Help with basement sump/fuge

nurjrk

New member
I'm planning on moving my sump/fuge to the basement and would like to run my plans by you all and get some input.
Here's what I am thinking about. I plan on using the current sump/fuge that is in use now. I’ll cut down a few of the baffles to work with what I think I need, but will stay mostly the same. The main drain from the tank will dump into a Rubbermaid tub which will house the skimmer. I think I’ll use a plexi divider with some LR (dead) for the drain to dump into (yes or no on that?). I plan on putting two bulkheads, I’ve got a few I think are 1 or 1.5 inch, on the end with a 45 and a piece of pvc that drains down into the sump. The skimmer output will go over the edge of the tub and also drain into the sump. Basically it will go through the sump/fuge like it is now. I’d like to add two phos reactors, one with phosban and one with carbon, using one MJ 900 pump and tying the two together. I’ll be using the OR 3500, that’s now in use as my CL pump, for the return. I’m hoping to get at least 200 gph out of it. The stand will be 4’ tall so from pump to output will be about 8’.

For the CL I’ve got an Iwaki MD 40 XRT with Jap motor. I plan on elevating it as close to the bottom of the floor joists as possible to have as little head as possible. I also plan on plumbing the two returns in the euro brace so I’ll have the 4 returns on the CL.

The tank has been running as high as 82 deg in the summer, Candy likes the “fresh air” and not the air conditioning. I have had the doors on the canopy open for a few months now with a clip on fan running over the top of the tank. The basement is cooler, so I’m hoping it helps to keep the temp down around 78.

That’s about it, did I forget anything. I have started on the stand already and hope to get this done in the next few weeks. Candy is going to Buffalo for the weekend in a few weeks, so most of it will get done then.

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I going to try to use this on my main tank drain
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Thanks for your help and input.

Jeff
 
Looks good. I may have missed it but how are you feeding the skimmer? If its fed by gravity no issues. However, if it has a separate feed pump, you may have issues with the top tank draining too quick.

You should see a couple degree difference easily. In fact, my heaters kick on at night. Max temp as of lately has been 80.5 which could drop if I set my sump fan to kick on.
 
If the sump and some of the plumbing is in contact with the concrete basement floor and/or an uninsulated outside basement wall, you should see a temperature drop. One of the Akron members (anyone remember SWACOL?) put a coil of 3/4" plastic pipe in his sump. It diverted all of the whole house water through the coil, so any time anyone ran any water, he'd get some free cooling.
 
The skimmer has a Sendra 3500 pump. Not really following what you're saying about the top tank draining too quickly. Are you saying the skimmer will be sucking up all the water and won't be draining out the bulkheads? I quess I'm not catching it, could you elaborate please.

I'm hoping my temp will drop a few deg's. Right now I have the fan on as long as my light is on. I'd like to get a fan with a sensor, or maybe even a controller some day. All it takes is $$

Jeff
 
It looks like you have a gravity overflow from the rubbermaid to the sump/fuge. By putting the skimmer output into the fuge, I would think you would be actively pumping water out of the rubbermaid in addition to the gravity drain thus dropping its levels faster than it will refill.
 
One tip. Be sure to run your pipework through a wall and then into the basement though a hole in the sill plate, rather than punching a hole in the floor. It is a lot easier to patch drywall later if the tank gets moved, compared to patching a floor and replacing tile or carpet. You can cut out a darn big chunk of drywall to make this easy and run the pipes higher inside the wall if you want the tank more flush to the wall, or what's left of it. :D
 
So if I put the skimmer output in the rubbermaid that would be better? As far as the hole goes, I do plan on going throught the floor. The tank sits at an angle so it's not right up against the wall. And the carpet is the cheap contractor grade carpet and we would like to change it anyway, plus the kids are young and "sloppy" yet. If and when I move the tank we'll just change the carpet.

Jeff
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13176231#post13176231 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nurjrk
So if I put the skimmer output in the rubbermaid that would be better? As far as the hole goes, I do plan on going throught the floor. The tank sits at an angle so it's not right up against the wall. And the carpet is the cheap contractor grade carpet and we would like to change it anyway, plus the kids are young and "sloppy" yet. If and when I move the tank we'll just change the carpet.

Jeff

Yeah, I think you are better off putting the skimmer output in the same area.

As far as holes go, I went through the floor on my tank. The wall wasn't an option b/c its a perimeter wall. If its carpeted, you can plug the holes and carpet over down the road if necessary.
 
Got my setup in the basement and the tank stays very consistant in temp even in the winter. Like serpentman said my heaters even kick on when my lights go out. When i was using a submerged mag drive they hardly even did that. On another note when i switched from a MAG 12 to a Reeflo Tarpon I noticed about a 17 doller drop in my electric bill but that was at about 14 feet.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13176243#post13176243 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by serpentman
....
As far as holes go, I went through the floor on my tank. The wall wasn't an option b/c its a perimeter wall. If its carpeted, you can plug the holes and carpet over down the road if necessary.
Yes an outside insulated wall would not be good to cut into. If you do make a hole in a carpeted floor, only cut a long slice in the carpet, don't remove any of it. It will roll up against the pipes and if it is not too long that the tank stays in place, the carpet can be glued back down with little to no evidence it was ever sliced. Nail a spike up from the basement to mark the location accurately and so you know you won't be drilling down into any floor joists, heat ducts, water pipes, or electrical cables.
 
All you need to do is in your first rubbermaid with the skimmer put a hole in the side of it, and have the skimmer output back into the first rubbermaid, that way even if power goes off you will always have a constant water level in the tank. You will get some re-skimming going on if your water flow through the main tank is slow enough, which is only a benifit.

I use a tidepool for my skimmer, i just put a bulkhead in the side so the water level is always about 8 inches or so. this then drains into my main 'sump' (all this in my basement as well, which is awsome, since i plumbed a 72g into my system for the basement. water temp stays great all year round thanks to the 170 gallons in the basement, i do need a lot of heaters most of the time the temp down there is 70.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. As far as the skimmer goes, I have an ASM G2 with gate mod, at what depth do I need to keep it to get maximum results? That way I know where to put my bulkheads in the side of the rubbermaid tub.
Thanks,
Jeff
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13180667#post13180667 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nurjrk
Thanks for the tips guys. As far as the skimmer goes, I have an ASM G2 with gate mod, at what depth do I need to keep it to get maximum results? That way I know where to put my bulkheads in the side of the rubbermaid tub.
Thanks,
Jeff

I ran my old G4 at about 1/2 to 3/4 the way up the body. You can tune it to just about any depth short of the neck. The key is to make sure you keep the water level steady for the best results. If the water level goes up and down it can cause the skimmer to go nuts and overflow.
 
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