220 Inwall - Plan

[bheron]

If you trap the microbubbles in a bubble tower (you might need to use 4" PVC to hold all of those lines), it won't be an issue especially with reasonable flow. Make sure it is at least 5" taller than the water level in that section, to avoid salt spray/spatter/creep. The triple baffles will be fine if you run the sump flow at 3x to 5x the display. You might put them 2" apart, instead of 1" apart. I did that with my huge sump, and have zero-microbubbles.

- got it!

Now about drilling your sump: Take a look at this thread. http://www.dfwmas.org/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=538

- Ill have to take a long read at that one. might not be willing to ty it.

If you are uncomfortable or unwilling to do that, you can make a J-hook to suck water out of the sump over the wall and into the pump.

- nice idea. let me ask this - can I possibly keep the external pump, instead, right at the top, outside of the sump? so that it pulls water just up the one side but not back down? maybe rest it on some kind of platform?

The Sequence pump uses less power than the Mag pump. Huge selling point. The Dart would do the job. And by now, the newest version is the Uno, which I've only read about briefly. It might be a good one for your needs, I'm not sure.

- Nice. I'll check them out. Less power AND less heat is good. I thought it was just the heat issue.

EDIT: is this the one youre talking about?
From Marine Depot

- It says the Sequence is 160W and 1.5 Amps. My Mag 18 isis 145W and 1.35 amps, I think. Am I looking at the wrong one?

Your transitional acclimation tank will be awesome for floating new arrivals that are trustworthy. Like frags of corals. They can float to get to the right temperature, but not touch your lighting, corals or be bothered by fish. Pumps won't affect it either. And if you put a small eggcrate stand in there, you could put your new coral on it, and put a piece of meaty food in the corner. Leave it alone and see if any hitchhikers crawl out of the coral to get to the food. What a nice way to remove pests.

- didnt even think of that.


Also, another question. In my design I have two fuges - 1 in the sump and 1 above the tank. Should I just have one (on top) and use the extra space in the sump for microbubble battling and other unknown needs? In other words, are two fuges worth the extra space?

 

[jarhed]

Man, I wish I could have a utility sink. That is looking very nice!

 

[melev]

No, you can't have the pump above the sump because you need it to stay full of water to restart whenever you flip the switch. Putting it next to, behind or in front of your sump should be easy to do.

Having two fuges is better than one. If you had a monster 200g fuge, your tank would be a real winner. :lol: I don't think you are going to have microbubble wars to be honest. Now remember, if you freshwater test the system it will be misleading. And new plumbing takes two weeks to slime over, so don't panic when you first start it up and see some microbubbles.

You are right about the electricity. Since I've been running an Ampmaster 4700 (384w), 160w sounds like nothing! The Sequence pump should run silently which is a real plus.

 

[bheron]

No, you can't have the pump above the sump because you need it to stay full of water to restart whenever you flip the switch. Putting it next to, behind or in front of your sump should be easy to do.

- Ah! I see. Ok, I might consider the Sequence then, If I can allocate the funds, of course.

Thats great to know you have faith in my sump plans Now all I have to do is execute, right? Ok, I feel confident now.

Yea, I've heard about the sliming-over-period. So I wont panic then.

It says the Sequence Dart is the worlds quietest pump! Wow.


Jarhead - youre not kidding. I'm telling you, getting that into the plans was pure luck. We were originally planning to have a wet bar in the basement, so my wife and I decided to put in plans for it. Well, we decided to keep the bar upstairs and...guess what never left the plans?! :lol: Now I'm loving it and the wife hasnt said a thing about it.

 

[bheron]

Update

Update

Just an update here:

- Started painting the stand! Yea, I wanted to make sure, after reading everyone else's posts, to paint the bottom of the stand. I wanted to get to it before its shot into the floor.

Went to HD and talked in depth with their paint guy. He recommended a combination of the Kilz (which everyone talks about here) and a Rusoleum Satin finish.

I'll tell ya, it wasnt that bad. Espeically painting the 2x4's - they were so smooth. The plywood soaks up alot more paint. Anyway, I got dont a coat of Kilz on almost the entire stand. Let it dry for 2 hours and then applied the Satin finsish to just the bottom part for now.

(I painted it on its side)

WHOA - i dont think thats the lens that speckled!!! What is that stuff? Is it on the lens or in the air and picked up by the flahs!?

Not sure if you can see the difference with the coat of Satin on the horizontal here..

Uprighted...

 

[melev]

Lookin' good.

 

[bheron]

Thanks Marc.

Youre a Photography guy - is that fumes/particles in the air in the third pic above?

 

[melev]

Well, take a second picture and see if you get those spots again.

 

[bheron]

I did - the pictures above it were taken right around the same time. just thought it was weird to come up on only one picture. and i didnt clean the lens or anything. so it mustve just been the lighting and angle. just shows whats coming out of that Kilz paint.

 

[bheron]

A bunch of updates here....

- The basement is almost finished.
- Drywall has been going up over the weekend.
- Only a few more things to be done (HAHA, sure)

Here's some pics:

The framing being done...

With the recessed lighting going in

 

[bheron]

You can see the insulation going up and the drywall moving in...

This is the back part of the finished area - gym for my wife

 

[bheron]

And now for the drywallers (these guys really are pros and work like machines). It took three of them about 8 hours to get the drywall hung in both rooms and the common areas:

Main Room:

Gym area:

<img src="http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Picture_0920.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

The greenboard going up:

<img src="http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Picture_0921.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">


The ceiling inside the fish room (you can see the fan has been installed - more on that next!)

<img src="http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Picture_1000.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Picture_0916.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

And here you can see the PVC for the sink drain sump pump - wasnt too happy with how they did it, as you can see....

 

[bheron]

And now two details that I think will really help out:

1) The exhaust vent in the room. The vent will go directly to the outside and is powered by an 80CFM extra size bathroom fan.

I'm not sure how this compares to some other fans I've seen on the site here, but I think 80 CFM is pretty powerful?

Here's the duct thats is used:

Here it is mounted in the ceiling

<img src="http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Picture_0871.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

Its going to be connected to a timer on the wall.

Also, we're installing a small vent in the wall near the floor to allow air to be drawn in from the outside room. I'm putting the vent right near the sump hoping that the air will be drawn in, over the sump, and pulled out of the room.

Any feedback on the idea is welcome!

 

[bheron]

Here's my 2nd idea I tried out.

I picked up some of this stuff to help dampen the sound coming from the fish tank room. My contractor said the normal kraft bats would be too thick to install in the verticals in my tank stand.

So I went out and got a 4x8 sheet of this from HD:

Its basically foam insulation:

Here it is installed inbetween the studs in the tank room:

<img src="http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Picture_0997.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

I couldnt get a picture of it as I installed it inside my tank stand b/c I sealed it shut. But, essentially, its in between the vertical plywood inside my stand and the drywall on the otherside:

I havent seen anyone use anything like this before, so who knows?! But I'm hoping that it will help keep the sound of the sump, pumps, and other equipment out of the main basement room.

 

[melev]

I doubt you'll hear it. I have sheet rock on both sides, with normal insulation in between the studs, and the only thing I hear in my skimmer becaues I've not modified it yet. The trickling fountain noise of a Euro-Reef.

And I haven't done the woodwork yet, so the room isn't sealed off.

I like your vent fan. I'm probably going to do something similar, but I'll buy a Humidistat, that will turn it on and off as humidity gets higher than whatever setting I program it to.

Nice progress!!!! I'm a little jealous.

 

[bheron]

"Nice progress!!!! I'm a little jealous. "

Thanks Marc. Really, that means ALOT to me coming from someone like you. I really have tried hard to model my approach to planning an execution to setups like yours.

I've heard about this "humidistat" before. Now that I'm feeling more comfortable with the whole setup and electronics, I think I might exlpore it more. I know I could probably find some info on it here, but could you let me know a little more about the one youre leaning towards?

 

[melev]

Well, way way way back in my 280g thread, probably around page 20, several units were offered with the appropriate links. Basically it looks like a wall thermostat, but it measures humidity. It turns the fan on and off as needed.

 

[jarhed]

Man, this is really looking good!!!

I wish I would have thought of that sound foam! I have some foam in the garage just waiting to be used for something, perhaps I've found a use??

One question, not sure if it's been asked: Are you providing any cooling for the room itself? Central air duct? Anything to dry the air in there?

 

[bheron]

Marc - thats what i was looking for. Let me check it out and see what I can find. Most likely, I'm thinking it'll be a longer term solution since it will cost more $$ and will require some rewiring. In all, however, its the best route.


Jarhead - thanks!! I'm not as far along as you but youre a great guide.

Your Q: "One question, not sure if it's been asked: Are you providing any cooling for the room itself? Central air duct? Anything to dry the air in there?"

- A: yes, the room will be cooled (I hope) by the house's HVAC system. I have two A/C units as part of that - one for the top floor of the house and one for the main floor. We "plumbed" two outlets for the finished are of the basement - one from each zone.

All that means is that we literally cut out a hole in the HVAC duct that runs through my basement. We did this in two places, with the thought that, when not used, we can close them off so that it wont ruin the efficiency of the units on the rest of the house.

Also, we're putting in a place for a window unit on the far end of the basement - where the gym will be. Not sure if this will reach the fish tank area, but it cant hurt.

So, the goal is to have the space outside the tank room adequately cooled, have a vent between the main room and the tank room, and then have a vent blowing air out of the tank room to the outside, and pulling air from the main part of the basement, which is cooled.

I HOPE that makes sense b/c I feel like I'm just rambling!!!

 

[jarhed]

Makes perfect sense!! Matter of fact, I'm taking notes. Need to deal with my humidity issue and your plan sounds good. Course, my exhause has to go through the attic to the roof.