Water changes dilemma !!!1

[reefer4eva]

Hey everyone,

I plan to get a 210 reef within next year. Now here is the problem, My fish room will be in the basement and the tank will be on the main floor. Also, the RO/DI / Saltwater mixing storage container will be in the fish room (which will be in the basement). So, what are some ways i could do the water changes as fast as possible and without spilling the least amount of drops on my hardwood flooring. How can i get a big amount of water up to the main floor ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[tattooreef]

i would personally add a sump in the basement and do my water changes from there yes you will have to have a large pump for this but at least you wont get water on your floors where the display will be. also you will cut back on the humidity in your display area and almost all of the noise from water exchange will be contained to the basement

 

[reefer4eva]

I thought about that but I dont think want to have to drill through the floor. Thanks for the suggestion though =)

 

[tattooreef]

bring the plumbing up through existing hole where your current plumbing or your heating and air ducts are and then out of the wall, it would look cleaner that way anyway

 

[reefer4eva]

oooooh theres an ideaaaa !!!!=) But the only thing i dont like about doing it this way is if im doing a water change downstairs in the sump n my display overflows (rare but could happen). Good point though ill look in to that. Thanks.

 

[purebullet417]

that cant realyl happen. just shut the return pump off. drain the amount you want then fill it back up to the same spot and turn the pump back on. iv never heard of a display overflowing unless you put more water in then you sarted with

 

[reefer4eva]

yea thats true. If i do get it set up this way ill prbly shut the return pump off first then. But when taking water from the sump and putting in new water, how do you clean all the crap in the crushed corals? Stir it once in a while ? Thanks.

 

[purebullet417]

if your talking about crushed coral as substrate. id get ride of it asap. use live sand if you can. no more getting the crap off it

 

[reefer4eva]

Good tipp !!! Thanks for the info purebullet

 

[mflamb]

Drain a certain amount (based on barrel size) from sump. Pump that amount back up to it.

 

[adambaron]

Another point is that if you have the sump in the basement it would make it a lot easier to add equipement and work down there. I hate having to crawl under my tank in the little space available anytime i want to do anything.

 

[reefer4eva]

haha very true. Thats a pretty system mflamb. Thanks for the info everyone. What if the amount of water in the sump isnt w.e percent you want to water change.

 

[purebullet417]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10454012#post10454012 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by adambaron
Another point is that if you have the sump in the basement it would make it a lot easier to add equipement and work down there. I hate having to crawl under my tank in the little space available anytime i want to do anything.

ditto :thumbsup:

 

[chrismhaase]

Mike's system(mflamb) is awesome. You should check his red house link. Great tank and great info in there. He is in my reef club and is a great reference for many questions I have.

I agree with everyone else, use live sand and use the sump with the power off to do water changes. This is what I do.

I live in FL like Mike and we do not have the luxury of basements so we have to get creative. This is what I did. I have a 2 story house, so I backed my 90 up against the stairwell and used the storage area as my fishroom. Here are some pictures.

This is where the tank is in the living room and you can see how it goes against the stairs.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t296/chrismhaase/newprogress013.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

And here is my fishroom...
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t296/chrismhaase/newprogress031.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
This is alot smaller that a basement but the idea still applies.

Now I have lots of room underneath my tank.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t296/chrismhaase/newprogress018.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t296/chrismhaase/newprogress019.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

Good luck.

 

[reefer4eva]

Wow nice system man. Yea i hav cheked out his thread and man let me tell you. Craziest system i have ever seen. Good idea to put it in the storage space. Thanks for the info.