Would an outdoor sump/refugium be feasible in central florida

[BrettDS]

So I'm working on my plans for my in wall 220 and I still haven't found a good spot for the equipment. Worst case I'll try to get it all under the tank, but I really prefer to have a separate fish room. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a basement in Florida and the garage is out because there's no way to get the water to and from the garage without going through the slab and I'm not sure I want to put that much effort into it.

However, I do have a screened in porch that might work. Has anyone tried to set up an outdoor sump at all? I'm more worried about heat in the summer than cold in the winter as it doesn't get terribly cold here. I'd have to make sure that everything was waterproofed as rain occasionally blows into the porch if it's windy as it rains.

Here are some pictures...

Most of the tank will wind up here in the living room

But the tank will also be visible on the other side of that wall in the dining room. The tank will be inset in the wall so the back of the tank is flush with the dining room wall here

Here's a shot of the dining room. The tank will be installed on the wall to the left, and plumbing can be run through the wall in the center. The screened porch is behind the wall on the right

Finally, here is the porch. The window on the left is the dining room window, so the plumbing would come out of the wall just past that. There's not a lot of room between the door and the window, though, so I might prefer to run the plumbing over past the door and put the sump (I'm thinking maybe a 150G Rubbermaid stock tank) in the spot where the table is.

 

[moatdaddy]

so i love the rubbermaid. your issue is heat and will almost always be heat. Next is bugs. I open my garage in florida and a dozen bugs fly into my 300 g rubbermaid. They suicide into it. So if you can figure out how to keep temp under control and not have bugs in your sun room then go for it. I think too many will find ways in with that open water source. JMO

 

[moatdaddy]

can you put the rubbermaid into your garage? or is that no feasable

 

[BrettDS]

I would love to put it in the garage, but there is just no way to run the plumbing. The tank will go on the wall to the left and the garage is on the other side of the wall straight across. The front door is off to the right. There's no way to get water between the tank and the garage without going through the slab.

As far as bugs, they don't worry me too much. Decaying bugs might add a bit to the bioload of the tank, but probably nothing too significant... plus they would be free food if they make their way to the DT

 

[nuttyd]

Assuming you have roof trusses all the wall to the outside of porch, you could build a little closet out there from floor to ceiling, and bleed a little ac from the ceiling above. Simple tee off of a duct with 4" flex to grill. Would cool the closet and provide positive pressure to keep bugs out.

 

[BrettDS]

Assuming you have roof trusses all the wall to the outside of porch, you could build a little closet out there from floor to ceiling, and bleed a little ac from the ceiling above. Simple tee off of a duct with 4" flex to grill. Would cool the closet and provide positive pressure to keep bugs out.

That's not a bad plan, actually. The attic does extend out over the porch. In fact, as I think about it, I wonder about closing off the whole end of the porch where the table is and making a full fledged fish room.

I'll have to replace the screens with something solid. Maybe an aluminium panel like the bottom of the walls. Maybe even insulate it to keep out the heat.

Hmm, this has a lot of potential.

 

[Manfredo]

just curious, what are you planning on sitting the tank on? a wooden stand of some kind? you could build a steel stand and skin it with wood amd make the panels removable. you could then for all the equipment under the stand?

 

[BrettDS]

just curious, what are you planning on sitting the tank on? a wooden stand of some kind? you could build a steel stand and skin it with wood amd make the panels removable. you could then for all the equipment under the stand?

The tank will be on a wooden stand and I could put the equipment under it if I need to, but I'd really rather not. Moving it away from the tank will allow the tank to be quieter, will allow me to use a bigger sump and will provide better access for maintenance.

 

[BrettDS]

Would an outdoor sump/refugium be feasible in central florida

So I spent a lot of time thinking about this last night and I may have had a bit of a change of heart as I had a few different thoughts.

First, I realized that one of the reasons I've been so afraid to keep the equipment under the tank is that I've tried before and found things to be incredibly cramped. However, the two tanks I had before this were a 72G bow front and a regular 75G. There's going to be considerably more space under a 220G tank. Not only more floor space, but additional height as well since I'm planning for the bottom of the tank to be 40" from the floor and I think standard tank stands put the tank no more than 30" up.

Second, I realized that I could put my ATO and NSW reservoirs in the garage, since that water can be pumped up through the attic to the tank. That will allow me to have reservoirs that are as large as I want without worrying about taking up space under the tank.

Finally, I realized that I may have even more space available than just what's under the tank. I haven't really figured out what I'm going to do around the tank in the living room yet, but one thing I'm seriously considering is building a false wall 18" out from the current wall to make the front of the tank flush with the wall in the living room as well as the dining room. (This would go along the blue tape line on the floor in the picture above). If I did this, there would be a lot of dead space in that wall that could be used for additional equipment (Although I'd probably put a closet in the space on the left. This room has a pull out couch and is used as a guest room occasionally, so a closet could be helpful here)

So right now I'm trying to think about exactly what I would want under the tank and see if I can plan it out and make it work. So far this is my list...

As large of a sump as possible, although ideally something that could still be removed if necessary in case I want to change things in the future.

A skimmer of some sort, likely one that will fit inside the sump to save space.

A refugium of some sort, again as large as possible. This may just wind up being a section of a large sump, or possibly a separate tank to make it easier (or possible) to remove the sump and refugium from the stand.

Electronics - my apex and the controls for the pumps and such. Ideally I'd like these in a place sectioned off from the sump and other equipment to try to keep them away from the salt water. If I do the false wall, I'm thinking that maybe I could make a cabinet in the wall to the right of the tank for this.

A small frag tank. I don't do a lot of fragging, but I do enough that keeping the frags in my 75G dt was getting annoying, so I set up a 20 long frag tank. Something a bit bigger then 20G might be nice, but would also require a new tank purchase, so keeping the 20 long is probably an acceptable option as long as I can find space to put it.

I think with a little planning I'll be able to fit all that in without making things too cramped and as long as I'm careful to select quiet pumps and a quiet skimmer I shouldn't have the worry too much about noise.

It also has the advantage of not needing to build a new room or closet on the screened porch, which may be ugly. It means I don't need to worry about heat (or bugs) and I don't need to worry about using my expensive air conditioning to cool a poorly insulated room or closet.

 

[Manfredo]

One thought, if your sump isnlarge enough, perhaps you can use a sectionnof it and build it as a frag tank.

 

[BrettDS]

One thought, if your sump isnlarge enough, perhaps you can use a sectionnof it and build it as a frag tank.

Yeah, I had considered that, and it would definitely make plumbing easier, but I'm pretty sure that a sump that would be large enough to for a refugium and a frag tank would not be possible to remove from the stand later if necessary.

I dunno. Maybe I just need to give up on the potentially removable idea and build it into the stand. Or maybe I could do two tanks on either side of the center post... One for a sump and skimmer and the other as a frag tank/refugium. I'll keep thinking.

 

[Manfredo]

How about making the Frag area multi-use? maybe you can have a frag rack built that you can remove? that'll allow you to use the area fornother purposes down the road? sorry, just thinking how I'd do it if this were my build. If you get a separate frag tank, I'd recommendnplumbing it together with your main tanknif possible. that way you're only maintaining a single tank/parameters. you'd also be able to easible transfer between your frag tank and display tank with no worries about water parameters- just a thought

 

[Bono]

About 10 years ago I had a sump on my lanai and I housed it in a large Rubbermaid storage shed from Lowes. It was about 7x5 ft and 3 ft high so everyone assumed it had tools and pool toys. I used a 150 gallon tub from tractor supply and it worked great. I even installed a really small AC unit in the back wall and never had a problem. I wish had pictures but I never thought to take any.