Let's build a trap door leading to a secret fish room under my porch!

[kenchilada]

Got my parts order in finally. Will get going here again soon hopefully. One of the ball valves to fill the tanks broke, so I have to redo all that. There was a crack in it and I didn’t catch it when I purchased it. Another $40 of parts to redo that segment.

Been mostly focused on my Achilles quarantine efforts lately.

 

[kenchilada]

Been super busy but did some work on this tonight. Started wiring up the custom Hydros cabling. Realized I need twisted pair for the bus cable, so I had to pull some CAT5 back to the house. Luckily I left some extra cables in the wall and I used one as fish tape.

 

[kenchilada]

 

[kenchilada]

Designed and printed a wall plate for Hydros ports.

Got the ports all soldered in.

 

[kenchilada]

Installed more ports under my tank, into the wall access panel door.

One is the canbus data cable, the other two are 0-10v ports.

 

[kenchilada]

 

[rapurcell85]

Just read through this thread. This is an awesome idea, and I am certainly jealous of all your tools and skills. I'll be following along to see the final result!

 

[Nicholasbar]

I have a 220G reef and I want to setup automated water changes. This is the last piece of the puzzle to kick my reef into high gear since I really do not have a practical way to do water changes.

I don't really have anywhere to store water tanks though, so I have to get creative. I was going to build a small outbuilding next to my house to store everything, but then I realized just ten feet away from the tank there is an 8x40' crawlspace under my porch. This is perfect because the porch needs remodeled this spring anyway.

Goals:

• Easy maintenance so I can be as lazy as possible!
• I do not want to mix saltwater more than once every 1-2 months
• I want to change 2.5G of water per day automatically
• Must have one 75G storage tank for fresh RODI water automatically filled via float valve
• Must have two 75G storage tanks for saltwater
• Water changes must be done via a simple timer, with no float switches or fancy controller logic required
• Monitor TDS of RODI water via Hydros
• Monitor level inside saltwater holding tanks via Hydros (get notified when near empty)
• Keep it simple (because I tend to overengineer things)
• Everything must be hidden in a secret room under my porch!
• BONUS: Secret room should have it's own power and lights
• BONUS: I would like to be able to control which saltwater tank is being drawn from via Hydros app
• BONUS: Move existing ATO pump into secret room and pull from freshwater tank
• BONUS: Secret room should not be a regional mecca for rats or snakes
• BONUS: Secret room should be large enough to store "porch junk" in (pool toys, smoker, etc)

Let's see what we have to work with...

Lovely! This part is sealed off from the rest of the house. I doubt anyone has entered this section in over 20+ years. The best part is there is a ledge around the entire foundation that is nice and level. I can rest floor joists on this.

I will post updates as I do things. I am going to "just do things" instead of try to plan this out to death, so it should come together quickly.

My wife will not be consulted and no permission shall be requested.

Thanks for following along, and please say hi in the thread, I would love to hear your ideas or comments about how crazy I am!

This is going to be really cool once it is finished. Please be sure to post pictures once it is done I would love to see it!

 

[kenchilada]

Just read through this thread. This is an awesome idea, and I am certainly jealous of all your tools and skills. I'll be following along to see the final result!

Thank you! That's a lot of reading.

This is going to be really cool once it is finished. Please be sure to post pictures once it is done I would love to see it!

Thanks, I will!

 

[DaneGer21]

Nice job; I just read through.

Admittedly I too have a crawl space sump area. Our home has no basement, but it does have a 4’ space under the entire home, with concrete, insulated and dry!

I use an office chair to get around haha!

BUT, my setup doesn’t even compare to yours! Great job! Looks great!

 

[kenchilada]

Nice job; I just read through.

Admittedly I too have a crawl space sump area. Our home has no basement, but it does have a 4’ space under the entire home, with concrete, insulated and dry!

I use an office chair to get around haha!

BUT, my setup doesn’t even compare to yours! Great job! Looks great!

Thanks! It really is a great use of space. I was originally going to build a separate outbuilding but this is so much better. Plus my wife loves it since I mentioned we could hide Christmas gifts down here.

 

[kenchilada]

Any suggestions for a utility pump I could use to pump saltwater about 20ft away against 10ft head height?

Preferably submersible?

 

[C4ctus99]

Beautiful craftsmanship

 

[JGT]

Any suggestions for a utility pump I could use to pump saltwater about 20ft away against 10ft head height?

Preferably submersible?

I use a Sicce utility pump <$100 to pump water from my SW bin which is about 12’ from my sump. It sits in the bottom of the bin and then I have it hard plumbed up into the ceiling (10-12’ high) and then over to my sump. Works like a charm. I have the same in my sump plumbed to my utility sink. All setup with a Kasa power strip. It’s how I do WC’s. Do around 45 gallons in 10 mins give or take.

 

[kenchilada]

I use a Sicce utility pump <$100 to pump water from my SW bin which is about 12’ from my sump. It sits in the bottom of the bin and then I have it hard plumbed up into the ceiling (10-12’ high) and then over to my sump. Works like a charm. I have the same in my sump plumbed to my utility sink. All setup with a Kasa power strip. It’s how I do WC’s. Do around 45 gallons in 10 mins give or take.

I ended up buying a Sicce 3.5 for $70 from another user here.

 

[kenchilada]

Next I need to decide on pumps that will stay in the 75G salt tanks to stir saltwater around.

I was thinking of a Jebao DCP-5000 in each tank. They don't need to run all the time. I wonder if I could run these on a simple timer?

 

[Propane]

Any updates on this project?