GlassCages w Basement Sump

[tb582]

Hi All - looking for some guidance - Right now I have a 75G marineland tank (nothing fancy) I got it hooked up to an FX4 canister filter thats under the tank.

I'm looking at upgrading this take to something larger 72"x26x30 ish or something around those specs so maybe ~200Gal. I'm planning on putting a sump in the basement but the tank will have its back against the wall. But how does the plumping have to run? straight down or can it go into the wall and then down? what does that do to noise levels due to water flow ? here's a pic:

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

My vote is tank width should be equal to or greater than depth. Makes aquascaping better IMO. So like 72x30x26 instead of 72x26x30.

Also, a 30” deep tank is SO MUCH DEEPER in person. Not a bad thing, but my first time seeing one it stood out to me how much deeper 6” from 24” really felt.

 

[blecki]

Before I moved I had a basement sump (no basement anymore, kinda sucks) and I ran the plumbing into the wall then down. Was perfectly quiet upstairs. Much louder downstairs.

 

[tb582]

My vote is tank width should be equal to or greater than depth. Makes aquascaping better IMO. So like 72x30x26 instead of 72x26x30.

Also, a 30” deep tank is SO MUCH DEEPER in person. Not a bad thing, but my first time seeing one it stood out to me how much deeper 6” from 24” really felt.

Good point - thx!

Before I moved I had a basement sump (no basement anymore, kinda sucks) and I ran the plumbing into the wall then down. Was perfectly quiet upstairs. Much louder downstairs.

ha good to know - my basement aint going anywhere

 

[JGT]

I ran mine straight down. Didn’t want to deal with cutting into drywall, top/bottom plates and wanted to minimize elbows.
Check into Flexible PVC. It’s what I used. Provides flexibility and and you don’t need to use 45 or 90 elbows which improves the flow.

 

[tb582]

also curious about the SUMP - I know there's many options. but since I don't have one currently I'll need to get something- looking on glass cages they offer glass or acrylic where as these sumps on customAquariums seems nicer ?

Seamless Sumps® Packages Archives

www.customaquariums.com

 

[blecki]

One consideration when going with a longer drop - water at the exit will have more energy. You want to make sure the first chamber can handle the flow without splashing out of the sump.

 

[tb582]

One consideration when going with a longer drop - water at the exit will have more energy. You want to make sure the first chamber can handle the flow without splashing out of the sump.

ha how do I do that!

 

[tb582]

My vote is tank width should be equal to or greater than depth. Makes aquascaping better IMO. So like 72x30x26 instead of 72x26x30.

Also, a 30” deep tank is SO MUCH DEEPER in person. Not a bad thing, but my first time seeing one it stood out to me how much deeper 6” from 24” really felt.

I think we are confused between HEIGHT and DEPTH ?

Dimensions: 30" x 72" x 24" (HxLxD)

 

[tb582]

ohhh also size aside - how does one get their tank close to the wall but yet still accessible ? or do we just hope that nothing goes wrong with the plumbing ?

 

[ThaBeast]

I agree depth should be wider than height. Another thing to consider, a 26-30" height is a pain to service. One of the reasons I sold my 400-a 29" high tank on a 40" stand meant I did everything on a step stool.

 

[tb582]

I agree depth should be wider than height. Another thing to consider, a 26-30" height is a pain to service. One of the reasons I sold my 400-a 29" high tank on a 40" stand meant I did everything on a step stool.

True - but I think most of the "work" moves to the sump after you've scaped etc ? maybe cleaning sand is a pain ...

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

I think we are confused between HEIGHT and DEPTH ?

Dimensions: 30" x 72" x 24" (HxLxD)

Generally speaking, it’s preferable that the blue dimension should be greater than or equal to the purple dimension.

Let’s just say that you have two tanks, one that’s 30” tall but only 18” deep front to back, and the other is 18” tall but 30” deep front to back. Assuming the aquarium is up against a wall, most aquascaping trends such that the rockwork slopes from low in the front to high in the back, right? That slope is going to be significantly steeper in the first tank. Corals like growing on horizontals and so trying to aquascape a tank that is taller than it is deep effectively means mounting the coral into a vertical wall, which can be difficult.

So you’d be leaving yourself more room to work with if you did either 30 blue 30 purple or 30 blue 24 purple or something like that

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

I think we are confused between HEIGHT and DEPTH ?

Dimensions: 30" x 72" x 24" (HxLxD)

If you watch ReefDork’s video on what he learned from his prior tanks he talks about steepness in rockwork and it is very closely related to this point.

 

[ThaBeast]

True - but I think most of the "work" moves to the sump after you've scaped etc ? maybe cleaning sand is a pain ...

mounting corals, cleaning, trimming corals, etc.

 

[Ironwill723]

I have a 220g with basement sump. 72x24x30. I rarely do anything inside the main tank. If you are going to be messing with corals all the time shorter might be better. I couldn't care less about the corals. I don't frag anything. To me fish are more important. I clean the glass with a hammerhead magnet with blade a couple times a week. Easy. All the work is done in the basement which is an old 90 gallon tank I made into a sump.

 

[blecki]

ha how do I do that!

Most important part is to run the drain line down into the water so there's no 'fall'. And have an adequately sized chamber to dump it into.