Finishing Basement, need advice before closing the walls up

[Ocelaris]

Hello, it's been about 15 years since last coral reef tank. Fast forward through my 20s and into my 30s we have a nice house and space where I'd like to put a tank with most the bells and whistles that I missed out in my teens. We're finishing the basement ourselves, so I'm trying to think of all of the plumbing, electrical, control wire etc... that I need to have in place before the drywall goes up.

The best "spot" to watch the tank doesn't back up to a room, so I'm forced to split the "back of house" area and "front of house" stuff in two locations.

The big tank I have in mind is between two columns, facing the "rec room" area. I can fit a 60" tank, so I'm imagining a 190 gallon (DSA 190 is 60x27x27") with a sump below. The main tank will back up to a half wall, and be mostly exposed. The half wall will have some cabinets for my use, and it has water and a drain. I have an outlet above for future lighting, and a storage shelf for ballasts if necessary.

The Boiler room will be unfinished for the time being, but I have plenty of room for 55 gallon drums, RO/DI, a frag and QT tank etc... I'm hoping to do my ATO and water changes via peristaltic pump back to this room. So my question to the group is what would you run while the walls are open?

Main Tank:
2x20 amp circuits
water/drain
cat5 ethernet to internet

Boiler Room
1x20amp circuit (2nd circuit run but not in use)
cat5 ethernet to internet
water/drain

Linking rooms:
3x 1/4" poly tubing
5x 18/2 thermostat wire for relay/triggers etc...
cat5 cable

Picture Explanations:
first 3 pictures are of the main tank location, coming around it for perspective
last 2 pictures is the boiler room to be, where I'll be managing all the back of house stuff..

Just looking for ideas so when I start the build I don't smack myself for missing something. Really looking for out of box brainstorming. Thanks in advance!

excessive details:
I imagine the peristaltic pump removing water from the main tank, back to the frag tank, which drains to the QT tank (when not in use for QT, could be another frag tank), basically daisy chaining the 3 tanks + sump to create a larger volume. Skimmer, control would be mostly in the main tank, but I'm comfortable with relays, so any triggers etc... I'd like to have linked between the systems. I was going to use PEX to have a larger pipe between the systems, but realized brass fittings are a no-no, so not sure if I can get by with the 3x1/4" poly tubing, or should run something like a 2x 1" pvc (would be kind of hard to run, but now is the time to do it).

 

[wdyork]

As an electrician I will suggest running spares. Run a spare 20 Amp circuit and a couple spare cat 5s. No-one ever says "man I wish I didn't run those spares"
Also I recommend WR TR GFCIs aka weather resistant, tamper resistant gfis, gives a little extra protection when it comes to working with water and electricity. If you really wanna go over the top they make marine grade GFCIs which are used on boat docks and such. But that is way over kill in my opinion. Let me know if you have any questions on the electrical aspect. As far as everything else I am very new to the hobby and there are plenty of nice people that are more suited to answer those questions. Good luck and looking forward to seeing your progress

 

[mitchb]

Sounds like a lot of fun. It's hard to get a grasp of the space from your pictures. Is the tank set up as two sided viewing? And is the tank a level up from the boiler room. I can probably help you with more details. I have done two tanks with through wall pluming. I would run pvc in the wall if there is a reason it needs to be completly hidden, otherwise outside the wall is fine too. I envy you getting to build from scratch.

 

[Ocelaris]

Thanks, I'll probably run another 20 amp circuit to the boiler room just in case. As well as a gaggle of low voltage control stuff.

The Tank and the boiler room are all in the basement, but they're far enough apart they'll have to go up about 8 feet, and then back down.


The first picture with the two columns is looking straight on to the tank. The columns will probably be in the front left and right. It should be viewable from 3 sides except the back which we'll probably build a wall to hide some of the drain stuff.

I've got pipe for 3x 1/4" tubing and 2x 1/2" pex which I'll connect with plastic connections near the tank. I think the 2x 1/2" pex will suffice if I get a decent pump in the back of house area. I imagine only using the pex lines for fill/drain purposes, but they could be repurposed later if necessary. The problem is it's a very tight fit, so anything more than 1/2" isn't realistic. I just can't imagine using the pex between the space for regular plumbing because it'd have to equalize the water to the tanks in the back room vs. the front room, and siphon isn't realistic on a 25' run that goes up/down 8 feet (net 0 head).

Hopefully this terrible paint diagram will help explain better where the tank will go.

 

[mitchb]

Unless I am missing something all you need is a second pump from your sump to the tanks in the boiler room. With overflows on those tanks the water flows back to the sump just as it does from your main tank to the sump. Just make sure your sump is large enough and or use one way valves. I don't see any issues with equalization. Half inch pipe is fine for the flow up to the boiler room but I think the flow down should be larger. I assume the pex line can handle the pressure from the pump you will need to get the water pumped upstairs? You will also need an effective way to reduce bubbles in your sump from the two returns.