Large Sump ?

[yardman]

hello all
I am setting up my sump now most plumming figured but I was womdering about the Sump size. My tank is a 38G and a 10G refugium onn the main floor, I have no AC and no chiller (yet if needed) here is the question the sump is to be in the basement (old farm house ,1870 ish, )it stays very cool down there max 75 in worst of summer but hot on main floor. Will it wor to have a 70 + Gal sump to keep the display stable? and if so should I have LR in sump because of extra water volume? The skimmer will be in the sump along with the heater, and possibly a 2nd reguim ether in or beside. I have all the room I need for any thing planned there because the better half doesn't like the basement(made me move washer and dryer upstairs)
I want to do it the best I can once and only have to upgade it as I add more or a bigger tank.
Auto top off and auto water change are alse set to be in the sump area.
Any input ,help ,is needed.
Thanks Craig

[rabeiler]

the bigger the sump the better. You may need extra heaters to keep the tank at the proper temp in the winter, but adding heaters is a lot easier than adding chillers, which tend to heat up the room they are in which compounds the cooling problem.

Ross

[Geoff]

the biggest problem you will need to worry about with a sump in the basement is the pump needed to get the water back up to the display. this is a fair amount of head pressure. not make matters worse the display is pretty small. most pumps that will push over 10' move a lot of water at that 10'. you need to think about how much flow you want in that tank. you can of course get a ball valve to control the flow, but you do not want to spend for a lot of extra power if you will not use it.

if the walls are cool, then you might want to move the sump as close to the walls as possible. this will help with cooling. the ground is a great heat sink. along these lines, get a glass tank for the sump instead of acrylic if you can. glass is a much better heat conductor. it will help with cooling.

G~