the pump being in the display tank and the refugium flowing down into the DT. There shouldn't be any big issues as long as you get the correct water pump that will give you enough flow with a high enough head height.

You will however need an ATO to keep the water level in your display constant but that isn't a huge issue.