I have been keeping a 1000 gallon freshwater tank for the last 6 years and am now researching changing over to a saltwater tank. I inherited this tank when I purchased the house so although there are issues I personally have with its design I am stuck with how it is. The 1000 gallon tank is built into the wall of our basement living room with a maintenance room behind it. Unfortunately space is tight back here. There is approximately 26.5" x 25.5" of room to the side of the tank to work with. Within this space I have a 50-gallon drum acting as a DIY sump where I perform mechanical filtration. I then pump the water through a large pond filter (an Ultima II 1000) for biological filtration. This relatively small footprint has managed a freshwater tank wonderfully for the past 6 years.
I have looked at adding a sump below the main tank but the number of supporting beams would prevent placing anything of significant size under it and I have very little room to crawl under there to service it anyways. Beside this area for filtration I then have an additional 50-gallon drum where I hold water for weekly water changes. Just beyond that and along the back wall is a small stand (underneath this is equipment from a sauna plumbed on the other side of the wall so can't get rid of this for more space). I typically house 2 small aquariums to act as quarantine tanks on top of that. I could do away with them and have potential space there. I would just have to have a quarantine tank elsewhere.
I am looking for ideas on how best to allow for appropriate filtration within this limited space. I have included pictures to help understand what I am working with.
I have looked at adding a sump below the main tank but the number of supporting beams would prevent placing anything of significant size under it and I have very little room to crawl under there to service it anyways. Beside this area for filtration I then have an additional 50-gallon drum where I hold water for weekly water changes. Just beyond that and along the back wall is a small stand (underneath this is equipment from a sauna plumbed on the other side of the wall so can't get rid of this for more space). I typically house 2 small aquariums to act as quarantine tanks on top of that. I could do away with them and have potential space there. I would just have to have a quarantine tank elsewhere.
I am looking for ideas on how best to allow for appropriate filtration within this limited space. I have included pictures to help understand what I am working with.