Basement sumps

[JJ-MIK]

Anyone on here have basement sumps? Can you all post a pic of your setups? I want to move all my stuff to the basement and I want some ideas. I'm thinking I'm going to use a 100-200 gallon Rubbermaid trough . But want ideas on setting up the plumbing. Fuge and all that good stuff

 

[Gregcoyote]

My reef on the main floor (roughly 300 gallons) empties into the basement to its own room where there is about 200 more gallons in frag tanks, algae scrubber and sumps. A big Iwaki pump then lifts the processed water back upstairs to the main reef. Same setup has run about 21 years now.

Picture of the outside corner reef is on the main floor, subsequent pictures are from the basement fish room. I use rubber maid tubs and Brute trash cans as sumps and frag tanks. I also have a 6' long glass frag tank with a moving led light in the basement on the same system.

 

[JJ-MIK]

That's awesome looking! Thank you! That's another thing I'm researching. A huge algae scrubber. Do you have any issues heating the water since it is in the basement?

 

[Gregcoyote]

No, I use a 1000 watt titanium heater and have a chiller for summer time.

 

[Holygral]

my sump isn't in the basement but my return pump and rodi with pump for the ato are all there. I also have it plumbed so I can drain for wc to a drain in the basement and I can pump rodi for wc up, no water caring either way.

 

[JJ-MIK]

How do you get the proper salinity if your just dumping it in a drain. How do you know how much water your taking out?

 

[Holygral]

I mix my wc water in a tub, my tank is 72x18 and I draw enough water out so it is 5 inches from normal then you multiply 72x18x5=6480 divide 312 (cubic inches in a gal) and that equals 20 gallons, same formula if I draiing from the sump

 

[JJ-MIK]

That's a lot if math!!..... Ha .. I just use 5 gallon buckets. But I suppose if you just watch how much water comes out you can figure how much it is to our right back in.

 

[Holygral]

That's a lot if math!!..... Ha .. I just use 5 gallon buckets. But I suppose if you just watch how much water comes out you can figure how much it is to our right back in.

when you start a dry board marker is a great help

 

[Themonsterisme]

H

My reef on the main floor (roughly 300 gallons) empties into the basement to its own room where there is about 200 more gallons in frag tanks, algae scrubber and sumps. A big Iwaki pump then lifts the processed water back upstairs to the main reef. Same setup has run about 21 years now.

Picture of the outside corner reef is on the main floor, subsequent pictures are from the basement fish room. I use rubber maid tubs and Brute trash cans as sumps and frag tanks. I also have a 6' long glass frag tank with a moving led light in the basement on the same system.

holy heck Greg ... You can tell it's been running a long time by all the salt on the side of the frag tank lol

 

[JJ-MIK]

That's a good idea!

 

[Gregcoyote]

H


holy heck Greg ... You can tell it's been running a long time by all the salt on the side of the frag tank lol

That's the big algae scrubber. I use a neat digital water meter to know how much water I exchange.

 

[mr_X]

My sump isn't in the basement, but regarding water changes, I pump out almost my entire sump and then fill it back up to the fill line, where the ATO switch is. No calculating at all.

 

[JJ-MIK]

Do you have excess premixed salt. Or do you mix just enough?

 

[mr_X]

I make a 55 gallon drum full, let it mix overnight, then do the change. I usually end up with about 6" in the bottom.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I use one of these. They are deluxe.

http://flows.com/digital-water-meter/?gclid=CMy0po7hprwCFZRr7AodVgkAug

 

[JJ-MIK]

What are some pumps I can consider? If we get this house that we are looking at buying. The basement is tall I'm going to be looking at probably 20 feet to be pushing water up to the tank. What are some pumps I can consider? My tank has 2 overflows . It's a 150g

 

[Gregcoyote]

It will be a bit expensive running a pump like this, but I would check the Internet for your favorite pump specs, there it spells out maximum head height and flow rates. If you want a 4X flow rate on a 150 gallon, that's 600 gallons per hour at 20'

I use Iwaki pumps and they have run for years.

Cut down the lift height by placing the sump on a stand. That gives you many options for running an additional sump and frag tanks as a secondary loop in the basement.

 

[JJ-MIK]

I'm leaning into a sps dominated tank. So the more flow the better

 

[JJ-MIK]

Ya. It will be on a bench type. Probably going to use a 100-200 gallon rubbermaid trough . And wanted to have a fuge tank and frag tanks looped in the system