Basement Sump???

Haroalno · Feb 28, 2014

Hello! I am replacing my 13 year old freshwater tank and considering switching to a simple reef setup with some easier to keep fish and beginner's soft corals. This would be a 75 gallon RR tank. I am interested in possibly having the sump in the basement (tank is on the first floor). Leaving aside the hassle of setting up a basement sump, needing a more powerful (non submersible?) pump, and the extra energy needed to run the pump, is there any reason why I would NOT want a basement sump? Accessing the cabinet under my current tank is a hassle because I need to move a chair and bins of kids' stuff--but I don't need to do it that often for the freshwater filter. There wouldn't be that much of a horizontal run on any piping, tank is almost directly over where the sump would go. Thanks!

Reefing Madness · Feb 28, 2014

Not hard to set up a basement sump, no reason not to run one. There are plenty of submersible pumps you could use also. Just need the head loss number from ya, and we can hunt em down.

Haroalno · Feb 28, 2014

Thanks for the reply--what is head loss?

kschweer · Feb 28, 2014

Welcome! Simply put head loss is the loss in water volume from the pump due to needing to pump water up higher. For example with completely made up numbers "pump a" will at 0' head move 1000gph at 4' 700gph at 8' 400gph. Just about every pump manufacturer has charts for the head loss on their pumps. Of you give your approximate height I'm sure people on here will know of a few different options to fit your situation.

Reefing Madness · Mar 1, 2014

Head loss is the height in which the pump is pushing the water up. Consider your pump at 0" and the top of your tank in which it releases the water is X, thats the number you are looking for, in order to find out what pump your looking for. Including all the angles in the piping.
Lifegard Aquatics

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Haroalno · Mar 2, 2014

Ok thanks for the information! It would be about 9 or 10 feet, I can probably fiddle with the sump placement in the basement a little. So, now I need to figure out what gph I want. I have a sump, would the piping or tubing going from the tank to the basement need to be a different diamater from the standard tubing that would go with an under the tank sump?

Reefing Madness · Mar 2, 2014

No, you can still run 1" pipe to get 950gph gravity fed to the sump.

tidus10 · Mar 2, 2014

I know this removes the simple part but isn't it possible to do a basement pump with a single return and then do a closed loop to make up for the low return rate? (Just a general question)

Reefing Madness · Mar 2, 2014

If I understand you correctly, yea, closed loop pumps can be used for flow in the tank, just like powerheads.

ithk21620 · Mar 4, 2014

I have a basement sump and I love it. The only issues I have come across is during the summer the basement gets very humid from the extra water. I ended up building a "fish room" and have a bath fan to vent it when the humidity gets high.

Haroalno · Apr 27, 2014

So, I am finally getting back to my basement sump set up. The head loss will be about 11 feet. I have been looking at pumps and am considering the Eheim 1260. The pump measures 6.25 x 8.5 x 4.5. The chamber in the sump in which the pump will be placed is 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 14. So the pump would fit in the chamber, but should there be more clearance around the sides of the pump?

ruppertb · Apr 27, 2014

I have a basement sump love the extra room. I made a room out of black plastic drop cloth and this keeps my humidity down in the basement. I have 3 55s for my sump plus a 20pgal and will be adding a 55 and 75 for frag and fuge. Only downfalls or consdierations. You will need a larger end chamber for all the extra water in pipes to drain down into sump without overflowing. And with running leds my heaters are always on and in wisconsin we run our ac for 3 months and heat for about 7 months and our basement is still about 60 during winter so heaters run always.

Haroalno · Apr 28, 2014

ruppertb--do you mean if the power is cut to the pump, then the water in the lines would overflow the sump?

Reefinny · Apr 28, 2014

Take a look at my video on my build thread - page one is the link - I built one as well. I use a Reeflo external and LOVE IT! It is quite and energy efficient. I did notice a few posts up about the bathroom fan and venting it out and that is a great idea.

Reefinny · Apr 28, 2014

ruppertb said:
You will need a larger end chamber for all the extra water in pipes to drain down into sump without overflowing. .

I use a check valve in my return line and you wont have this issue - check valves are an important item in any tank set up IMO.

ReeferBob · Apr 28, 2014

I have the Eheim 1262 and it is a great pump. I have very little room on the sides. You do not need a lot of room it pumps from the end anyway. I would not rely on a check valve and actually would not have one in my tank. They are a great location for ditgreus to build up and frequently fail when needed. Design your sump properly and you will not have to worry about flooding. Your tank should be able to hold your return chamber volume and the sump should be able to hold whatever will drain out of the tank in case of pump failure. It is that simple. Remember Murphy's Law!