Fishroom construction starting - rough plumbing advice

[thomb]

Well it's starting! Working on construction for the fishroom. The building is a structural mess as the pics (for historical purposes) indicate.

Tank will be ~25' away and about 150ish + gallons. Fish room floor is about 3' lower than tank room floor.

(This design is old - the tank will be in a slighly different location but...)

Question for the group.

Need to rough in the drain and return lines now so want advice on size - Thinking 2" for both - the wrinkle here is I'll go under the floor in the fish room, but it probably will need to rise up above the level of the floor to exit the room similar to how the washing machine drain does here:

The structural mess I am dealing with...

Fear not, I'll address how this floor is being "supported".

 

[JayM]

the real question is, how much height is there between the bottom of your tank, and the entry point of your sump? A plumber told me you need to 1/2" per foot drop for a drain to flow. How much water in your return are you planning for in gph? 2" might be a lot.

 

[thomb]

Good point, I do need to some calculations (I am not good with math) - and 2" does sound a bit stout for the return

I was thinking I may have to add a pump inline between the drain and the sump ?

 

[thomb]

Darn someone clicked send for me before completing the thought..

2" is starting to sound too big. More I read suggests1.5 to 1.25 (1.25 may be the call anyway space wise)

Here's the situation...

Bottom of display tank to crawlspace -5' drop
To a 20' run - probably can get a 1/4 - .5" drop per foot but may be close - and I may not be able to do that.

Here's where I think it gets really dicy.
Line enters the fish room would need to drop further by maybe 6" - run for another 5' then RISE to 2' perhaps even 3' to go into the sump.

 

[cujo6984]

1/4 " per foot is plenty pitch going back up 2' is not gonna work tho

 

[thomb]

Yeah... gravity is a real downer.

A pump from the drain to the sump + return pump back seems dangerous (if even practical). May just have to shoot for making water changes easier.

 

[JayM]

Here's where I think it gets really dicy.
Line enters the fish room would need to drop further by maybe 6" - run for another 5' then RISE to 2' perhaps even 3' to go into the sump.

Sorry, but that is NOT going to work. You would be relying on the weight of the water to push it back up (like in a trap)....but even that isn't going to do 3 feet.

 

[thomb]

Yeah, I’m scrapping the remote sump idea –having to pump from the display to the sump would require a pump under the house.
So, shoot for streamlining water changes / autotopoff - easy enough to pump water, and can use smaller pipes in the process. And the money I save on the second pump I can put towards a nice under stand sump setup.

 

[Bobbofin]

Put sump close to the floor. If room with sump is already 3' lower you should be all set.