Fill a drum with live rock?

[huseMN]

Hello, I am trying to think through basement fish room, sump and filtration ideas.

I have a couple extra 55 gallon plastic drums lying around and wondering what peoples thoughts on using one of them as a live rock container. Fill that sucker up with as much rock as possible.

My plan is to have a 100-180 gallon display upstairs with overflows traveling down into my sump room in the basement. In the basement I am planning on having a 40 gallon sump to hold heaters and skimmer, then a separate 45 gallon refugium fed by a return line. I also plan on having a separate 40 gallon frag tank also fed by a return line.


I guess my question lies in how one would best incorporate a large container of live rock into the system I described? Should my overflow go into the drum of live rock or directly into the sump? Based on the best approach how would you plumb them together? Obviously worried about overflow capacity as the drum would be substantially higher than the sump based on how I envision the setup.

 

[shifty51008]

Haveing the overflow go into the drum then to the sump would work but what about the ditrus that comes from the overflow, its gonna build up in the bottom of the drum

 

[mikeatjac]

You want the drum after he sump. Add a recirculating pump to the drum.

 

[mushumatt]

Yup, as mike said plumb it after the sump T'd off the return. Large amount of flow from the bottom of the tub towards the top to keep the dietrus from settling. But as someone else said the main concern would be the dietrus that will settle in the low flow areas of the tub.

 

[huseMN]

Sounds like the main concern is detritus. Excuse my ignorance but wouldn't a filter sock before the return water goes into the top of the drum of live rock catch the majority of it?

If not, would it work to have the overflow line enter the drum on the side as low as possible using some uniseals and then have the outflow of the drum be towards the top, which then flows down a couple feet into the "sump" like all of the traditional set ups? This might also help my concern of what happens with water levels when the return pump is shutoff.

Is the premise a good one or am I wasting my time? Obviously more water volume is a good thing and I would think you couldn't have too much live rock.

 

[mikeatjac]

I have done it with a sock and still Detritus built up when my tub was first in line. I build a stand for the rock and a button drain valve to remove the detritus once in a while. That being said I think it is a great idea. More water volume, more rock to process the water and great pod production.

 

[mikeatjac]

If you had a drum first in line I would go this something like this

Easy drain at the bottom.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Given how cheap a standard 75g tank is, and how infinitely more convenient it will be to service a wide, shallow container versus a deep, narrow one (the 55g barrel), I'd strongly suggest the 75g for your "rock reservoir".

One other reason I can think of is that in the event of a dire disaster (like a DT tank rupture), you'd have a 75g tank that's got plenty of cycled rock for filtration, and could be isolated and lighted for a reef lifeboat.

That reason alone would lead me to choose the 75g over the barrel.

 

[huseMN]

Thanks for all the input very helpful.......Here is the drum I had in mind, it is an old water mixing station I had put together many years ago. I have upgraded to larger plastic tanks. Thought I would try and repurpose at least one if not both to help expand the water volume and live rock capacity of my current build. I will probably not be purchasing a separate tank being I have these on hand. Sounds like plumbing them to receive water from a return line would be ideal. If I do such could I have the return going into the bottom of the tank via a uniseal that is already there. Then having it "overflow" out a different uniseal near the top and back into the sump?

Concern there would be enough sump capacity to contain the water volume when the return pump is shut off. Anything else I am missing?