Who keeps tanks in the basement?

[Irecruitfish]

So, I had a similar if not identical set up in my basement as the OP near Chicago. The basement was what is called a partial, so that about 5 feet was below the surface, with another 3 feet above, or just enough to place partial windows (window wells) for an emergency escape if there was a need.

The sewer lines to the street were above the bottom of the basement, so water basement drained down (from the washer, sink, external snow and water runoff outside), was first drained into a sump pit and then when it reached too high a level, the sump pump would pump the water up and into the sewer line.

If you are now hearing weird noises, it's something a plumber could look into. Normal noises are the pit being filled with water, the pump turning on, the water being pumped upwards, the pump turning off. "New" noises would in my experience make me worry about the pump or the discharge pipe having issues.

It's not something I'd want to wait too long on as if the pump goes out, I'm thinking that a basement flood would be in the works..

Yup I have pretty much the same basement. Except it's about 13 feet deep with full size windows for beyond easy escape. So how did your sump fair with the fish tanks? Were you going thru them constantly?

 

[FreshyFresh]

I only keep a 29g in my heated, partially finished basement. I do have a drain sump cast into the concrete floor that's gravity feed to the road, but I only want ground water in that system since it's open to the basement perimeter drain tile. House is on a 45yr/old septic system, so all of my tank waste water gets dumped or pumped into the yard. Only the 29g gets refilled by 5gal bucket. The rest are hose re-filled from mudroom sink.

If I ever had more tanks, they'd go in the basement and I'd have to rig a sump and pumpout system to discharge up, out of the basement and outdoors.

 

[deeda]

Joe, thanks for the pics!

So the sink drain pit discharge is connected to your house sewer drain piping?

 

[Drstrangelove]

Yup I have pretty much the same basement. Except it's about 13 feet deep with full size windows for beyond easy escape. So how did your sump fair with the fish tanks? Were you going thru them constantly?

Although I had a full basement (around 30' by 50'), it still no doors, but multiple windows. I had many tanks (totals around 400+ gallons) for years and I didn't run into any problems with my sump.

To be honest, the rains and melting snow were far more demanding on the sump than the tanks, and if I ever had to replace the sump, I've forgotten that. Certainly not twice over a span of 7 years.

Normal life span is 5-10 years, but that can be far shorter depending on other factors. They should not run continuously and mine certainly didn't. When it wasn't raining or snow was not melting, or the wash not running, or me not doing a WC, it would be silent for hours and hours.

And really, the sound of it didn't change over those years.