Fish room & sump above display tank?

[carterinms]

I am working on house plans (hoping to start rebuilding within two months) and while trying to figure out how to keep tank humidity & salt from being a problem, it occured to me that we have tons of space in the attic for a fish tank room.

The house will be ICF with sprayed insulation under the roof, so the attic will be insulated. Putting the fish tank room upstairs allows for more room for equipment, and frees up square footage downstairs. Because the house will be so tight, humidity is a major concern, and the current fish tank room is slap dab in the center of the house - difficult to vent outside.

My initial thoughts are to put the pump in the attic with a line to the overflow. And then design an overflow from the sump to feed back into the tank. I guess that wouldn't work since the water would flow back down into the display in the event of a power loss and the pump would be running dry when the power came back on. I guess I could locate the pump next to the display.

Does anybody have a similar arrangement?

Sorry for the long post for my first post!

Thanks!
-Erica

 

[Anonymous]

It is doable, but I don't know anyone actually did this kind of arrangement. If there is sufficient overflow capacity in the display tank to handle the extra volume during the power failure, there is not much to it. In my current 150 gal, for example, there is sufficient capacity to have this implement due to the extra large in-tank overflow box (~20 gal), and a low tank water level (4 inch below the tank's top).

 

[Anonymous]

carterinms
:welcome:

Interesting concept! I've never heard of anyone doing that either. My concerns would be how hot the average attic gets in the summer (heat transfer to the main tank) and how much evaporation would occur (not only messing with the tank's SG but the condensation can really screw up your home and cause black mold issues), not to mention whatta bear it would be to haul water up there if ya had too

 

[carterinms]

The average attic in South MS gets to unbearably hot - but with this type of construction, the insulation is on the underside of the roofing. So the attic is inside the heated/cooled envelope.

The house hasn't been started yet, so a waterline & drain would be easy to design in.

 

[Anonymous]

Lawdawg, he can pour water in the display (or auxillary tank right next to it) and let the powerhead/pump do the job for him. Same for drain. However, you do have a good point that unless the attic is readily accessible, it can be a real hassel when it come to inspection and what not.

 

[carterinms]

Thanks for the responses - The attic spaces are adjacent to living spaces on the second floor, so access is no problem. It sounds like this is doable, although we may need to build a fish tank room in the attic space and have the space ducted for heating & cooling. I'll post the question on a home-building board to find out the moisture and temperature issues.

 

[Anonymous]

Since you are building the home, why not make the fish roon adjacnt to the tank? IMO having the sump above the tank is doable, but will be a hasle. You could make the tank room sealed from the rest of the house with it's own AC. In the long run I thing this would be better for you.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm going to say I wouldn't do it.

You're going to be pumping water up to your sump. Not Up to your tank. any water change level will be in the main tank. Including as said that in a power outage all the water will drain back into the tank.

I'd go with an adjacent fish room, or one in the basement.

B

 

[Anonymous]

A basement in Pass Christian, MS would be an indoor swimming pool.

 

[Anonymous]

Duuuude. I would kill to have that available. Stick a surge tank up there.

If it's easily accessible I don't see why this is a problem. I say go for it.

 

[carterinms]

The evaporation issue is a good comment, but easily surmountable with an automatic top-off system. Since the sump will be smaller than the display, it probably wouldn't need more than an inch or so of air space to allow for power outages.

Maybe I'll split the difference and leave the sump in the downstairs fish tank room but put the RO/DI and water containers in the attic (plumbed back down to the fish tank room).

Matt, I'm not sure what a surge tank is. Honestly, I'm afraid to find out - it'll probably be another $$$ thing that I have to have! :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=28873&start=0

You pump water up to it, it fills up, then it dumps it all into your tank. Repeat over and over. Try googling "Borneman surge device" and "Carlson surge device" to get detailed plans.

The downsides are that they produce some noise and you have to mount them above your tank, which is usually an eyesore. Sticking them in your attic is a win/win. I'm jealous. I asked my upstairs neighbor if I could rent out her closet for this but she just kind of laughed.

200 gallon tank? Even a 10 gallon tank turned into a surge tank would have a profound effect with that height difference. Personally I'd stick two 20 gallon tanks upstairs as dedicated surge tanks, each with their own pump and 2" outlet at opposite ends of your main tank. Do some experimenting with buckets, pipe diameters, height difference, and pumps before setting it all up.

 

[carterinms]

Thanks for the links - definitely something to consider designing in.