Can this plumbing work? (Remote Sump)

[Chrisss]

I'm planning on creating a "fish room" in the garage to hold my remote sump, mixing station, filters, etc..... Right now I have a house layout as such:

Fish tank is going to go in the "fish tank" area.

Can I run the plumbing from the behind the fish tank, along the bedroom / office wall floor, through the crawl space then up into the sump? Or does physics not work out?

It would look something like this on the 2d scale. (Ignore the bad drawing)

**Or should I just run it 'medium height' on the bedroom / crawl space and keep the traditional design?

Also, if something like this does work, does anyone know any bad consequences for running like 40 feet of plumbing to a remote sump?

 

[ca1ore]

Running a drain down below the sump and then back up means that the drains will struggle to purge air. If you oversized the pipe (say 3”) it would probably work, but the drain pipes would be permanently flooded in the lower sections. Think you would be better off having the drains follow the top red line to the sump.

 

[Chrisss]

Running a drain down below the sump and then back up means that the drains will struggle to purge air. If you oversized the pipe (say 3”) it would probably work, but the drain pipes would be permanently flooded in the lower sections. Think you would be better off having the drains follow the top red line to the sump.

Thanks for the input, that's what I was worried about. The below sump plumbing would technically always be filled with water which I didn't think is a positive. I guess the red line is looking more and more of a likely solution.

Do know any bad consequences for running plumbing so far out of the way?

 

[ca1ore]

Confess to never having run a drain quite that far, but I would think if you observe adequate slope it’d be fine. The other thing to consider with the down/across/up design is that the across section will collect sediment.

 

[Chrisss]

Confess to never having run a drain quite that far, but I would think if you observe adequate slope it’d be fine. The other thing to consider with the down/across/up design is that the across section will collect sediment.

Yeah I've been looking at other posts see it is a very rare design, down the up that is. Also head pressure concerns me doing it the way I was asking about .

I really want the fish room to be in the garage and have the tank somewhere in the living room so maybe I just need to rethink placement.

 

[Sailfin11]

I know that it's nice to have a fish room, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. With such a large tank I think that you'd have enough space. My recommendation if you end up doing that is to get a separate cabinet for your electronics and power strips. It just keeps everything more clean in the long run. Best of luck, this new build sounds exciting!

 

[ca1ore]

Actually the return would be the least problematic. Head pressure is a function of height differential only. That you’d go down/across/up would add a little friction back pressure (easily mitigated with larger plumbing) but no added head pressure. It’s the drains that would be the problem.

 

[Joekovar]

Assuming it's a concrete foundation, you could cut a pit for a sump in under the tank foot print, and a trench to the furnace/water-heater room where it'd be easy to get into the garage.

 

[Chrisss]

Assuming it's a concrete foundation, you could cut a pit for a sump in under the tank foot print, and a trench to the furnace/water-heater room where it'd be easy to get into the garage.

Yeah but this would kind of be the same as routing it through the bedroom. Still would have to go down then up again. Unless you talking about something different

 

[Chrisss]

I know that it's nice to have a fish room, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. With such a large tank I think that you'd have enough space. My recommendation if you end up doing that is to get a separate cabinet for your electronics and power strips. It just keeps everything more clean in the long run. Best of luck, this new build sounds exciting!

Yeah this is always the "backup" option. But once you have a dedicated fish room you don't go back haha!

The electronics is a solid idea if I do not do a remote sump probably something in the bed room side with a a cabinet for all of my controllers and such

 

[Joekovar]

Yeah but this would kind of be the same as routing it through the bedroom. Still would have to go down then up again. Unless you talking about something different

I'm talking about keeping the sump under the tank in a pit in the floor, which would keep all of the gravity fed plumbing local, and give you more space under the tank. Then using transfer pumps to bring old water out to the garage and fresh water in.

 

[Chrisss]

I'm talking about keeping the sump under the tank in a pit in the floor, which would keep all of the gravity fed plumbing local, and give you more space under the tank. Then using transfer pumps to bring old water out to the garage and fresh water in.

Ahhh for water changes. Now I see the plan. The mixing station is already in the garage so that could be a way to do it. The only thing though, really want to avoid drilling holes into the foundation. Probably could be a cool project but definitely not a diy

 

[Tariq]

Just a thought,
what if you made a small replica using two small plastic containers (a few ounces or so), connected them with the quarter inch r/o tubings and the John Guest fittings.

Put one container at a higher level than the other, replicating the main tank and the sump, fill them up with water and look at the flow pattern, including the relative volume of the stagnant water.

 

[Joekovar]

Ahhh for water changes. Now I see the plan. The mixing station is already in the garage so that could be a way to do it. The only thing though, really want to avoid drilling holes into the foundation. Probably could be a cool project but definitely not a diy

Yeah, I'd start by cutting out the slab under the footprint of the tank and the trench to the utility room then excavating the pit/trench.

I'd put a 6" conduit in the trench and close it back up. That way I'd be able to freely run/replace braided hoses between the sump and utility room at any point.

The reason I'd cut out the footprint of the tank rather than just a sump sized hole, is 310 gallons of saltwater alone weighs over a ton. I'd pour the outer walls of the sump pit as a footer for the tank.

It'd definitely be a time consuming project. The tough part would be waiting for the footer to cure.

 

[Silent]

As long as you use a controller (for added security) and have redundancies (if pump 1 off then pump 2 off) then you could have a smallish tank under the display that is from your dt overflow then pump the water to the garage sump that then pumps the water back to your dt. You would need to have valves to match the flow of the pumps and have water sensors and alarms in case of water too high or too low.
We match water flow in a simpler way with herbie and bean animal overflows but this is doable if protections are put in place.

 

[Chrisss]

Just a thought,
what if you made a small replica using two small plastic containers (a few ounces or so), connected them with the quarter inch r/o tubings and the John Guest fittings.

Put one container at a higher level than the other, replicating the main tank and the sump, fill them up with water and look at the flow pattern, including the relative volume of the stagnant water.

Probably a too small of an example to replicate real flow through it?

 

[Chrisss]

As long as you use a controller (for added security) and have redundancies (if pump 1 off then pump 2 off) then you could have a smallish tank under the display that is from your dt overflow then pump the water to the garage sump that then pumps the water back to your dt. You would need to have valves to match the flow of the pumps and have water sensors and alarms in case of water too high or too low.
We match water flow in a simpler way with herbie and bean animal overflows but this is doable if protections are put in place.

I saw this solution in another thread, it was interesting and probably a workable solution. But definitely not for me. I'm too worried about parts or pumps overflowing to have ease of mind.

I'll probably do what @ca1ore said and just follow the red line into the sump. It will look uglier but it's a doable solution, will be like 100feet of plumbing though for bean style style. Unless I do what Than at Tidal Gardens are plumb them into one 3in drain.