Need assistance with basement plumbing

[jarhead]

I just built a table in my basement for equipment. Now I am at a loss on how to best plumb everything together. I'm planning to get a 20 or 30g AGA glass tank for a refugium and have 2 holes drilled for input and output. Would you be able to look at the pictures and describe how to plumb all this? This is my first tank project and I don't feel comfortable doing this myself.
Basement work area picture:
Basement
I got the 2" drain and 1.5" return PVC pipes above the table.

Sump - bought used. Came with bulkheads/attachments that you see in
this picture:
Sump front
The hose on the top left I think is for water top off.

I drilled the sump in the back for 1.5" bulkhead to accomodate my
Sequence pump:
Sump back

ETSS-600 skimmer - bought used:
Skimmer

2 pumps:
Pumps

Would it be best to have both the sump and the refugium (sitting higher
than the sump) on the top shelf or sump on the bottom and refugium on
top? Thanks a million.

 

[brokekyle]

could you explain the water flow through your sump? how big is the sump?how big is the tank? what are you planning for make up water and Ca addtions?
any other elec outlets in the area?..
FYi the plumbing will be easier if you use all 2" or all 1.5"

 

[Mac1]

WOW! I don't know if I can answer every question, but I'll give you my opinion on what I think

I just built a table in my basement for equipment. Now I am at a loss on how to best plumb everything together. I'm planning to get a 20 or 30g AGA glass tank for a refugium and have 2 holes drilled for input and output. Would you be able to look at the pictures and describe how to plumb all this? This is my first tank project and I don't feel comfortable doing this myself.
Basement work area picture:
Basement
I got the 2" drain and 1.5" return PVC pipes above the table.

OK, so you're planning on using the 2" for a return from the tank, into the sump. And the 1.5 is to go from the Sump, up to the tank, right so far? Where things fall isn't entirely critical, as I've found Flexi-tubing to be the best choice when plumbing anything. So long as Aesthetics aren't a priority, you can rig this puppy up anyway you want

Sump - bought used. Came with bulkheads/attachments that you see in
this picture:
Sump front
The hose on the top right I think is for water top off.

You mean the top left... that big white thing on the end of it's a float valve? I dunno how those work, or how this one rig's into this sump exactly. Might want to talk to the original owner about that one.

I drilled the sump in the back for 1.5" bulkhead to accomodate my
Sequence pump:
Sump back

OK, so that's the one you're gonna end up jamming into the end of that 1.5" pipe up near the ceiling, right?
Simple enough, by the looks of the way things are positioned in the first pic., you've got that located about underneath the opening in the pipe, so measure, add a foot, and go get some 1.5 ID flexi tubing and Plastic Zip Ties. I'll assume you know what to do from here, right?

I don't know if you want to mount the pump semi-permanently to anything, like the table, or a stud in the wall. Might be good, but cause a lot of vibrations. If you want to get really technical, you could prolly get some rubber dampning attachments or something. Depends on how much money and time you want to spend.

ETSS-600 skimmer - bought used:
Skimmer

2 pumps:
Pumps

Would it be best to have both the sump and the refugium (sitting higher
than the sump) on the top shelf or sump on the bottom and refugium on
top? Thanks a million.

By the looks of things, you have enough room to place everything next to each other on the table? Depending on how much flow you are going to put through that skimmer, you might want to have the output from the skimme drop into the refugium... Will help prevent microbubbles from getting into your tank, and will remove the need for an additional pump. How you position things exaclty will depend in large part what size tank you get for a 'fuge, and how big the table is, the rest of the parts, etc...

I would use the bottom shelf of the table for storage, dry goods, test kits, etc. Maybe place a reservoir down there for Freshwater? To hook up to that float valve...

- Mac

 

[jarhead]

You mean the top left... that big white thing on the end of it's a float valve? I dunno how those work, or how this one rig's into this sump exactly. Might want to talk to the original owner about that one.

Doh, yes, I ment top left. That "white thing" is just a piece of flex PVC pipe that I threw into the sump. Sorry to add to the confusion.

By the looks of things, you have enough room to place everything next to each other on the table? Depending on how much flow you are going to put through that skimmer, you might want to have the output from the skimmer drop into the refugium... Will help prevent microbubbles from getting into your tank, and will remove the need for an additional pump. How you position things exaclty will depend in large part what size tank you get for a 'fuge, and how big the table is, the rest of the parts, etc...

I would use the bottom shelf of the table for storage, dry goods, test kits, etc. Maybe place a reservoir down there for Freshwater? To hook up to that float valve...

If I use a 30g for a refugium, I may not have enough space on top shelf. I spoke to someone at ETSS and they recommended to place the skimmer output above the sump's water level and to use a separate pump for it (I was thinking to tee off the Sequence pump's output for water return and skimmer).

More or less what I need help with is a description on what to connect to what... ie, split 2" PVC drain, one drains into the sump, the other into a refugium... how to connect the skimmer to the sump, etc.
TIA

 

[ReefLion]

I just have to learn my digital camera and do some pictures.

Man if you are in your basement unload that little thing and go with a couple 70-100 gal. stock tanks. Give yourself some real volume.

Water drains into the first one from the tank. Put in a load of sand and rock and call that the refugium. Put that on some cinder blocks and you can gravity feed a second one to hold your skimmer, return pump, ect. Just build a little PVC platform to hold the skimmer at the correct height.

Even if you don't go that route, I recommend flex PVC for all plumbing. Very easy to use.

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

I just have to learn my digital camera and do some pictures.

Man if you are in your basement unload that little thing and go with a couple 70-100 gal. stock tanks. Give yourself some real volume.

Water drains into the first one from the tank. Put in a load of sand and rock and call that the refugium. Put that on some cinder blocks and you can gravity feed a second one to hold your skimmer, return pump, ect. Just build a little PVC platform to hold the skimmer at the correct height.

Even if you don't go that route, I recommend flex PVC for all plumbing. Very easy to use.

Tim

Ditto

 

[jarhead]

Man if you are in your basement unload that little thing and go with a couple 70-100 gal. stock tanks. Give yourself some real volume.

I actually do have a 50g stock tank that I am keeping my LR in now. Unfortunatelly, that area in the basement is not wide enough (there is a wall in the picture that you cannot see).

With all due respect, the help I am looking for is how everything connects together. Such as... the drain from the tank goes into the input of refugium, the skimmer goes to, blah, blah, blah :?. Well you get the picture. To a newbie, this is like a puzzle.

 

[ReefLion]

I really am trying to help you here. If you are new to this, you do not yet understand what a pain it is to work with a small sump. I'm assuming "basement sump" means your display tank will be at least one floor up. That means a couple things:
-high and variable flow rates into the sump, due to gravity pull and siphoning of sections within your drain lines, which will tend to disturb any sort of sand bed if you are planning one;
-extra bubbles flowing into your return pump;
-lots of water volume to account for in the whenever you turn off the system pump.

There are other general problems with small sumps. It's much harder to set up a working refugium since the flow rate through the sump is so high. By definition you cannot have a large and deep sand bed. Your skimmer will necessarily be close to your return, meaning more bubbles in the display tank. Whem it comes to bubbles, flow can easily overwhelm and and all interesting-looking baffle systems, etc. These are all problems that one just has to deal with, and you may not have thought about them all. To me that is just frustration waiting to happen. It's not unusual; I think a lot of people are smitten with fancy-looking sumps with lots of chambers and baffles. That's helpful if you are forced to work underneath the tank or in another very small space, but what I see in your picture is a huge table with a little sump on it.

I would just ditch the table and use whatever containers you can to fill that space in a way that maximizes your water volume while still allowing to you move around in there. Stock tanks are just one idea. Rubbermaids, tanks, drums would all work fine.

This is the second of my two cents, and I'll shut up after this. I just wanted to let you know that I wasn't babbling before, and that there really are good reasons to think about changing your plan even at this late stage.

Tim

 

[ReefLion]

Note: I just saw you plan on getting a separate tank for the refugium, which is a good start. I'll stand by the rest of the above post.

There's just nothing set in stone with plumbing. If you don't take my advice , then with the system you are planning I would just drill one hole in the fuge tank, and return the skimmer output to that through the top (this means putting your skimmer output higher than the top of the fuge tank). Main tank flow should bypass the fuge, in that arrangment.

Tim