Basement Systems; Basement Challenges

[ihavecrabs]

I figured it would be good to start a thread where those of us with Basement systems or basement sumps can discuss challenges or opportunities.

What is everyone doing about humidity and heat loss?

What other issues do you face?

@KenO

 

[hdsoftail1065]

My tanks is still new, been cycling for almost 2 months. I haven't noticed any challenges yet. Temp stays constant the air is a little stuffy but I don't know if I can contribute it to the tank at this point.

 

[4FordFamily]

I bought a gigantic dehumidifier because in the absence of it my three basement tanks were destroying the metal in the basement with such high humidity!

It took care of the problem thank goodness!

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Challanges:
Plumbing it.
Running a dehumidifier or exhaust fan
Long cords for apex stuff
Convincing everyone that a basement dump is the best thing in the entire world.

Benfits:
Hands down the best way to run a system.. PERIOD.
Quiet display tank
Unlimited space to do things..want a 100 gallon fuge? ok..$100 rubbermaid tote...might as well have 2 of them.
Ability to run a REAL return pump. I'm talking a reeflo pump with a heavy duty baldor motor. This thing will run to the end of time.
Unlimited ability to have manifolds for reactors, frag tanks, sump cleaning circuits... name it.
Tons of space for everything..testing kits, sumps, frags, aquarium equipment, water mixing station.

Bottom line.. in the basement you have lots of space and freedom to build your own little fish room. A sanctuary from kids, wife, cell phone, etc. My living room is for the fish and corals. Everything else is in the basement. I can go down there and spill water and mess with things to my hearts content.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Humidity and temperatures will be your biggest challenge. On the Plus side- basements generally have outlets, water source and a drain.

 

[Breadman03]

Old house. The joists are lower than my head and the stone and mortar walls aren’t very shelf friendly.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Old house. The joists are lower than my head and the stone and mortar walls aren’t very shelf friendly.

go to IKEA and buy some shelving units and knee pads.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

I guess I should list another advantage of basement sumps... Metal Halide lights!!!

DT halides during the day and basement frag tank halides at night. My heaters typically operate about 4 hours a day. But I do have roughly 400 gallons in my system.

 

[CC13]

Like other have said, super quiet display tank and the ability to add and run more commercial equipment that might not be as asthetically pleasing but performs far better than smaller and quieter units.

 

[Heart of Dixie]

I have a basement sump (Lifereef) and although our winters are pretty mild it can get down to the low 20's to high teens at night. I bought a sheet of the pink insulation board from HD and using a razor knife made a simple cover that is held together with masking tape. The Lifereef skimmer has a 950 gph submersible pump that puts out 85 watts. The continuous heat from the pump combined with the insulation jacket works quite well. I do not have a humidity issue.
The benefits are numerous. Easy water changes with RO/DI plumbed to salt water mixing plumbed to the sump. No more schlepping 5 gallons buckets of water up and down stairs. The ATO system is tied in as well. The biggest benefit is the DT is totally silent.

 

[AlexG]

Humidity and temperature control are the biggest challenges that I faced with my system. I use multiple layers of protection against humidity which come down to containment, minimization, and mitigation. I utilize ventilation, a dehumidifier, tops on the sump tanks, and a negative pressure fish room with a plastic ceiling which all help to maintain humidity at an acceptable level. Temperature control is the other challenge. In the summer months I needed to open the fish room door during the day as long as it does not significantly increase humidity levels outside of the fish room. I have found the fall to be more challenging as the air conditioning is not running often so temps build up slightly in the fish room due to the lack of demand on the air conditioner. The system has only gotten up to just under 80 degrees as a high so I am not that concerned about temp but I am considering adding some additional air circulation into the fish room. I also can see the pH have a down swing on the days where the air conditioning is not running often in the house. Heating in the winter was a challenge during the design phase of my build until I figured out how to build a radiant heating system that uses my natural gas hot water heater rather than electric heating.
On the plus side of things the cool basement walls help to keep the system from overheating in the summer. My basement is not finished so I also have less risk of causing damage to my home if I were to have a spill or in my case a flood from the aquarium system. I figure that at a minimum a major flood event from the aquarium system would result in at least 400 gallons of water on the floor and if a display is involved then that water volume would be added to the amount of water that gets on the floor. Not needing floor supporting in the basement is also an advantage. My system in total weighs over 15,000 lbs and floor supporting for a system like mine on the main floor of a house would not be practical imo.

 

[Reef-junky]

Working on furnishings the basement and then two DTs will go down there.

 

[iced98lx]

I would say humidity is a concern, temperature for me has been a huge plus, it has meant no need for a chiller, I run heat year round. Our basement is heated/air conditioned and that helps the humidity. My biggest challenge is fresh air exchange, my pH is low and I'll end up running an external intake for the skimmer or putting in a mechanical air exchanger.

 

[speedstar]

All my tools were rusting, bad when silversmithing and lapidary are your other hobbies. I ended up power venting but should have done something much better for exchange.
Heating being in Michigan and that my sump area was not a finished area of the basement it got real cold. Place your sump onto of some insulation to keep it off the floor and if needed look into taping your hot water heated and doing a coil in the sump on a pump and controller to heat it.

 

[hatfielj]

I figured it would be good to start a thread where those of us with Basement systems or basement sumps can discuss challenges or opportunities.

What is everyone doing about humidity and heat loss?

What other issues do you face?

@KenO

My entire system is in the basement. I love having it down there because I can be as messy as I need to be without any worries. I also don't have to worry about a flood damaging my house. And my wife doesn't pay as much attention to it meaning I can get new frags and fish and she has no idea lol

I agree that the ideal system is a display upstairs in the main living space so you can see it and enjoy it and all the equipment and sump in the basement. Eliminates a lot of the risk of flooding too (assuming your display tank doesn't leak). The down side is pumping water upstairs requires a more robust, electricity hogging return pump.
The next house I have will have this sort of set up.

 

[jda]

Some of this depends on where you live. Yes, you have heat loss, but also cools better in warm climates... positive for some, detriment for others Yes, there is more humidity, but this can be good on the west or southwest where homes have humidifiers.

I have one in Colorado and my only real issue is with the return pump... just use a quality AC pump and forget about DC. I have used PanWorld, Iwaki, Laguna, Mag, Fluval, AmpMaster all with great success. I do get some evap, but our humidity in Colorado is about 20-30% most of the time, so you cannot even tell. My heaters run in August until about 2 hours after the MH come on and then they get a break for about 10 hours... cooling is an issue for me, even the summer, but probably a relief for other people.

When we were in the midwest, if the AC was not running, then I had to open the house and use the attic fan to keep the humidity down... this was not always good since the air quality is horrible in the midwest with pollen and other allergens... so we went from heat to AC and kept the house closed up a lot. I had chronic low pH, but it never hurt anything. I had to use a normal dehumidifier a bit too.

I love basement sumps where you can keep them off the floor for easy access and siphoning, open top sumps for taller equipment and can keep a lot of the noise out of the room with the tank. I can make a mess and keep it messy with no issues. It is easy for me to set up a quick and dirty satellite tank for an emergency and just use the same sump.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

I would say iwaki and reeflo are the best pumps I have run. My reeflo hammerhead is a BEAST. It looks like something straight off a commercial aquarium. 4500 GPH on a system with 12' of vertical run. that's gallons....not liters, it could drain a 75 gallon tank in one minute. lol

try that with a COR20 that costs $50 less

 

[CC13]

My reeflo hammerhead is a BEAST.

I agree and use the same pump. I have 3 sets of new seals on hand just in case, but the pump has been up and running for 24/7/365 for over a year now and not one issue.

 

[jda]

Be ready at about the 18-24 month mark. I have had half a dozen ReeFlo/Sequence pumps and they have NEVER lasted two years without needing seals or a motor catching on fire (this was not the Hammerhead model that did this). It is good that you have the seals already since they can go from weeping to hemorrhaging in a few days IME. I recommend that you change the seals as soon as you see any signs of salt creep.

 

[CC13]

or a motor catching on fire (this was not the Hammerhead model that did this).

Yours caught fire? That's pretty scary.

Mine has the new Baldor motor on it and there is a 5-years warranty from Reeflo on this motor.