Basement sumps and new setup

[bustereq]

Hi everyone. First I want to say that this is a great forum...tons of good advice. I have been lurking here a month or so, but Im ready to start my project so I hope to get some advice.

I have in the past been very much into fish-only salt water tanks (with the exception of a small live rock tank I did). I set up my best tank- a 75- about 15 years ago with what was then a state of the art system. Due to a number of moves following my job around, about ten years ago I sold all my equipment and "retired" from tanks for a while. Now I am ready to start back up again and this time I am going to do a reef tank. Ive been doing some research and I can say things have changed quite a bit in the last 10 years.

Anyways, here's my situation- I have a space that will fit a 90g tank to be the center piece of my living room. My wife agrees to sinking this money only if I plumb the filter to my basement (the living room is on the first floor) because she is worried about the hardwood floors and also we want a very quiet tank. I dont have enough space to build a fish room so the basement is really my only viable option.

My goal is to set up a DIY system to keep costs down as much as possible. I have several questions:

1. Sump- SInce space isnt an issue here I was think a water trough type sump would be my most cost effective way to go. Whats a good water volume to shoot for (Ill be sure to leave enough room to handle tank and pipe overflow)

2. Skimmer- any good recommendations to handle this size system. Lower cost is better.

3. Mechanical filtration- Suggestions here?

4. Refugium- I want to have one of these, but I guess its not as straight forward with a trough sump. Can I use a 10 g tank to do this?

5. Lighting- I know this one is controversial. I want to do a mix of hard and soft corals. Because its in my living room, hanging metal halide balasts from the ceiling isnt an option. I have to work with one of those wood tank hoods. What is a decent lighting system for a 90g tank that can be done in a hood.

6. Sequence- whats the most effective order for stringing my components together. I have read some on this, but all the info I could find out there was pertaining to sequence in an acrylic all in one sump.

Sorry for all of these questions in one thread! If anyone has a setup similar to what I am describing can ya tell me your experiences and pictures would be great! Thanks in advance.

[bustereq]

Forgot an important one!

7. Pump- any suggestions on this one. I will be at about 14' vertical head.

[Geoff]

a big question will be: how much room will you have behind the tank? you will need to have a fair amount of plumbing behind the tank.

another question will be: do you want pumps in the display? you will need a lot of flow in the aquarium. you will not be able to get enough flow using a basement sump only. the higher the flow from the sump the louder the tank will become. a CLS system like mine is a good compromise, but drilling the tank for a CLS and using an in-line pump below in the stand is the best solution. in-line pumps only can be very quiet.

G~

[bustereq]

Hmmm, I was thinking just some powerheards but I checked out your website Geoff (awesome looking tank!) and I think this type of system might work for me.

The tank I am looking at is a second hand all glass that has been drilled for the overflow and return only. Is drilling the tank a DIY project or should it be done professionally?

Also, maybe I am missing something here, but I was figuring only two pipes behind the tank going down to the basement...what am I missing?

Pretty much a newb to reef tanks here!

[bustereq]

Ahh, NM Geoff. I see you were referring to the plumbing to the CLS behind the tank and not just the sump in/out lines. I wont have alot of clearance behind the tank, but it should be juuuuust enough.

[Geoff]

about 6 inches is all you need. the reason 6" so that you can get your hand around a union to loosen or tighten it.

my CLS's work well, but there are a couple of things you need to know first. they are noisy. mine are not real noisy becuuse i have so much back pressure on the pump from the eductors. without the eductors the pumps chatter and hum like crazy. if you want to use the eductors then i would not suggest a pump smaller than a mag 12, a mag 18 would be better. i may switch mine to a mag 24! it takes a lot of pressure to run an eductor. a mag 12 is bare minimum at best.

i have drilled 2 of my wifes tanks. it was pretty easy. i bought a 1-3/4" diamond tipped hole saw and used my cordless drill. i had one of those mini drill stands that i clamped to the tank so my arms would not get tired and drilled away. now whether or not this was cheaper, doubt it, but i had to do it with water still in the tank. the hole saw was around $100. most places charge around $10 a hole.

as for the pump from the basement, i would only run as much water through the sump as would go through your skimmer. the actual flow through the skimmer not what the pump is rated for. the main reason for this is to keep the noise down. the greater the flow the harder it is to keep i quiet. there as long as there is enough flow to keep the tank temp controlled you are fine. and not much is needed to do this.

G~

[4RD TEK]

bustereg, my sump is in the basement. My ballasts are located in the basement mounted to the floor joists, quiet and cool. I have a CLS on the display tank (160 gal), Geoff's correct, as you will need about 6" in the rear of the tank for this. As for my main tank drains & returns, they are in the stand/cabinet drilled through the floor, you can't see them.

My uneducated quess for a 90 gal tank is that you would need to turn approx 900 gallons per hour. when choosing a pump just look for a pump that will move your required amount of water at the head that you had calculated, actually IMO jump one size in pumps, you can throttle it back if nec. Keep in mind that every 90L is 1' of head, every 10' horizontal run is 1' of head. I can add more if neede, but @ work at the moment, no time.

[bustereq]

Well, if the CLS setup is fairly noisy, my wife will give me a hard time. I may just start with some powerheads and then switch em out to the CLS once she falls in love with the tank.

4RD tek- What type of sump are you using? Tub? Tank?

Do you guys recommend any constant mechanical filtration or just once and a while when a clean up is needed? How about carbon?

[4RD TEK]

bustereg, I'm using an oceansmotions device with a Dolphin3000 pump for the CLS. Both items are under the stand and very qiuet. As for the sump, it's a diy 48x20x20 with an area the tank drains into were I have my pump for my skimmer and chiller. It also incorporates a refugium section w/DSB/macroalgea and some critters. In the return section I have my heaters, so I can keep them out of the display. I like the idea of multiple heaters, so if one sticks on it will not overheat the tank.

Depending on your choice of lighting, you may not need a chiller. If a chiller is nec, it won't run quite as much because typically basements are 65 degrees. If you have a nice sum of your water down there, it tends to keep it cooler.

You can design your sump with a bubble trap do minimize the amount of microbubbles from your skimmer. You can also ad slots for eggcrate to place carbon and/or some kind of mechanical filtration device's there.

Water changes are a breeze, I have a utility sink that the old water drains into and a pump from a container with makeup water that gets pumped upto the display. PM me if you would like and I can send you photo's of my system.

[rubytuesday]

I have my sump in the basement as well. The main tank is a 180 and the sump is the largest miracle mud ecosystem, i think around 40-50 gallons. It is running 1 1/2 inch spa flex pvc on the drain and 1 inch on the return. I have an Iwaki 100 pump and that seems to do ok. I have also about 14' of head to pushand anything less than this Iwaki will probably not get the flow you need on a reef.

Good luck!!!