Sump location. Basement or under tank?

[wmilas]

I know this is the large tank thread but hear me out before hopping off the rails.

I'm in the processes of getting back into the hobby. I'm starting by putting a small 115 gal display tank in the family room on a wall perpendicular to where the tv is. It's a great way to get back into things and to get the kids/wife interested. Last time I had a reef tank was 15 years ago before I had a kids and was still dating the wife

The ultimate goal is to put a ~300 gal tank in in the basement where my study/office is going to be. Basement in unfinished currently. Behind the planned large tank downstairs is where the utility room/fish room would be. The injector pump, lower floor HVAC, and hot water heater are already in this corner of the basement so its a natural fit.

With this in mind I'm trying to figure out where I want my sump on the 115 to go. Putting it under the 115 would be the easiest to start, but I have no way to get fresh/salt water into it. I was planning on setting the ro/di and salt mixers up downstairs. So if I went under stand sump I'm still looking at punching a fresh and salt water line through the floor with a drain to ease water changings and top off.

If I put the sump downstairs right off the bat this lets me run a drain and return only up to the tank. I'm thinking of doing a 2 outlet closed loop behind the tank and that pump can remain in the stand.

The problem here is my basement has 8 feet to i-beam level, 10 feet to floor. I would to need to run 15 feet + 11 feet horizontally, plus 10+5 feet (approx) vertically. The hot water furnace, injector pump, alarm/ethernet cable, ac compressor pipes ect make the runs channelging so there would be a few 90/45 degree angles mixed in on the run. I'm worried the noise on this run might be extreme.

Water exchanges become much easier though, plus I can have a much larger sump, fuge, quar, tank, ect. I'm going to have to have a pretty beefy pump to run this though. However I'd only need aprox 600 gph since its only a 115.

Yes it has to be a 115. I'm limited in space with sitting, french doors, subwoofer (yea its big) ect. I onlly have a footprint of 48x16 inches to work with upstairs. I was going to go with a 30 inch high tank with an open top for a refined look. Either pendant or canopy light.

I'm leaning towards just building the fish room right away because all I'm really adding in expense is the pvc for the run, plus a large pump. The pumps really not that expensive but the power draw on the large once is quite steep.

Am I making a mistake? Should I just keep the 115 undertank?

Help

 

[golf4lyfe]

In my opinion you mine as well do it right the first time and just start the tank in the basement

 

[wmilas]

The sump or the tank? I can't start the tank straight off in the basement because its not finished and will probably be a few years till we finish it. I'd like to have the first tank in our living space so we can enjoy it till the big one goes in downstairs. Might even keep the 115 upstairs after the large one goes in downstairs.

 

[DaveWC]

A 48x16x30 tank is only 100g, maybe you meant 48x18. I'm in a sort of similar position though the construction is all done. But I've got a fishroom in my basement and my office is right next to it, rather then above it. So I've got a 67g tank in the wall of my office and the guts of it are in the fishroom. It works great. Now I'm starting a 225g tank in the office. I would have loved to have the same sump for both tanks, albeit a larger sump then I currently have. But that would mean pumping water to/from the 225g tank about 30 feet. It would be all horizontal but right through my office, along the wall I guess. That could be done but I wouldn't be very popular. Instead I'm building a tall stand (40" tall) so I can put everything underneath the tank. I have run a 1/4" line from my RO/DI unit to this area and a 1/2" PVC line along the outside wall of the office to this area. Both are inconspicuous enough to be ok and neither will be continuously pushing water. The 1/4" line will allow for automatic top-off through my kalk. The 1/2" line will tie into my holding tank in the fishroom for water changes.

What I'm getting at is that I did the simplest thing to get the tank going. Simplest in the short term & least problematic in the long run. I won't be worried about leaks or condensation on the 1/2" line since it will be only used once a week when I change water. And the 1/4" line is barely noticeable and very easy to make holes for. Actually both were really easy to put in. And neither requires extreme pumps.

 

[wmilas]

I'm sorry, I mean 48x18x31. Was going to have it custom made with low iron on the front and sides along with an overflow with 2 drains. Since its in my family room I'm trying to avoind any possible disasters. Have wood flooring in there.

Thanks for your input. Your third option of having a fishroom but not using the sump in teh fishroom and only water changes would avoind the messy plumbing. I'm REALLY worried about the noise that kind of run would make.

 

[DaveWC]

My tank will be 72x30x24 with starphire glass on the front & sides, center overflow on the back with 2 drains. It's being made by Aquarium Obsessed.