Basement Sumps
 

Who's got their maintenance room on a different floor than the main display tank? Let's see pics! Would you have it any other way? What are the bonuses and drawbacks for this type of set up?

Tagging along. Planning to move my sump down the basement.

I do, and no I wouldn't have it any other way! Benefits are no noise at my display tank and less mess!

Sorry, forgot to post pic!

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/dat...m/P2170173.JPG

dude i am freaking jealous:P


nice set up:)

Thanks Denny, you've got a sweet set up yourself so you have nothing to jealous about!

Wow that is nice. No mess of cords or plumbing. Easy access. Is that RO dedicated only for your tank or does it supply the whole household?

Yeah it's RODI so it's only for my water top up and changes. It feeds into a 120 gal holding tank...a little excessive, I know. :lol: I have the Tunze Osmolator auto top off just sitting here, just too lazy to install it. :redface:

My last setup had the sump downstairs, I found I neglected it a lot more. I wouldn't do it again.

I had my old tank setup with a sump in the basement. It relieved so many maintenance tasks right at the tank as it was plumbed to my ato and ro/di. I would definitely do it again. I never had to go to my tank except to feed, scrape and enjoy.

I gave a friend a hand setting this one up. On the plus side it eliminated the clutter and ceased the water damage inside her expensive stand. The change also allowed her to use a larger sump and now enables her to do water changes in the laundry room rather than the living room. On the downside, access is still pretty tight as there really wasn't much room beside the furnace. She also had to buy a much larger pump to use as a return.

She didn't trust the glass shop to drill a hole for a bulkhead to feed the pump so I had to plumb the unusual intake.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...icture1342.jpg

I have my sump in the basement. I wouldn't do it any other way. You can check the link in my signature for details either on the TOTM link or my Tank journal (I have to warn you, it's long)

like mine.

Lots of room, laundry sink is right close for water changes or cleaning skimmer. Containers with new SW under sump so easy transfers. Can't hear the return pump from display.

sump
 

I have mine in the basement, Pros I never worry about heat in the summer, water changes are easy, plumbed into toilet stack, spills on cement floors are a lot easier to deal with than on hardwood on the main floor. Drawbacks, noise if its not plumbed correctly.

Noise from DT or from sump?

I have my sump room in the basement under the stairs, so pretty tight quarters. I actually run two display tanks (100g upstairs, and 135g on the other side of the wall) now from the same sump (still ample capacity for power outages). I also have a refugium/QT (out of view on the left) in there, that I can convert to another sump if I want. It can be connected to my main sump with an external overflow. I have all the necessary drain and water supply (incl RODI feed line) plumbing down there too, as well as all my dosing stuff.

In the sump, I have a Vertex In-280 skimmer, Vertex UF-20 bio pellet reactor, DIY ATO, and a single Sedra KSP-20000 (2000gph) return pump that runs both tanks, with T offs for my bio pellet reactor, chiller (1/3 hp Artica), and external GFO/Carbon reactors. I do not use any heaters, and tank temps are constant at 79 F.

I like it, because all the noise is out of the way, and less chance of any disasters upstairs to ruin hardwood and carpets.


http://www.canreef.com/photopost/dat...m/IMG00124.jpg

Hi Reef Pilot,

How good is this Sedra KSP-20000 pump?

It's great! I used to have a Mag 18 (1800 gph) to push the return flow to the upstairs tank, and that's all it could do (not a lot of flow either), so had to have other pumps for the rest of the equipment. When I added my downstairs tank, I got this Sedra, thinking of using it for the upstairs tank to get more flow, and use the Mag 18 for the other stuff.

But it had so much flow and head pressure, thought I would try put some T's off for the other stuff. Much to my surprise it runs all the other stuff with flow to spare (throttled with ball valves) without any loss of flow to the upstairs tank. Hard to believe it is only rated at 2000 gph. Absolutely no comparison to the Mag 18.

What size hose do you run it upstairs? 3/4 or 1"?

I run 3/4 to the upstairs tank, even though the Sedra pump output is 1". But that's what I had with the Mag 18, and didn't want to change it. The upstairs return line also goes through a UV light (turned off for now), so that doesn't help.

JL having this on sale for $128.00 (backordered). I think I should order two of this.

Yup, that is a darn good price for a pump like that.

For me the main advantages are space, mess and noise. Tank upstairs is dead quiet, I'm yet to spill a single drop of water on the main floor, and underneath and around the tank doesn't resemble a nuclear reactor.

One of the main disadvantages of basement sumps is the extra head pressure so my setup is a little different from others to minimize this. The main pump sits in the top sump which feeds the display while a smaller pump circulates water from the base sump to the other three. The result is about 7 feet of vertical head on the main circulation pump and a combined wattage of less than 100W to pump over 1000GPH to the display.

I built my sump room into a pantry that I will likely convert into a wine cellar if/when we sell the house. It's not done yet, once I figure out all the equipment I want to run I'll rework the plumbing and electrical so it's more organized.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...18_02_2012.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1..._02_2012_1.jpg

Just so you know, they also make a Sedra KSP 30000 pump (3000 gph). Not sure if J&L sells it, but you might want to ask them, in case you want more power. They don't always list everything they carry.

Thank you Reef Pilot.

What kind of return pump(s) do you guys need to use to get through the head pressure of 12+ feet?

I called a very well known vendor and was told that the Sedra 20000 can't handle 12 ft of head.

Well, I am pumping 12' right now with mine from my downstairs sump to my upstairs tank, and it has plenty of flow, plus it runs my downstairs tank and a bunch of other stuff as I described in my previous post. Like I said, it has a way more flow and pressure than my old Mag 18.

The Sedra box it came in specifies 23' max head and uses 200 watts. I notice this is different than some of the specs I have read on the internet. Maybe this is a newer model that has been upgraded.

To contrast, here are the Mag pump specs. Note that you have to go all the way up to a Mag 36 to get 23' of head. The Mag 18 and 24 stop at 20'.
http://www.marinedepot.com/Danner_Ma...WPSBTO-vi.html

now using a Reeflo Barracuda and can get ~2000gph, have though been thinking about a Reeflo BlowHole 1450

We used the Reeflo Barracuda too. However a large Iwaki or Panworld would also work well.

Of course the Sedra 20000 is backordered everywhere I look and I needed a new return pump 5 days ago. Go figure ;)

I just ordered a blowhole 1450 directly from Reeflo...I won't be using as a return but as a oump to move water around my fish room. I'm a ways out from having it in use but I hear great things on these pumps.

Just took delivery of my BH1450 pump...this thing is compact and very well built. I won't be using it for another 2 months but I love that you can very the strength without having to put in a ball valve on the output with just the dial on the pump. They do have some decent head pressure allowances as well. Take a look at the reeflo site for the specs.