Fish room help

[cane]

I am looking to build a fish room in my basement. The room will have a sump and a refugium for my DT upstairs. It will also house my water making station, QT's and everything else. How did you all that have a fish room decide where to put it? What were the determining factors you used? Help please as this will be my first fish room but not the first tank. I moved into a new house last month and have yet to set my tank up as I want to start out with a nice fresh system and setup.

[Der ABT]

First and foremost is ventilation....make sure you can vent the room somehow...

Other than. That just need to figure what works best for pumps....flow from the Dt etc....dont want alot of horizontal runs

 

If you can have a room with a floor drain jts an added plus.....I like having a sink near by as well

[DaveS]

I was thinking to say all the things Evan just did. If your tank is upstairs and you have a blank basement to work with, just make the room below the tank. Horizontal runs just increase the hassle.

Edited March 9, 2016 by DaveS

[Keraxis]

Ive seen people build a room around their sump area.  This keeps the moisture to a small area and the walls can be built as floor supports.  It also hides the mess.  

[AlanM]

Dave and Evan are right.  

 

I have a 12 foot horizontal run from my basement sump to the upstairs display tank.  It was heck to get a silent full siphon drain system tuned and running well.  Build the basement sump room as close to underneath the tank as you can.

 

I love not having the sump and equipment under the tank.  I can enjoy the tank with no equipment noise.  I do pay a lot of money running a 300W Reeflo return pump 24x7x365, though.  

 

Also think about the position and orientation of the tank upstairs.  If the long axis of the tank is perpendicular to the joists that is better for holding the load.  Mine is parallel to the joists, so not ideal.  If it is also closer to something load bearing, like the central steel beam of the house or one of the exterior walls, that's also better.  Even if it is both of those things the floor may still bounce a bit more than you like and you may want to stiffen from underneath by adding a column or gluing and screwing plywood into the underneath of the joists to make box beams or sistering in some extra joists or all of those things.

 

Oh, and I discovered an easy way to have a nice basement sump was to keep it up off the floor.  That way you can get a good siphon from the sump into a bucket or into the drain.  I used some cheap steel shelves from Lowes that have exactly the footprint of a 40 breeder, 36x18.  The tank fits right in to the shelves without even needing any wood under it.  It would not look nice upstairs, but it sure was convenient downstairs.

[Rob A]

Also, location of power outlets and distance to panel in case you need to run more circuits.

[Anemone]

Tagging along as I'm putting one of these together as well.

One thought is to have a sump under the tank, and plumb that via overflow to the remote basement sump. Advantages being that the flow rate between the upstairs sump and basement sump just needs to be high enough to maintain consistent water parameters, so you can save the cost and fine tuning of getting a 300 Watt return to flow just right. The under tank sump functions as a settling tank and place for a mechanical filter. Return water from the basement has whatever additional treatments you want. This only works if you are of a school of thought that allows for slower flow through the remote sump and refugium. You've got to think and design carefully through more possible failure scenarios (any combination of clogged overflows or failing pumps) but this can be worked out.

Keeping the sump on a shelf in the basement will also save pumping costs since you will have less head to overcome.

If you are lucky enough for the geometry this to work, consider putting in a fat (at least 3 inches) PVC pipe to encase all your aquarium plumbing. That way if something leaks it is contained and drips out at the end (in the basement). Or if you want to add or replace anything, just pull it through. This also lets you ensure there is a downward slope along any horizontal runs. Hard to fit this into a wall, easier straight down. In my case there was room under the main staircase which shares a wall with the tank, so I lucked out.

And finally, definitely look into the structural support as others said. Safety first.

[DaveS]

Ive seen people build a room around their sump area.  This keeps the moisture to a small area and the walls can be built as floor supports.  It also hides the mess.  

 

I'm not sure I follow this.  If you build a room around the sump, you still need think you need to deal with the humidity.  Otherwise you are just keeping the moisture in the smaller room for the mold to develop. 

 

If you plan to run a dehumidifier or vent, I would agree that confining the humidity to a smaller room would control things better.  I just would hate to see someone build an enclosed room and call it a day.

[Anemone]

Dehumidifier plumbed to the drain seems like a good way to go, if you've got a good spot for a drain. (If not things will be tough, and not just because of humidity.)

[AlanM]

Put it by the return ducts for your ac and the return will pull out the humidity. Assuming the basement is conditioned. 

[cane]

Wow, some great information and ideas. The fish room unfortunately will not be under the tank. But I do have a support beam that will be directly under it. Soooo who can I pay a small fee to help me design and figure things out lol. I see I can make many mistakes and do a few small things to make my life easy. But again thanks for all the help

[DaveS]

Where are you located?

[cane]

Can any of you guys post pics of your setup

[cane]

Where are you located?

Upper Marlboro, MD 20772

[Der ABT]

What size is the Dt and sump

What size is the room you have for the fish room or are you gonna make it

 

Check out Google sketch and try to come up with some design ideas...helped me alot

 

Ex in my 156 thread here...just for the Google sketch example

http://wamas.org/forums/topic/53346-der-abt-156g-build/?fromsearch=1

 

 

Will give everyone a better idea of what kinda space we are talking...sump size etc

Dave has a very nice room set up as well...

 

Things to think of.....

Source water go Rodi

Drain etc

Humidity. ..suggest a fan/exhaust vs ac

Height of everything.....example of setting up a qt in the same room...use water change water from main into qt....

 

Room to work aND access everything

Water bariers for any finished room I'm case of a spill

Storage for supplies to keep family happy

Fridgd/freezer for fish food and beer...or scotch

You can work around the horizontal runs...may be a pain but it can be done

 

The more info in what you have want the more free advice you can get....though paying someone like zygote or another maintenance Co (sorry dont know many and dont mean to obly indorse rob) be a good idea too

[cane]

The DT will be 240 gal. Sump will be around 50 gal with a 50 gal refugium.

Plan to have this also plumbed into 2 other tanks that will be in the fish room. Also will have a QT in the room for fish and one for corals. Water making station will of course will be in this room. I know I can not plumb the fish QT to the main system but can I connect the coral QT?

Do you guys prefer foam stocking tanks or glass tanks for your sumps and refugium?

 

Room one is 16x13 with the main drain in it for the house. Water access is easy from either room. This room also has a small window.

 

Room two is 12x12 no window and I can run the drain around the wall to the other room. I would also have to run a vent to the other room to get outside.

 

I will try and post pics

[AlanM]

I vote for room one unless it is farther from the display tank upstairs.  How far from display tank location to room one?

 

Stock tank sump is probably fine, but up to 40 gallons at least glass tanks are cheaper if you get them at the dollar a gallon sale.  

 

I wouldn't plumb coral or fish QT into the main system unless you're just running water through them and into the drain.  Like your water change water goes into the fish and coral QT after coming from display and then the water changes from there goes down the drain.

[cane]

Room one and water access room.

Edited March 11, 2016 by cane

[cane]

Room two

[cane]

Both rooms connect algae grower and are the same distance from the DT. The only difference is that room one would require some extra bends to get around the steel beam that is between the rooms. Room 2 is just a little easier and requires less bends or turns.

Edited March 11, 2016 by cane

[DaveS]

That window in room one would make for a nice way to exhaust moisture. I think you will want to finish the room and put insulation against the foundation. Otherwise in the summer you will likely get condensation on the block wall.

[cane]

Yes definitely going to finish room and I was thinking as I write in this post that I will use room 2 and run a vent to that window and install a fan like you said to vent the room. This is all so helpful.

[DaveS]

Are both of the water heaters electric? What about the furnace, gas or electric? If you have gas, you will have additional considerations to ensure CO doesn't get pulled into the living space.

[dave w]

Cane, here are some more thoughts for what it's worth.  

 

You don't need to finish the room as much as you might think.  In a humid environment you can't do much better than the block wall you already have.  Most other finishes will rot.  You could put several coats of high gloss paint on the block wall and leave it like that.  

 

Otherwise, with that much space you could do just about anything.  I don't understand your issue with the steel beam.  Do you want to drill a hole in the middle and run a pipe through it?  That can actually be done, although most I-beams are pretty thick and you'd need to drill a small pilot hole and then cut it with oxy-acetylene.  But I'm probably misunderstanding your intent.  It is most likely that you can plumb under or over the beam and not need to go through it.

 

Another thought, you could put your sump high on the shelves and take 5' or so of head pressure off what your pump needs to work against.  The pump would last a lot longer, move a lot more water and also use a lot less electricity.

 

Dave W.

[Keraxis]

I'm not sure I follow this.  If you build a room around the sump, you still need think you need to deal with the humidity.  Otherwise you are just keeping the moisture in the smaller room for the mold to develop. 

 

If you plan to run a dehumidifier or vent, I would agree that confining the humidity to a smaller room would control things better.  I just would hate to see someone build an enclosed room and call it a day.

Sorry.. should have been more clear. It allows the use of a smaller fan to vent humidity plus braces the floor above.  You have to plumb a vent out but it keeps the humidity in a small area.  

Edited March 11, 2016 by Keraxis