Plumbing for water changes from a basement fish room?

[Dodgersfan]

Hey guys,

I'm in the process of planning out a fish room in my Basement that will have a water mixing station so I don't have to mix water in buckets in the garage. however the thought of lugging buckets up stairs from the basement doesn't sound much better. the basement is unfinished now, and I could plumb in some PVC pretty easily to the tank upstairs. i was wondering if anyone has done something like this in their set ups? ideally I'd like to have a drain line that i just have to turn a valve on the return pump to have it pump water out of the system and into the drain and a second pvc line that comes off of a pump in the saltwater mixing tank in the basement and empties into the sump. does anyone have a set up like this? my fish room is a little to far away from my DT to just do a remote sump, but I'm thinking I could make this work fairly easily using two 1" PVC lines, I'm curious what others have done like this.

 

[themcnertney]

I make my water both fresh and salt in my basement. I have a pump that I switch back and forth from bin to bin for the return that feeds my sump. I have a drain that is then plumbed into my drain in my basement. I start a siphon from my display and know exactly how much water I need to remove by marking it on the display. Both bins are 50 gallon brute trashcans.

 

[Dodgersfan]

I make my water both fresh and salt in my basement. I have a pump that I switch back and forth from bin to bin for the return that feeds my sump. I have a drain that is then plumbed into my drain in my basement. I start a siphon from my display and know exactly how much water I need to remove by marking it on the display. Both bins are 50 gallon brute trashcans.

that sounds very similar to what I'm trying to do, how do you move water back to the sump? is your sump in the basement or under the stand?

 

[Reef Able]

Where is your sump located? If you can move it down to basement as well than your water changes will be a breeze. I moved my sump into basement on a stand and than my water changes 40G brute cans are under neath the stand. I have a barracuda pump used as my return. For my water changes and water mixing I have a mag 9. When I do my water changes 20G a weekend I simply turn off the return. I than open up a valve out of my sump to drain water into sink. Once thts done I than pump water back into the sump using Mag 9. No lifting of buckets and it takes me no more than 10 mins overall.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Check out my build thread.

 

[Flippers4pups]

 

[Dodgersfan]

Where is your sump located? If you can move it down to basement as well than your water changes will be a breeze. I moved my sump into basement on a stand and than my water changes 40G brute cans are under neath the stand. I have a barracuda pump used as my return. For my water changes and water mixing I have a mag 9. When I do my water changes 20G a weekend I simply turn off the return. I than open up a valve out of my sump to drain water into sink. Once thts done I than pump water back into the sump using Mag 9. No lifting of buckets and it takes me no more than 10 mins overall.

Sump is under the stand, I don’t want to move it to the fish room because it’s pretty far away from where the DT is upstairs. I’m trying to figure out how to make it work without having to run up and down the stairs to turn valves off and on, I think I’ve got the drain figured out by just plumbing a t valve off of the return pump so I can just switch to pumping water down the drain, but the Change water is a little harder, the best I can come up with is putting a valve on the pipe coming up from the basement, but I still have to go down to the basement to turn the pump on and then go back up to open the valve, close the valve after the water change, then go back down to turn the pump off. I cant imagine that the time with the pump on and valve closed will be good for the pump, but besides that it seems like a pretty solid plan. I’m trying to come up with ways to remotely activate the pump right when I’m ready for the refill water. Maybe something could be done with one of those smart outlets you can activate from your phone? I’d like to be able to do the whole change from start to finish right under the stand.

 

[Dodgersfan]

That is basically what I’m trying to do, but with the mixing station much farther away from the sump than your set up. I’m trying to eliminate having to run back and forth between the sump and mixing station a bunch of times since they’re so far away.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Water changing station pump on a electric float switch. Vertical piece of acrylic with holes in it. Holes are at gallon levels, Placed in the salt mixing tank. Attach float switch to the vertical acrylic piece at gallons needed to fill after draining system of the amount of water change preformed.

When ready, plug in mixing station pump and start refill. When the water level drops to the desired level, electric float switch turns off pump.

 

[themcnertney]

that sounds very similar to what I'm trying to do, how do you move water back to the sump? is your sump in the basement or under the stand?

My sump is near my display in a fish room. My water change station is in the basement.

 

[nkyreef]

What pumps are you using to push the new saltwater to the display? Being in the basement I'm assuming the head height is large.

 

[themcnertney]

What pumps are you using to push the new saltwater to the display? Being in the basement I'm assuming the head height is large.

Danner Mag 7. The water change process take about 30 minutes to drain and return new water. Given it is only used for water changes, I dont need a large pump. This is a big reason I didn't put my sump in my basement.

 

[vlangel]

I had contemplated a sump /water mixing station in the basement for years. I just hated drilling a hole in the livingroom hardwood floor.

Finally the water change needs of my seahorses drove me to do it. It was by far the best upgrade I ever did.
I was fortunate in their is both a cold water line and a drain in the portion of our basement right under my display tank. We mounted the rodi unit on the block wall and I make ro water in a brute can. The drain from the rodi unit run into the floor drain. I have another 55 gallon brute can next to the rodi water brute can. Using a pump and flex tubing I pump the ro water into the 2nd brute can where I add salt and mix my saltwater although you can do both in 1 can.

Then I drain my sump into the basement floor drain and when that is finished, I refill the sump with the mixed saltwater. It definitely took all the drudgery out of water changes. I can do one in 5 minutes. I use a DC 6000 pump to pump water up to the tank. It was reasonably priced and it did the job with having 10 ft of head pressure. A magdrive is a durable reasonably priced pump that has the muscle to do the job also. I used flex tubing to do the plumbing since I am a woman but pvc would work fine too.

 

[ThunderGoose]

The area under my tank is not available for easy, through the floor water changes. My Husband is planning to get me a large trash can on wheels that I can roll to the door to the basement door. The plan is I will be able to pump water from the basement mixing station, roll the trash can on wheels over to the tank and pump from the transport tank into the display. I have a long hose that can go from the display into the bathroom for draining.

Not perfect but it should work for us.

 

[MapleReef]

That is basically what I’m trying to do, but with the mixing station much farther away from the sump than your set up. I’m trying to eliminate having to run back and forth between the sump and mixing station a bunch of times since they’re so far away.

What pump are u using at your mixing station?

 

[Dodgersfan]

What pump are u using at your mixing station?

Hasn’t been determined yet, I’m still in the very early planning stages.

 

[vlangel]

The area under my tank is not available for easy, through the floor water changes. My Husband is planning to get me a large trash can on wheels that I can roll to the door to the basement door. The plan is I will be able to pump water from the basement mixing station, roll the trash can on wheels over to the tank and pump from the transport tank into the display. I have a long hose that can go from the display into the bathroom for draining.

Not perfect but it should work for us.

I did it that way until my husband hooked up my ro/di unit into the cold water line with a saddle valve right near my basement sump tank.

 

[Sweet Freddy]

My 90 gallon is in my basement. When i water change i have run my rodi line thru my ceiling next to my tank. I fill up a 30 gallon trash can with rodi then mix my salt. When its ready i run a hose out my basement door and suck 30 gal out then pump in the new water. Takes about 4 hrs mainly to fill the can and mix the salt
I do it once a month. Sorta sux but i dont want full cans of premixed water sitting around in my man cave. I have auto fill straight into my tank which is nice. Other than cleaning the glass and changing socks every week i do little maint this way and water paremeters stay excellent.