Calling all "Basement Sumpers" - Overflow questions

[michaelr7170]

Hey everyone,

I am planning on moving my sump to my basement, into a new fish room I am making. From my display, there will then be approximately a 10 foot drop and 15 foot horizontal run in total to my sump.

I have a 90 gallon, currently there is a single over flow box drilled with one 0.5" bulkhead, and one 1" bulkhead.

Can anyone help me with the best type of plumbing design for this? What do you folks who have similar setups do? I have been considering a herbie overflow, using my 0.5" as main and 1" as emergency, then having a separate return line come up over the back of my tank.

Look forward to your responses!

Mike

 

[rgulrich]

I'm using the herbie approach as well...2 1" bulkhead overflows, 2 1" bh emergencies, both "Y'd" under the aquarium into their respective 1 1/2" flexpvc lines to the sump. Returns go over top of the aquarium. I use a gate valve for flow control on the drain line - great finite adjustments. 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank sump, with a 55 gallon on a stand (in the sump) for prefilter, heaters, skimmers, and filter socks. Been up and running well for over 2 1/2 years in this configuration.
Hope this helps.

 

[Windy2]

It depends on what you are trying to do. You only need 1-2 X turnover to keep the water at a constant temperature and chemistry. If you want more flow then you should add powerheads in the DT rather than pump a lot of water up and down to the basement. Also, with 10' of drop a 1" line will move a lot of water. I ran a similar setup on a 3/4" drain and 1/2" return for about 5 years.

 

[outy]

I use a big pump and 1" line to tank

My drain from tank its two 1" to a single 1.5" spa hose back to the basement sump.


215g display and 100g Rubbermaid sump

 

[Colorado1]

+1 on the spaflex- great for working thru the floors, and you want to avoid the hard 90 turns for flow and noise control.

I ran two 1.5 inch drains- didnt need the ball valves I installed- return was 1" spaflex.

Pump is MD55RLT Iwaki. spa flex back to tank- Put T and ball valve back to sump to regulate flow back to tank. I would say 40% of output went back to sump next to skimmer.

Having a basement sump is the best. - put in mechanical room if you live somewhere cold. the sump stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer!!

I headed a 120 gallon tank, and 40 gallon sump with a single 200W neotherm for 3 years.

 

[Alex IROC Z28]

My display is 110 my fuge and sump is 67 ....
1.5 drain and 1 inch return.
Coral life pump I have just over 30 ft linear feet and 14 hight difference
Was the best thing I ever did my wife light sleeper and the house being a bungalow no noise... from pumps.....

 

[hkgar]

Mike,

I moved my sump to the basement a year ago. My vertical drop is about 8 feet and the horizontal is 15 feet. Be prepared for significant head loss and the need for a bigger pump. My tank is a 180 and for SPS I wanted as much flow as possible. I had a Mag 12 before the move and it could not push enough water. I now have an Awaki MD 100 external. Check your potential head loss here:

http://reefcentral.com/index.php/head-loss-calculator

I wasn't expecting to spend $450 for a new pump.

 

[epstein]

Basement sump here , I built my fish room in my man cave. 150 cube mixed reef , 100 gal rubber maid, 30 gal cube frag system that being said go with the biggest pump you can . Head pressure and heat kill your flow. The best thing I did was make a manifold with gate valves that way my One pump runs everything and I can regulate the flow to those devices. reactors frag system pumped inline, and chiller all run off an external Panworld 250. I even run my water changes while my system is running. Another piece of advice. Always keep a spare pump on hand.(buy and refurb a used one.) You typically cant run to the store and find your pump. My drain method is the 3 line method. I run the Herbie drain with the return being fed external. I will help and provide any pics needed . Pm me ill send pics. Ive been running this set up about 4 yrs now.


Brian