OK - for some reason this morning I started thinking about how inconvienient it is to have a basement tank. Not getting to see it all the time, having to walk up and down the steps just to feed (and for us fat guys that’s a big deal), lugging buckets of water up stairs to dump after a water change, lugging buckets of water from the laundry room to the tnak for top-offs, etc.
So the wheels started turning…
I have 2 walls I could feasibly put it on upstairs in the living room. 1 has an antique china cabinet against it, the other an antique pump organ. The one with the pump organ is right above where I keep all of my fish stuff in the laundry room - I figure if I can move the organ somewhere else I can move the 75 upstairs and plumb it through the floor to the laundry room, I can then set up my sump & fuge (and add a frag tank) in the laundry room - which happens to be where my RODI unit is as well YahoO (winning!!)
This will free up 4+ feet of space in the basement family room, as well as the closet that I took to house my sump and stuff. I kicked the idea around for a few minutes and decided to get my wife’s ire up by asking if I could do it.
Much to my amazement - she said YES!!! PoM
Only contingencies is I have to make the overflows and pumps quieter, and I have to promise to never get the floor wet.
So witht hat being said - who has plumbed a tank from one floor to the other? Will my mag 9.5 return pump be enough with that much head? What considerations do I want to keep in mind? Anyone have a hood for a 75g that I can pick up - I don’t want the flood of light from my new light in the room - I need all of the light focused down and not in to her eyes or reflecting off of the tv.
Craig check out the beananimal link I sent you in PM last week. If you read that it will answer all the questions abuot quieter. Mag 9.5 might push a trickle of water, but you’ll be able to get a lot more flow if you drill another hole during the moving process, so it may be wiser to go bigger. Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean more electric.
You could also consider a different style of overflow such as a coast to coast or calfo style. Lots of different designs out for the actual box or wall the water will overflow over. I would recommend getting away from just the holes in the back with out a fish screen/over flow wall. Both for fish safety and to increase surface skimming.
Take a look at these: http://www.reeflopumps.com/
They are what I use when there is significant head pressure or lots of flow is required. On most of there pumps there is a model with I believe a 1 year warranty and one that has a 4 year warranty, so consider that in the pricing of the pumps.
First step is figuring out if you are going to drill another hole and use the safe and silent method of plumbing. Then figure out what the drains will be able to handle. Then figure out an appropriate pump.
Let me know ahead of time when you plan to do it and I’ll see if I can block the day off.
I echo that the 9.5 won’t give much turn at that height (less then 100 gph I would bet)
Your tank is pretty quiet the return makes most of the noise and could be quieted by going below the water line. (adds back pressure - more head) I remember a swith on sound from the pumps but you could update the maxi jets to a quieter pump with a on/off control.
I would go with a high head pump with more flow then you need. You could branch off a flow control to the fuge to control the return to the main.
Adding additional overflows along with keeping then in the water will allow them to be quieter. I have also seen where they make baffle filled addons to silence the air that will be sucked into the pipe. Remember your house plumbing has a vent to allow air behind water.This allows the water to move faster (vacuum)
I will give you a hand let me know. Might be time to think about a frag tank in the new setup.
Lynn doen’t read this right? If so tell her Jon said you should add it, lol.
You could also put it on the wall near the bathroom and plumb into the garage
No she doesn’t read it - I will be plumbing in a frag tank with the new set up. The room with the bathroom is now the kids TV room - ours is the big room in the front of the house.
I’m going to swtich the power heads out with Koralia Evolutions (was giong to do that anyway) which will quiet them down, but the overflows as they are, are just too noisy for our living room, so I’m going to work on a new design for them.
Chris_Barb thinks we should be able to fish the wall (only a little pun intended) with the plumbing instead of drilling through the floor - not sure how he plans on diong that though.
I will T off the return to be able to control flow with a ball valve like it is now.
It will be nice to be able to plumb in an ATO as well so I can stop using 5 gallon buckets.
check with Andy. he had his 90 upstairs and the sump in the basement. He took the tank down, but still has the pumps and sump downstairs with the frag tank. i forget what pump he has, external, yellow something.
He used Iwaki which I would recommend buying new only if you are obsessed with the color yellow. Blue line is a blue version of the pump made from the exact same company and a lot cheaper. That being said if Andy is selling talk to him. He had just about 0 turns in his plumbing because his sump was located directly under the tank.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:6, topic:4023”]
Chris_Barb thinks we should be able to fish the wall (only a little pun intended) with the plumbing instead of drilling through the floor - not sure how he plans on diong that though.[/quote]
Which wall has a organ on it? I don’t remember one. It is possible to go throught the wall. Is it the wall that backs up to the dining room/kitchen? The biggest issue to keep it neat and the wife happy is having access in the basement on the ceiling up to the corner of the wall. If you can get there you can drill from the basement throught the sill of the wall and plumb up to the tank without having to make a big hole upstairs.
Blueline or Iwaki are good pumps. Andy had a good setup
I can drywall/ patch the basement holes from the old tank if you need it.
[quote=“a1amap, post:10, topic:4023”]
Which wall has a organ on it? I don’t remember one. It is possible to go throught the wall. Is it the wall that backs up to the dining room/kitchen? The biggest issue to keep it neat and the wife happy is having access in the basement on the ceiling up to the corner of the wall. If you can get there you can drill from the basement throught the sill of the wall and plumb up to the tank without having to make a big hole upstairs.[/quote]
When you walk i the front door - the living room is to your right - when you walk in the living room the organ is against the wall directly to your left. (The other side of the wall is the kitchen).
My biggest fear is drilling a hole in the wrong place. I think the duct work from the HVAC may dampen my hopes of this being an easy solution. Hopefully someone more mechanically enclined than I will be able to look at it and find an easy solution.
You should be fine, I assume Chris’s idea is to go through the wall then down through the floor. The HVAC ducts shouldn’t be too large just might have to adjust where the hole is left or right.
I don’t think the ducts will cause a major issue either.
If Chris is unavailable or runs into a snag and no one else is confident in what would need to be done, the other person to consider getting help from is Glen. The aquarist/plumber! Thought I would mention just in case. Not sure how much he would charge for something like this.
At best the HVAC should be 16" between studs and you can use the next span. There may be a return but they are not usually on the same wall and definatly not above or next to the output
[quote=“a1amap, post:15, topic:4023”]
At best the HVAC should be 16" between studs and you can use the next span. There may be a return but they are not usually on the same wall and definatly not above or next to the output[/quote]
They don’t run up the wall - they run perpendicular to the flor joists across the basement ceiling, with only a couple inches of clearance between them and the wall.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:9, topic:4023”]
He used Iwaki which I would recommend buying new only if you are obsessed with the color yellow. Blue line is a blue version of the pump made from the exact same company and a lot cheaper. That being said if Andy is selling talk to him. He had just about 0 turns in his plumbing because his sump was located directly under the tank. [/quote]
Actually mine are by blueline and they come yellow in color. I had no problems with them at all… More than enough flow, they were extremely quiet and relatively inexpensive.