Making a sump room

[aerius007]

Man is my wife gonna be P.O.'d!!! Since ive been in this hobby the only room I have to work with is the space in my cabinet under my 120dt. My laundry room is directly under my tank. Considering I have a washer and dryer in there, there really wasnt enough room for anything else. Well I got my hands on a stack washer/dryer and have a couple of options.

Option A.

Leave the stack washer/dryer in the in the laundry room and use the extra space for my sump and other things I will be adding on. So far my ro unit is mounted in the laundry room. The downside to this is that while I will have more room than under my dt I still wont have much. I am also worried about the water in the sump getting contaminated from the washer/dryer.

Is contamination a real concern? My wife understands how sensitive the water is and would never do anything silly like spraying chemicals near the sump. I'm more worried about fumes and stuff escaping from the dryer vent. Am I just being overly cautious?

Option B.

Put the stack washer/dryer in the utility room which is right next to the laundry room. I have a propane furnace and water heater in there now. It will be a tight fit and a pain in the arse to do anything (change furnace filters, pilot lights, etc).

The ceiling is unfinished in the utility room and I can clearly see the dryer wiring. I would have to cut the wire and retro fit an outlet. Considering the water, drain and dryer vent is in the next room I would have to cut a hole in the dry-wall to run those lines. I think once those lines are run I would put some type of foam (great stuff maybe) to seal off the salt.

I could tap into the hot/cold water in the utility down the road but I have no idea what I am doing in that regard and popping a hole in the drywall is easy enough for me. Maybe when I get some hours back at work I could pay a professional to do it, but now thats not an option.

Option C.

Leave the laundry room alone and put the sump in the utility room. It would be close to the furnace and water heater and I have heard horror stories about the salt rusting everything.


So far option B sounds like the best option. Any advice or opinions? And since Im not a plumber or electrician keep your fingers crossed that I dont do something terribly wrong. Getting a shock from the dryer line could be a VERY bad thing.

 

[johndawg]

Biggest issue I see with laundry room is dust from emptying the vent screen. Every laundry room I've had has been really dusty.

 

[serpentman]

I think you will be just fine housing the sump with the washer/dry (Option A) provided no chemicals are being sprayed or there is no potential for the washer to drip into the sump.

 

[aerius007]

Here is the progress, the washer and dryer are out of laudry room and have been relocated to the utility room. I plan on getting some tubing for the tank return and drain today or tomorrow. The display tank is upstairs directly above where the sump is located making it an easy run. I bought a pan world 150ps to run the system. The rubbermaid tub is sitting a couple feet out from the wall in this pic because I need re-route the dryer vent hose that is running along the floor.

The tank drain is going to run into two different chambers Im having built for the rubbermaid tub. One chamber will be a skimmer caddy, and the other will be a fuge. The chambers will basically be hanging into the sump, secured on each of the sumps outer rails. Here is a link that kind of shows the principle behind this idea. http://www.vintagetub.com/asp/product_detail.asp?item_no=GB0946C&utm_id=IDK11

From those chambers the water will drain through a couple bulkheads into filter socks at each of the long ends of the sump. I do plan on adding a frag tank, when I do that I will remove the tank drain from the skimmer chamber and route that into the frag tank, then drain the frag tank into the skimmer chamber. These two chambers will be easily removed from sump for cleaning an maintenance. I am also considering lining the floor of the sump with starboard so I can see into the sump better.
If you have any ideas or tips throw them at me.

 

[New Jer-Z]

Z,

I think I will Start modeling my tank to mirror yours lol...

I'm sure you will have this room together in no time.

 

[aerius007]

Thanks, bro.

Question for the guys with experience...

I'm plumbing my setup now, I have one return line going up to the tank, one emergency drain and one main drain. What is the most effective way to run the plumbing? I plan on draining the DT into my 20g long frag tank and then drain that into my skimmer chamber and from there into the sump. I could also tee off the drain so it goes mostly into the frag tank and partially into the refugium with the refugium draining into the sump.

Does that sound like the best route or should I feed some of those things from my return line or is basically 6 of one and a half dozen of the other? A friend suggested the main drain going into the frag tank so the corals get some food and that made sense to me. Let me know what you think.

 

[puffster]

My wife don't know it yet either, but one of the bathrooms is going to get a fish theamed makeover. After I finish framing in the 125. Thinking on the plumbing.

 

[aerius007]

Progress report...

Aside from making the outlet gfi, any tips or suggestions?

 

[aerius007]

Chiller question: I bought one and want to set it up in my sump room, will it work just as well being 14' under the tank and taking water to and from the sump or is that a bad idea?

Thanks

 

[aerius007]

Got some more stuff done and started to glue, also was able to pick up a chiller.

 

[Akronviper]

When you need more glue get the "Rain and Shine" its blue, thicker and no need to prime. i switched and loved it.
I would seal the stand holding 20 gal you gonna get a lot of moisture coming out of the stock tank.
Also I would cut in some unions before the valves just in case something gets stuck on a valve it will be easy to take out.

 

[aerius007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15299114#post15299114 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Akronviper
When you need more glue get the "Rain and Shine" its blue, thicker and no need to prime. i switched and loved it.
I would seal the stand holding 20 gal you gonna get a lot of moisture coming out of the stock tank.
Also I would cut in some unions before the valves just in case something gets stuck on a valve it will be easy to take out.

Good idea about sealing, the valves are threaded so I should be able to pop them off if I need to, if thats what you were talking about. If not let me know before its too late.

Just water tested and everything that is supposed to be dry is :-D

 

[BrunstuckyJoe]

Whats the smaller tubes for, Zach?

 

[aerius007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15300795#post15300795 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BrunstuckyJoe
Whats the smaller tubes for, Zach?

GFO, carbon, UV and the last is for my calc reactor. I used a threaded cap to add on if I need to in the future.

 

[BrunstuckyJoe]

I thought the last one would be perfect to dose Old English 800 while you work.

 

[aerius007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15300819#post15300819 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BrunstuckyJoe
I thought the last one would be perfect to dose Old English 800 while you work.

Good idea but the 3/4" valve is far too small for the flow I need.

 

[BrunstuckyJoe]

You could bump it to a big gate valve.

 

[aerius007]

Here are some pics of the progress. If anybody in my area is handy with electric let me know, my utility room with the breaker box is just on the other side of the drywall and I could use some more electric in this room. I could also use a hand or some ideas in regards to moisture control. I added a 10k 150w mh with 2 actinic pc's for the frag tank. The acrylic chambers in the pic will be dropped into the sump as soon as I make some water to fill them, the larger one is for the skimmer and the smaller will be for a fuge.

 

[Akronviper]

Looks good, Let me know if you need some help with the electric I'm no pro but can definatly help you add a new circuit. Wired a few houses they havnt burnt down yet

 

[aerius007]

For sure Barry, I could use some help. The box is only a few feet away from where I need some outlets to go but having never gotten inside of one I dont want my first attempt to be a solo mission. To be honest, last time I did something electrical I melted a pair of wire cutters and didnt have AC for a while, those orange wires all look the same to me :-/

And before you ask me BrunstuckyJoe, Old English was not a factor in the mentioned electrical mishap but was probably used to calm my nerves shortly there after.