Basement Sump Project

[pgordemer]

Although I am new to "reefing", I have been running FOWLR tanks for years, so from a "hardware" point of view I am pretty confortable with equipmnent. I started a project to move my current sump for my display 90 to the basement. After reading many comments in here and seeing the fantastic post from Phyl and John about basement tie in, it gave me a reason to think instead of MOVE it down there, Build NEW down there. Hence the project began.

This was actually completed about 4 months ago, I just never got around to posting pictures. Before I start, I personally want to thank RICH T, who with me being only a NJRC member for less than 2 weeks invited me down to his house and drilled my breeder tank for me. Phyl and John for the excellant idea of the manifold and to a whole round of people on the best way to go through the stand bottom and floor.

The sump is a 40 gallon breeder sitting on a metal stand. It is drilled on the left wide with a 1 1/2" bulkhead (thanks Rich T). All PVC is 1 1/2" and is expanded or reduced as need as close to the source/destination as possible. 1/4" glass cut from a local glass shop divides the sump into 3 sections, with the right section being the water in/skimmer section, middle being mini refuge with cheato and live rock and the last compartment (left side), going to back to the tank and housing the heaters and probes.

Since I am going back 14' to the tank, the return pump is a MAK 4. The resulting flow back to the tank is around 500 GPM. (1190 @ 0') It is placed on the floor from the sump on purpose so the pump always as water in it and pressure to make sure it restarts in a power failure. The pump is seperated by valves and unions and goes to a manifold were some gets directed to a UV and back to the tank. Other connections are used for sump draining, waste water removal, and redirection back to the sump for overflow if needed.

The water in from the RR tank comes straight down from the floor upstairs and into a 7" nylon 100 micron sock. A Y branch in the piping is open at the top to let air into the line. This keeps the water in the pipes quiet and consistent flow. The open Y also give me a high place to put the water in line from the RODI Automatic topoff (JBJ ATO on a Aquacontroller). The skimmer is a AQUAC EV-180 with a Mag 7 feeding it.

On bottom is SLOW FLOW Fluval 205, which houses carbon and Phosban. The carbon is changed every 2 weeks and the Phosban every 4 weeks.

Comments and questions invited.

 

[boozeman]

sweeeeettt !!!! ;D

 

[Carlo]

Nice setup Phil. How long did it take you to do? How many trips to the hardware store getting everything you missed the last time you were there? It seems like no matter how many parts you have laying around there is always one adapter or fitting you don't have.

I'll say one thing. Your electrical work looks a lot better then mine. Very clean looking. I remember John asking me how mine looked a few months back and I told him "nice and tidy". Now it looks more like a ball of spaghetti with wires everywhere. Seems with every new piece of equipment things get worse. It's so bad these days I've got to "trace" the wire to know where something is plugged in. I guess one of these days I'll organize it again.

I'll add two comments and they are both minor. Not a big deal but the fan would be more effective if it were lower and off to the side where the UV is presently at. You get better evap when you are blowing directly across the water instead of down at it which of course allows you to lower temps faster and more efficiently. From the look of it your fans look like Honeywell fans. I use a couple of them myself and they are just about perfect for this type of application especially connected to the AquaController. If your like me the placement of the fan was more of an afterthought. Mines not exactly strategically placed either and I'd love to move it if I could figure out how.

The second comment would be the placement of the UV unit itself. This is an IF depending on what you are trying to achieve with the UV. I have a couple connected into the manifold myself but they aren't the only UVs in my system. It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish with them but if the goal isn't just to wack algae and you're looking to nuke parasites and other similar nasties then you wouldn't want the UV connected in the basement but directly on the tank itself. The reason is that parasites drop off the fish and lay on the rocks and substrate. They will hardly ever make it over the overflow and down into the sump area (not in any large numbers anyway). So the best UV setup for this type of eradication is to pull water down near the substrate and push the water back near the surface. Of course the flow is slower (check manual) for this but in a nutshell it's ran like a closed loop. Now if that isn't the objective and you simply want to use the UV to help get clearer water and slightly higher ORP levels then this is a perfect place to put it. I did get the feeling that you are going after parasites since you've got the flow meter in line but that doesn't really mean anything.

Speaking of flow meters. Have you had any problems with them clogging up at all?

Really nice job and I like the way you have the canister and especially the return pump lower then the sump. Smart move!

Carlo

 

[pgordemer]

Nice setup Phil. How long did it take you to do? How many trips to the hardware store getting everything you missed the last time you were there? It seems like no matter how many parts you have laying around there is always one adapter or fitting you don't have.

Physically I did this in about 2 weeks. I am a big planner and I do everything very slowly. Hell the conversion from FOWLR to Reef took me 6 months to move from the 55 to the 90, and I still only have 4 corals in it, and none of them glued as I still haven't made up my mind where they should stay.

I'll say one thing. Your electrical work looks a lot better then mine. Very clean looking.

I am not en electrician, but have always been very comfortable with wiring, even doing the final connection work in the Panel. I am one of those neat freak Class A type that has to have everything neat and tidy. Duct tape and wire tires are my friends.

I'll add two comments and they are both minor. Not a big deal but the fan would be more effective if it were lower and off to the side where the UV is presently at. You get better evap when you are blowing directly across the water instead of down at it which of course allows you to lower temps faster and more efficiently. From the look of it your fans look like Honeywell fans. I use a couple of them myself and they are just about perfect for this type of application especially connected to the AquaController. If your like me the placement of the fan was more of an afterthought. Mines not exactly strategically placed either and I'd love to move it if I could figure out how.

Actually I have moved that fan now 3 times and can see negligable differences. And in the case of blowing towards the end where ths skimmer is, drives the skimmer nuts (the air intake faces the wind from the fan). I haven't found a good way to mount it on the side of the tank lip, so its kind of stuck where it is.

There is enough evaporation that the humidity is 80% down there, and when I added the humdifier, that solved the problem, but generated so much heat, it wasn't cool enough to allow for more evaporation. Just put in another bathroom fan over the tank. That is still a work in progress. My electric bill last month was a killer with the humidifier.

The second comment would be the placement of the UV unit itself. This is an IF depending on what you are trying to achieve with the UV. I have a couple connected into the manifold myself but they aren't the only UVs in my system. It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish with them but if the goal isn't just to wack algae and you're looking to nuke parasites and other similar nasties then you wouldn't want the UV connected in the basement but directly on the tank itself.

This isn't strong enough to wak parasites. I am trying trying to keep algae down, and I keep the flow quiet slow, around 180 and it makes a HUGE difference with Algae. I can tell when its time to clean the unit.

Speaking of flow meters. Have you had any problems with them clogging up at all?

I take the top off and clean it out with a Q tip every month or they just jamb at the top of the case and are useless. That is why there are so many adapters and hose clamps, so if I have to I can remove/replace it without tearing down all the piping work.

Really nice job and I like the way you have the canister and especially the return pump lower then the sump. Smart move!

I have a LOT of experience with external pumps that didn't restart becuase they lost prime, or didn't turn. Having water pressure always on the pump, it can't loose prime. Though not a problem in this case, you have to add now another 3 or 4 feet of head to make up for it, but it is totally worth it. The only pump now I worry about not restarting is the Mag 7 on the skimmer, but I am looking at replacing that skimmer with a Bermuda Aquatics very soon with an Enheim 1262.

 

[pgordemer]

My neighbor next door tends lizards and had a cool solution to fan coolign across the top of the tank, that might be a good thing to try here.

Its a fan tray that mounts directly on the rim and just uses 12v PC fans. a 4 fan unit, or 2 of them could be interesting to try. They are cheap enough, so no loss if it didn't work.

I found them listed at dr foster and smith in the reptile section.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=17884&Ntt=fan&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

 

[Carlo]

Nice find Phil. I think I'm going to order both a 2 & 4 unit version to play with.

While I myself haven't had a problem with temps running high (got close to 2000 watts of heaters running even in the summer) I do help others with this kind of thing and they look ideal.

I've also been kicking around trying to make a swamp-cooler unit similar in nature to the outrageously priced (IMHO) Deltec Eco-Coolers. These fans especially the 4 up unit would be ideal for that purpose.

Carlo