Sump in Crawl Space

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Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Apr 27, 2006
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Well I came a across a 220 gallon tank last weekend for the amazing price of $200!!! I picked it up saturday and by sunday night it was sitting on a stand I built during the day and I've been tooling on it ever since. Now I'm trying to decide how I really want to filter the monster.

My idea right know is to run 2 1" overflows (the DIY ones, which I've already made) down through the floor of my living room and into the crawl space where I would have two stackable plastic towers with mechanical and some scrubbies. It would be a straight drop to the crawl space so it's not a long distance setup by any means, but it will be about 10 feet for the return. I'm trying to decide between the mag 18 or 24 (thats my first issue) for the return. I know I can make this whole setup work, but my fear is that the water below the house could cause a bit of a moisture issue on the floor, should I be concerned about this?

I also thought about using the mag 5 I have to pump water straight up then send it back into the sump through something like 8 4 foot sections of pvc full of scrubbies as well. It would basically be a trickle filter, but it wont come straight from the tank I just pump the water up the the top and let it fall back down through the pipes. Feasible?

Really I'm just looking for some feedback on this idea, and any issues I might face with the design.

I also included a couple of simple idea drawing of what I'm thinking to do and I'll include some pic of the stand and the canopy I've been working on this week.

sump design.jpg

sump design 001.jpg
 
moisture will be an issue.. where do you live.. temp might also be an issue...

for the moisture issue you could drywall the underside of yer house (its different drywall... usuially green its made as a moisture barrier.. its used for bathrooms) you could also add an exhaust fan..

id remake my stand before id put a bunch of water under my house.. but thats just me im well aware that others have done this
 
How much head between the where the pump will sit and where the return ends? That seems like at very least 8-10'

Also is the pump that is going to pump water down going to be in the top of your fish tank.. Or in a tank that the actual tank drains into? Those pvc in my opinion will still clog with Scrubbies in them.
 
Tongue33;1862862; said:
How much head between the where the pump will sit and where the return ends? That seems like at very least 8-10'

Also is the pump that is going to pump water down going to be in the top of your fish tank.. Or in a tank that the actual tank drains into? Those pvc in my opinion will still clog with Scrubbies in them.
Click to expand...

It's going to be right at 11-12 feet know that I do that math. Crawl space is 45" to the beams, so 6" more on that plus floor board, and to the top of the canopy is right at 6 feet. I'm guessing the mag 24 will be best (pump flows)

10' 1100
11' 950
12' 800

The mag 5 will be in the sump tank (i have 3 planned) and it will pump water from this straight up to the top of crawl space and then spread out to 8 or so 3" pipes that drain straight down into that final tank. This will all be filtered water in this part so it should be clean and I don't see clogging being any problem.
 
If you design your filtration so it all fits in the sump you can cover it with foam board. It will help with temperature regulation and keeps a lot of the humidity in. If you have humidity problems you can put a small exhaust fan to draw air out of the sump and vent it out a foundation vent, they make a dryer vent that fits in a standard sized vent.

These are pictures of my sump in the crawl space.

sump1.jpg

sump2.jpg

sump3.jpg
 
dogofwar;1867089; said:
...so to clean the filter or otherwise do maintenance you'd need to crawl under the house? Not I...
Click to expand...

It's my "Fortress of Solitude".:headbang2
 
dogofwar;1867089; said:
...so to clean the filter or otherwise do maintenance you'd need to crawl under the house? Not I...
Click to expand...

It's not a crawl space that I have to go outside to crawl into. It's totally enclosed with an entrance from the garage. It's actually about the nicest I've seen. It's got a good pea gravel base and almost no bugs.

I'm still toying with this idea and it's really my only choice for a Wet/Dry as I've already wrapped the stand and there's not enough room for a tank below. I of course could try something like double FX5's, but I still think a huge wet/dry and possibly one FX5 is the way to go for me.

Right know I'm thinking of possibly using two 35 gallon trash cans with mechanical at the top and the bottom filled with scrubbies leading into a tub full of plants, and the third tank will be used to control the amount able to pump into the tank and anything else I choose to put in it. The trashcans would be great because I can put a lid on them and seal some moisture in, the plants will either be in a 40G breeder which clearly would have a top, the third tank will likely be a rubbermaid tub which I'll cover. I also thought about building a little enclosed room which again would help me contain the moisture.

As always I'm looking for your great ideas and input!!!:headbang2
 
I build "dump" filters on top of my tanks, which are basically sumps in reverse (you pump water from the tank into a sump on top of the tank and let the water return to the tank via gravity).

The under-the-bed style rubbermaids have lids and aren't too tall.

Another benefit to this approach is that you maximize the power of your pump (little head loss vs. a sump).
 
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