Pumping saltwater 70-80ft to DT

[bsr2430]

Anyone have tips on pumping water from your garage to your display tank?
I’m trying to come up with a better plan on getting water from my brute trash cans to my tank.

It’s not a real problem, just want something easier to do.
I want to know what kind of tubing are reefers using and pumps for getting water that distance and up about five ft.
Have a good weekend Reefers!

 

[Mortie31]

Anyone have tips on pumping water from your garage to your display tank?
I’m trying to come up with a better plan on getting water from my brute trash cans to my tank.

It’s not a real problem, just want something easier to do.
I want to know what kind of tubing are reefers using and pumps for getting water that distance and up about five ft.
Have a good weekend Reefers!

I use a GHL maxi doser, but it will entirely depend on the volume you want to move, and how quickly. I have mine set up for AWC

 

[tdlawdo]

I use a varios 2. I use to do water changes with long 1” diameter tube from a water changer hose. Now I use the same pump but I set up a DOS to do AWC of 3 gallons every night. It pumps from a water closet in the middle of the house to the front living room where the tank is. I took it down through the crawl space under the house about 4 feet down and then back up through the floor and into the sump about 4 feet. So all rolled it is probably only net 2 feet height difference. I will say if I was still doing the hose system I might up the ante and switch to the varios 8. The 2 works but could use a little more pressure for that distance.

 

[Ross B Reef'n]

You could use a smaller pump if you could build a stand for the container to sit on. Meaning, if the container is higher than the tank itself, gravity will do most of the work.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

It depends on what your objective is. If it's getting a lot of water from your garage to your tank quickly such as when doing a (manual) water change, then a length of PVC tubing and a high-pressure sump pump made for saltwater use might be what you want, together with a remote switch at the tank to turn it on/off.

If you're setting up an auto water change system, then any of the mentioned dosing pumps will have sufficient head pressure to do the job.

 

[bsr2430]

My goal is to pump a ton of water across to the tank. I thought about dosing through the crawspace, but if I drilled a single hole in the floor, I would be shot. My wife would go crazy... my craw space is massive and would be an easy setup.

 

[User1]

Just assuming on my part here because I'm in a similar position and make/store water in my garage and use 5 gallon buckets to change water. It isn't fun. So I think there are a couple camps to be in and you will have to see which makes the most sense.

Water station / storage / mixing.

Depending on the location and height of the new water you can do a hybrid of what several suggested. Fresh water is on the bottom. Salt water is above. If higher than the sump in theory gravity will do the rest. So drain x amount of water from sump, grab hose from storage container, turn valve at water station, turn on other at end of hose so you have control, walk into house, place in sump, turn valve/open, and return water Gravity does it for you.

Faster or higher (head pressure) then you can do the same thing but add a pump. Too bad too because there was a crazy sale at BRS earlier in the week or last on some great sized pumps for a few bucks. Fire sale due to new model due out but those pumps everyone picked up because they worked well and not related to a design flaw.

Anyway if you are running long distance and can use height then gravity will do the work. Need more then add a pump. AWC is another option but as you already said there is a thing of how to get the lines from point A to B, etc. Something I'm looking at as well believe it or not. I'm lazy and would like to make the water change process as easy as possible but it has to be neat per my better half's rule.

If you haven't done so do a quick search here on mixing stations. I think there are some great examples that may help.

 

[blitzkragz]

I pump around that distance from mixing station in basement to qt tanks in my office closet. I use 3/4" pvc and a Pan World 100PX pump. Second pipe in second picture is a drain. The most crucial part of the install was to wait for wife to be out of town to drill holes in floor.

 

[JMM744]

Look at the Iwaki pumps.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Mag 12 pump with a 3/4” hose. Run the hose through the house for filling the tank. I would put an on off valve on the end of it. This has worked well for me in the past. Also the hose could work in reverse for draining the tank. Look at the python water change setup.

 

[GrouperStupor]

I ran mine through the attic. About 60ft. I used 1/2" inner diameter double wall vinyl and then insulated it. It's not very fast, even when using a mag 9.5. Almost too much head pressure for that pump...9 ft or so. I would guess it moves about 3/4 gallon per minute. Sounds like you'd like to go bigger. If I did it over, I'd get a mag 12 or 18 and get a plumber to run PEX line.

For control, I use a smart outlet and a 2 water sensors. One sensor turns it off, the other tells me if the sump gets too full (also good for letting me know if the main pump turns off). I also stuck a piece of plastic in the end of the hose so it makes a lot noise when filling my sump so I can keep tabs on it while in another room.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

Not that I can assuage your wife's fear of floor drilling, but depending on what type of floor that you have, patching an unneeded hole is pretty easy. Specifically, 1/4" holes in a floor sufficient to run RO type tubing can be patched with wooden plugs available from a company like Woodcraft and a flush-cut saw.

If you're not that handy, if you have a crawl space an alternative is to drill a hole(s) through the wall plate and a hole in the drywall. Then it's simply a matter of making a plastic cover plate and fishing the lines up through the hole(s) in the wall plate and the wall. "Blank" plastic cover plates are available from the home store for a dollar or two, and one simply needs to drill the appropriate hole in the plastic to accommodate the water change lines.

 

[bsr2430]

I’m very handy, but her complaint to this, it’s a brand new house

I will look into the drywall though. Sounds better for her sanity.

Our garage is below our master room, so there goes that option...

The reason why I like the crawl space, it’s been vapor sealed.
There’s also a sump pump down there too, but I could easily run a line to the pvc output for draining. Gravity would do everything. I even took the sump line and ran it to the ditch out back. I would never have to deal with the back water again.

Here’s my method now:
Mix everything in the garage.
Pull water from the display and fill five gallon buckets, pump everything into the sink. Then clean the sink for well.
Then fill five gallon buckets of fresh saltwater and pump it back in the tank.
Mean while I had to walk everything to the tank...
I thought about just bringing a brute trash can inside on wheels and just wheeling it to the tank, but that wife hates when I have a cluster going on...
Walk into our office though, and her crap is everywhere???? Thought the man was ahead of the house... that’s changed.

 

[Ross B Reef'n]

I’m very handy, but her complaint to this, it’s a brand new house

I will look into the drywall though. Sounds better for her sanity.

Our garage is below our master room, so there goes that option...

The reason why I like the crawl space, it’s been vapor sealed.
There’s also a sump pump down there too, but I could easily run a line to the pvc output for draining. Gravity would do everything. I even took the sump line and ran it to the ditch out back. I would never have to deal with the back water again.

Here’s my method now:
Mix everything in the garage.
Pull water from the display and fill five gallon buckets, pump everything into the sink. Then clean the sink for well.
Then fill five gallon buckets of fresh saltwater and pump it back in the tank.
Mean while I had to walk everything to the tank...
I thought about just bringing a brute trash can inside on wheels and just wheeling it to the tank, but that wife hates when I have a cluster going on...
Walk into our office though, and her crap is everywhere???? Thought the man was ahead of the house... that’s changed.

Go up through the floor inside of the wall and 90 out the wall

 

[Snoopy 67]

A fellow I know did it using a rectangular hole made a floor vent for heat or ac.
Easier to get multiple pipes into it.
Just put a plate over it when you move.