Home Sweet Home

[slayer]

Hi guys

just wanted to say hi to you fellow reefers out there and introduce myself...I'm jaime. I moved back to Georgia from New York a couple of months ago and am finally getting setup again.

No one told me breaking down a 60 gallon tank and moving across several states would be so tedius. I had to place all my livestock in a rubbermaid container and belt it down to the front seat of my mustang.(Just didnt count on the rusting of the seat and handbrake later on due to overspill).... LOL

Hope to meet you guys in the near future but in the mean time I need some input on placing a refugium/ sump in a garage .. I've seen many setups with them in the basement but none with tanks plumbed to the garage.I dont have a basement and theres no way i could cram all my equipment under the tank. I now have (after months of painstakingly closly watching and supervising the construction of my new home) a 300 gallon "in wall" tank, i want to plumb it to a 150 gallon tank located in my garage. I just wanted to know if there were any downsides of doing this... (ie cold/ heat/dust/ pipes freezing??), or if anyone out there has done this..

Here are some pics of my new setup during and after construction and pics of my garage.,,,
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[tsciarini]

WELCOME TO THE http://atlantareefclub.org/forums/arcsignup.php">ARC</a>!!! Glad to have you on board!

My first question is how easy/difficult would it be to get to your garage from the tank? The pictures may be misleading but it looks like you've got open walking space and walls on both sides of the tank. What equipment do you currently have running on it now and what do you plan to add? Give us as many details that you've thought of already and we can all get together and throw some ideas out there...

[IMG]http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1193">FYI, next meeting will be held on October 10th </a>(always 2nd Tuesday of every month). We usually have a pretty good turnout and many of us get together for drinks/food afterward. Be sure to join us!

 

[slayer]

Hi

There are 2 overflows on each side of the tank, via diy moded pvc. these pipes run directly under the tank into a 55 gallon sump. i have an asm g5 protein skimmer running in it (a very tight squeeze) .An ampmaster 3000 runs it back up to the top and into the tank via 2 seaswirls.There is adequate space on the sides of the tank for plumbing. (the above pics do not reflect this)
I also had the house built with a crawl space under it for such piping or wiring needs.Under the tank there is a faucet for water to my ro/di , and a drain out to my septic tank, incase of overflow or water changes (i just turn a ball valve)
I have already run 2 -1 1/2 inch pipes from the garage to the bottom of the tank. I plan on the overflow from the display tank to flow down under the crawl space and into the garage into a 150 gallon sump/refugium.. and then for the ampmaster to push the water back through the crawlspace and back into the display tank. The total length from the sump to the display tank is about 20 feet with the top of the tank being about 8 feet high.

im wondering because the pipes run under the crawl space they might freeze in winter?? or on the up side the crawl space is very cool in the summer and might help cool tank temperatures ,that might keep me from having to use my chiller. My other worry is that if i run fans over the sump in summer will the salt evap cause rusting of all my tools and cars??? in the garage?? Has anyone had a prob with that? i have had rusting on on a futon and a/c vent before in the past due to humidity and evap from a tank.

 

[wolfie]

I thinking you going to be using 2 pips going to and from your sump. 1 is an over flow pip and the other will be return pip.

Heat and evap may be a problem, but your pips should not freeze up in winter since watter will be moving in those pips at all time.

That a NICE house you got there

 

[kappaknight]

Hey, I moved from DC about a little over a year ago... I don't think it freezes all that much here in Georgia, however, if you're worried, you can always try putting some insulation around the pipes. Also, since the water will be constantly moving and you most likely have a heater in the system, I don't think the pipes will freeze.

As for the evaporation, since only water evaporates and not salt, I *don't* think your cars will rust from the evaporation. One thing I would be concerned about is maybe trapping the carbon monoxide from the cars in your garage and having that go back into the tank. I actually make my RO/DI water in the garage with a closed top, and so far I haven't seen any bad effects from this; but I also haven't tested the water so I don't know for sure.

If room allows, you can always put up another wall in the garage to separate the fish equipment from the cars and tools.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Jamie, that is pretty pimp, I must say!

 

[izib]

Ive got my sump in the garage, its been there for 10 months or so now. I park both cars in the garage and so far Ive seen no side effects. As for humidity my garage stays warm and humid but Ive never had a garage or lived in GA before so maybe thats normal.

I'm in the process of building a sump room around it and venting it outside. Before Ive had everything under the tank and I will never do that again after this, if I'm going to have a tank its going to have a separate place to put the support equipment.

 

[fishybusiness]

There is a really nice tank in the book "Ultimate Marine Aquariums" where a guy has a awesome reef with the sump in his garage.
Its a 500 gallon reef with a 125 as a sump. Its a 72"Lx30"Hx48"W tank. If you ever stop by the shop and I could let you read about his set up if you wanted to.

 

[spike]

FishyBusiness;38736 wrote: There is a really nice tank in the book "Ultimate Marine Aquariums" where a guy has a awesome reef with the sump in his garage.
Its a 500 gallon reef with a 125 as a sump. Its a 72"Lx30"Hx48"W tank. If you ever stop by the shop and I could let you read about his set up if you wanted to.

Sounds like Oregonreef.com. His tank was on a closet built in his garage. Before it crashed. I tried to go to the website and did not have any luck.