Fish room

saltysailor2329

New member
Ok so my wife told me that I needed to buy an RO unit since every time I went to the LFS for water I would always buy something else. So BRS was first on the list. I picked up their 5 stage and decided to get the dual reactor as well. Next determining where to install the RO unit...wife said she didn't want to see it so to the basement bar I went. Just so happens that my "keg" room would make a perfect fish room (directly underneath my 40g breeder). So it got me thinking about redoing my filtration/plumbing. So here is the question...would it be overkill to do a 75g stock tank sump? I thought about doing tank overflow to a 20g tall draining to a 20g long draining to 75g stock tank and then returning to tank. The 20 tall would have a filter sock and a banished damsel, the 20 long would be the refugium and then the 75 would hold the skimmer, heater, etc. I would also have the dual reactor drain into here as well. I would have LR in here too. Would like to have a frag area as well so which tank would be the most appropriate? My tank overflows at 600gph so I'm curious about size of return pump back up to the floor above.

Hope this all makes sense and thanks for the reponses in advance.
 
And to answer this question now...I can't do a larger DT right now because of lack of placement options. Trust me I would love to do a 180g or larger, but just can't. However thought that I could add some overall system size to give myself more stuff to do and could start acquiring stuff for when I do upgrade.
 
Ok so my wife told me that I needed to buy an RO unit since every time I went to the LFS for water I would always buy something else. So BRS was first on the list. I picked up their 5 stage and decided to get the dual reactor as well. Next determining where to install the RO unit...wife said she didn't want to see it so to the basement bar I went. Just so happens that my "keg" room would make a perfect fish room (directly underneath my 40g breeder). So it got me thinking about redoing my filtration/plumbing. So here is the question...would it be overkill to do a 75g stock tank sump? I thought about doing tank overflow to a 20g tall draining to a 20g long draining to 75g stock tank and then returning to tank. The 20 tall would have a filter sock and a banished damsel, the 20 long would be the refugium and then the 75 would hold the skimmer, heater, etc. I would also have the dual reactor drain into here as well. I would have LR in here too. Would like to have a frag area as well so which tank would be the most appropriate? My tank overflows at 600gph so I'm curious about size of return pump back up to the floor above.

Hope this all makes sense and thanks for the reponses in advance.

Since my set up seems to be in the same ball game, I can answer some of your questions.

1: Would it be overkill? Yes.

Whoever said overkill is bad? I LOVE overkill! :beer:

2: For the pump, how much head hight are we talking about?
 
TFT I love your additude about overkill...my thoughts as well. When you ask head height are you talking vertical rise only or total feet, horizontal and vertical, from return pump to tank? If you are talking vertical rise, then it is roughly 14', but if you are talking total then we are looking at 24'.
 
I think its a good idea, I would suggest to switch the skimmer and fuge around so that you are not skimming out all the goodies your fuge provides for the tank. Look into the pan world Posiden pumps or reeflo's
 
Yes, it would be overkill, but nobody is saying that is bad. More water volume will mean a more stable system, especially if you add extra LR and a refugium. Your filtration will definitely improve.

Put your frags in whichever tank/sump is most convenient to you for 1) providing adequate lighting, and 2) messing with the frags. I don't think there's a wrong answer for where to put it.

I'm not sure you need all three containers though. It seems a little wasteful to have your 20T tank be only for filter socks and the damsel. Could you put these items somewhere else? How about putting both into the frag tank?
 
I think its a good idea, I would suggest to switch the skimmer and fuge around so that you are not skimming out all the goodies your fuge provides for the tank. Look into the pan world Posiden pumps or reeflo's

Yeah that makes complete sense to switch around the fuge and skimmer. Found the Pan World pumps, but having difficulty reading the spec sheets on their website.
 
Yes, it would be overkill, but nobody is saying that is bad. More water volume will mean a more stable system, especially if you add extra LR and a refugium. Your filtration will definitely improve.

Put your frags in whichever tank/sump is most convenient to you for 1) providing adequate lighting, and 2) messing with the frags. I don't think there's a wrong answer for where to put it.

I'm not sure you need all three containers though. It seems a little wasteful to have your 20T tank be only for filter socks and the damsel. Could you put these items somewhere else? How about putting both into the frag tank?

Sounds like the frag tank would best be placed in the 75g stock tank for ease of use to me. Any ideas out there for separating the stock tank into a couple of different areas? (LR, frag area, etc.)

I could definitely put the filter socks and damsel elsewhere. If I only did two tanks, then I could put the filter sock and skimmer in the 20L tank and the damsel in the 75g stock tank.
 
Just curious....but why the damsel? are you just looking to get him out of the DT or do you feel it will help the system?
 
Just curious....but why the damsel? are you just looking to get him out of the DT or do you feel it will help the system?

Damsel because he is a complete jerk. He has been banished from from my 34g to my 54g to my 40g and now to the 20g. So he is in his own tank at this point, but thought if I do this setup that I could just include him in it to get him out of the QT.
 
Any ideas out there for separating the stock tank into a couple of different areas? (LR, frag area, etc.)

contact a local glass shop and have some peices cut and silicone them inside the tank to divide it.

Edit: NM i didnt relise it was a stock tank
 
Yeah you called it...stock tank. I've read that no one has really been able to find adhesive that will adhere to the stock tank.

Any thoughts on the dolphin pumps? Spoke with them on the phone today and was guided towards a pump that will give me 3,000 gph with my head loss. Seems like too much but couldn't drop down to the next pump because failure is right at my 14' vertical rise.
 
I have a 90g display and a 150 gal stock tank in the basement, so not overkill at all. I went with the panworld pump and I am pretty happy with it. As for Dolphin Pumps, they are decent pumps, but I have found that the impellers and the seals inside need to be replaced more often. You can mitigate that buy having them put the better seals in before they ship the pump.

One way you can minimize the flow is instead of having that 20 gal filter sock tank, Tee or (Y) fitting off of your return and have that flow to the 20 gal frag tank and drain that back into your 75 gal sump. It will be easier to light and generally just work on that way. Also make sure you are runnung gate valves so you can dial in the flow easier.
 
EDIT: I would recommend a ReeFlo Marlin UNO Pump, 2222 GPH.

Does 1928 GPH at 15' vertical head.

TFT, that pump looks good and is about $70 - $175 cheaper than the Dolphin I was looking at depending on the seals I went with on the Dolphin. Do you have any direct experience with the ReeFlo pumps?
 
I have a 90g display and a 150 gal stock tank in the basement, so not overkill at all. I went with the panworld pump and I am pretty happy with it. As for Dolphin Pumps, they are decent pumps, but I have found that the impellers and the seals inside need to be replaced more often. You can mitigate that buy having them put the better seals in before they ship the pump.

One way you can minimize the flow is instead of having that 20 gal filter sock tank, Tee or (Y) fitting off of your return and have that flow to the 20 gal frag tank and drain that back into your 75 gal sump. It will be easier to light and generally just work on that way. Also make sure you are runnung gate valves so you can dial in the flow easier.

Which panworld pump are you running? Yeah I noticed that I would have to "upgrade" to the better seals...for more money as well.

Could you explain your second paragraph a bit more, I'm having a hard time visualizing what you are saying.
 
I run a Panworld 150ps, because of the 28ft head height ( I am running about 15 ft head height to my display). I figured it would be a little too much flow, so I split the return line and added two gate valves. I have most of the flow running to the display tank, and the other line runs into my frag tank and then back into the sump. That way I have the right amount of flow in the display without restricting the return pump as much. I also get the benifit of flow in the frag tank and that drains back into the refugium for another chance at removing nitrates.
 
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