I'm coming back!! Basement Sump?

Feet4Fish · Dec 29, 2019

I love my custom acrylic tank. 3 ft front to back is great. Would have loved to do 4ft but couldn’t work in my space.

Reef Dude · Dec 29, 2019

Mr.Rocc said:
Are you paying for it? Lol I have never seen the value in custom tanks only because I have never needed a tank that was outside of the normal dimensions.

I’ve had several non-custom tanks over the last 25 years. Never had a major leak, but had a couple questionable seams, bowing glass, minor leaks, etc. I went custom last year simply for the fact that I can upgrade glass thickness etc. so that I can sleep at night by minimizing my risk with having glass thickness that is overkill for the tank size. But I am a safety professional, so I’d rather have a very high safety factor on my tank. If I wasn’t worried about a leak from non-custom tank, I wouldn’t go custom as I could make (and I have made) standard sized dimension tanks work.

ReefHomieJon · Dec 29, 2019

Mr.Rocc said:
Greeting everyone!
I have been reefing for the past 18 years. This past April I sold my Nuvo 40 that I had for the past 4 years. That tank had its ups and downs but I grew everything and anything! I ultimately didn't want to move a tank whenever I was going to move in the upcoming months so I had to let it go. Since then I got married and bought an amazing house that I finally have space for the next tank. However, as most of you know transporting water is by far the worst necessary part of the hobby. So, I want to put my sump directly below my display but in the basement. I was hoping some of you have done this and could educate me on how to do this properly. I look forward to reading all the information.

I have

Reef Dude · Dec 29, 2019

goodReefer125 said:
I have

Nice!

ReefHomieJon · Dec 29, 2019

I use a
Japanese iwaki return pump. They have a chart(it’s even on BRS) that shows which one you need based on how many feet of head pressure it has to overcome as well as the rate of turnover you desire

ReefHomieJon · Dec 29, 2019

And yes I need to do my build thread already lol. Tank upstairs been running now since July 28th....

Flippers4pups · Dec 29, 2019

I'm one of the basement sump cool kids..........

Build Thread - Flippers reef 125 gallon

The story of Flippers reef started long ago.......... In a time before a thing called "The Internet"existed. Land locked Missouri, mid western U.S.A. back in 1993. I had just got out of the army in 1992 and got busy starting a family. See, I had fresh water tanks off and on since I was very...

www.reef2reef.com

Everything from water changes via house drain, emergency drains to floor supports.......

Reef Dude · Dec 29, 2019

goodReefer125 said:
I use a
Japanese iwaki return pump. They have a chart(it’s even on BRS) that shows which one you need based on how many feet of head pressure it has to overcome as well as the rate of turnover you desire

I agree! I’ve tried a few different return pumps with my basement sump, and an Iwaki is what I landed on.

Feet4Fish · Dec 29, 2019

Iwaki are great pumps. I had the same one run my basement sump for 12 years. Still works great now but repurposed it. Now that I have a bigger system moved up to a Reeflo Tigershark.

Mr.Rocc · Dec 30, 2019

@Flippers4pups I remember reading your thread right when I was still working on my old tank. I appreciate the info.
@Feet4Fish @Reef Dude what made you guys go external pumps?

Reef Dude · Dec 30, 2019

Mr.Rocc said:
@Flippers4pups I remember reading your thread right when I was still working on my old tank. I appreciate the info.
@Feet4Fish @Reef Dude what made you guys go external pumps?

I went for an external pump because I needed more flow than an internal pump could provide given the head height from the basement to the first floor of my house. Generally, the external pumps are high pressure pumps that are much more capable of providing the water turnover rate that I need.

To be honest, for a basement sump, an external pump doesn’t use that much more electricity. When I had an internal return pump, I also had a separate pump being used for an ATS and my media reactors. Now, with the external pump, I can get the flow I need in my tank while also supplying my reactors and ATS with only one pump.

For what it’s worth, I’m running an Iwaki MD55RLT pump. I have it dialed back a little. It provides my tank with 500 gph turnover, it runs a carbon/gfo reactor, and it runs my ATS which consumes approximately 250 gph. Per my Apex, the pump is pulling 178 Watts.

fishface NJ · Dec 30, 2019

Welcome back!

Mr.Rocc · Dec 30, 2019

Reef Dude said:
I went for an external pump because I needed more flow than an internal pump could provide given the head height from the basement to the first floor of my house. Generally, the external pumps are high pressure pumps that are much more capable of providing the water turnover rate that I need.

To be honest, for a basement sump, an external pump doesn’t use that much more electricity. When I had an internal return pump, I also had a separate pump being used for an ATS and my media reactors. Now, with the external pump, I can get the flow I need in my tank while also supplying my reactors and ATS with only one pump.

For what it’s worth, I’m running an Iwaki MD55RLT pump. I have it dialed back a little. It provides my tank with 500 gph turnover, it runs a carbon/gfo reactor, and it runs my ATS which consumes approximately 250 gph. Per my Apex, the pump is pulling 178 Watts.

Got ya thanks for the info!!

cmaxwell39 · Dec 30, 2019

I love me a basement sump. One of the biggest advantages that I see is that you can use whatever size/style container you want to to make your sump out of. You are not limited to the space in the stand under your tank. Also, being able to elevate the sump so that you can walk up to it and service equipment is a game changer. If it is possible I would go for a basement sump 100% of the time.

Flippers4pups · Dec 30, 2019

Mr.Rocc said:
Got ya thanks for the info!!

External pressure rated pumps. It must be a pressure rated pump, even if a pump says it can pump up to, say 13', that 13 feet would be a trickle.

Pressure rated pumps are designed to push that vertical head pressure and not fail. Most are AC such as iwaki, blueline, panworld...... I run a panworld 150PS external on my system. Just enough extra pressure to run a manifold off it. Should last ten+ years or more. It's designed by the same engineer that designed the Iwaki.

ReefHomieJon · Dec 31, 2019

Reef Dude said:
I went for an external pump because I needed more flow than an internal pump could provide given the head height from the basement to the first floor of my house. Generally, the external pumps are high pressure pumps that are much more capable of providing the water turnover rate that I need.

To be honest, for a basement sump, an external pump doesn’t use that much more electricity. When I had an internal return pump, I also had a separate pump being used for an ATS and my media reactors. Now, with the external pump, I can get the flow I need in my tank while also supplying my reactors and ATS with only one pump.

For what it’s worth, I’m running an Iwaki MD55RLT pump. I have it dialed back a little. It provides my tank with 500 gph turnover, it runs a carbon/gfo reactor, and it runs my ATS which consumes approximately 250 gph. Per my Apex, the pump is pulling 178 Watts.

I have the same iwaki md55rlt. Good pump

ReefHomieJon · Dec 31, 2019

cmaxwell39 said:
I love me a basement sump. One of the biggest advantages that I see is that you can use whatever size/style container you want to to make your sump out of. You are not limited to the space in the stand under your tank. Also, being able to elevate the sump so that you can walk up to it and service equipment is a game changer. If it is possible I would go for a basement sump 100% of the time.

Yup. I have a 100ga. Sump on a 125 DT. Maintaining tank stability is much easier with a sump that matches or almost matches the display tank

ReefHomieJon · Dec 31, 2019

Flippers4pups said:
External pressure rated pumps. It must be a pressure rated pump, even if a pump says it can pump up to, say 13', that 13 feet would be a trickle.

Pressure rated pumps are designed to push that vertical head pressure and not fail. Most are AC such as iwaki, blueline, panworld...... I run a panworld 150PS external on my system. Just enough extra pressure to run a manifold off it. Should last ten+ years or more. It's designed by the same engineer that designed the Iwaki.

It was the iwaki engineers partner who started pan world but I heard the Japanese iwaki pump is the most quiet and longest lasting out the the pan world, American iwaki and Japanese iwaki.

ca1ore · Dec 31, 2019

Mr.Rocc said:
I have read many people having to run exhaust fans in the summer because of the humidity. Have you ran into this issue?

Managing humidity certainly can be an issue. Depends a lot where you live, how much water volume you have and whether you have AC in the basement. I live in the northeast and have to run a dehumidifier during the hot summer months. When it’s cooler out, an exhaust fan suffices.

A basement sump usually means a pressure rated pump. Very few DC are designed for pressure, and those that are generally command silly prices. Not all external AC pumps are designed for pressure. PanWorld make models that are also flow rated. Whether you need a pressure rated pump depends on tank size and required net flow. I’ve used both iwaki (got 20 years out of it) and various PanWorld/Blueline (some exceeding 10 years) and both are excellent. I’ve not seen any longevity data to suggest one is longer lived than the other ....