Dave's multi-floor South American adventure

[Crispy]

seems like the op may be thinking a bit complex and rackin' his brain for nothing. That filter combo is great for that tank IMO. Imagine going with figure #3 and getting a clog somewhere? lol... think it would save headaches and be easy if kept simple. Nice tank btw!!

 

[DaveB]

seems like the op may be thinking a bit complex and rackin' his brain for nothing.

I have a habit of doing that. I like to invent problems that I can solve.

Another dumb question: Would having a return lower in the water, using one of the holes in the floor, reduce the power of the return at all due to it being deeper in the water with some amount of increased pressure around it?

I may do multiple holes in the bottom now, rather than sealing them and using 6 new ones in the back.

I also need to decide what the best way is to give this a black background. I worry that paint or a sheet on the back will make any imperfections in the inside of the acrylic stand out. But painting the inside seems like a dumb idea.

Thanks for the responses - obviously just having three canisters going works for the simplest scenario... but if I introduce the idea of a drip or at the very least a quick drain... how would I do that? It would be ideal if I could have valves to channel the FX5 pumps to pump out rather than back into the tank, but without having to actually use the separate OUT hose for it (because I don't want to spill that little splash that comes out ever time).

If I had the tank over beneath the window a drip would be easy. I'd have easy access to the utility room and the ground water hole and I'd also be right below and next to the upstairs tank. I could run the RO underneath the upstairs tank, drip it into the sump and the tank downstairs, and have everything collect and drip into the ground water hole. I could do that if there's room above the tank for a projector screen. Which is sort of the problem. I'd also then end up with big speakers on either side of it and the sound wouldn't be as good.

Bobby - now, are you suggesting I just poke a hole in the grey cover there and let the water drip freely into that? Or would I need to splice into a pipe that is already on its way in there?

I don't get the impression that there's just a pit of standing water underneath there... more like it's a closed tank.

I guess there's no way to know without opening it up.

 

[DaveB]

If I have to do any reducing or re-sizing of pipe between hole and filter, I run the risk of possibly having some trickling water noises, right? So I want to make damn sure I get the right size holes cut the first time?

(speaking of which, I've drilled holes in the top of acrylic before and it's easy enough, but I assume I need to be extra extra careful when it's inside, so it's 100% clean on each side and perfectly straight... I'll have to read the hole drilling thread for the expert tips.)

 

[DaveB]

The more I think about it, the stupider it seems to have the tank on the rear wall behind the couch. It also puts the couch much closer to the speakers than I'd prefer.

It would be really cool to have a lower projector screen, one I could even build into a tank stand setup, and keep the tank centered under the windows... so one can sit on the couch and view either fish or the projector.

But the projector is 20" deep, that'd place the screen a good 26" from the wall, and that'd mean a throw distance of 118". And according to the manual, the maximum screen width is the distance / 1.85. That's 63.5"... not even a 75" screen. That's no fun at all. Hopefully there's a workaround.

This has nothing to do with fish or plumbing, but the room setup is part of the project as a whole...

If I can put the tank on that same wall as the screen, not only would it make more sense, it'd also allow me to run a little drain line over to the ground water hole without it being too intrusive. Which is a big bonus and does make this fish related...

 

[Danger_Chicken]

Before draining into the sump make sure you know where you sump pump discharges. Mine discharges at the curb, I had to replumb my drip drain a few months after installing it because it would have created an ice sheet in the street in the winter. I went into the house drain and dont have to worry about the pump burning out or flooding during power outages. My sump pump was running 3-4 times an hour.

 

[DaveB]

That sounds like a much better option for a variety of reasons (the house drain). I have no idea where that is, of course.

Our groundwater sump is shared between all three units. Which is great, because we get to hear it whenever someone upstairs showers/flushes/etc.

 

[DaveB]

I'm thinking that I want to run the Eheim with the two existing holes in the bottom, provided I can come up with a way to hide the intake and protect it from getting sand spit into it repeatedly. A rock pile, maybe. I just wish it was farther back... it's too close to the front.

Then the FX5s can be plumbed through new holes in the back drilled at wherever I think gives me the best return distribution. Maybe I can even make one into a spray bar or something.

That leaves me with just the question about whether there's a way for me to T each FX5 return safely and have a double-pumped super fast emergency drain if necessary. Although if I am able to plumb over into the grey water receptacle at basement floor level, I guess I can also just do the same with a T on the intakes, shut the FX5s off, and let gravity drain the tank to the point of the intakes... the Eheim could keep running and there'd be no risk of burning an FX5 pump.

So that's all encouraging... just need to decide on pipe sizes, hole sizes, and do that bit of work, which really isn't much. Then I can make lids and the tank can be up and running even without a finished stand.

As far as stands go, I'm definitely thinking it'd be really cool to extend out some crown moulding trim on the top to hide a projector screen, which I can then deploy right over the tank front. It'd end up being a nice mighty entertainment center piece of furniture.

While I'd really prefer to do such a thing as a full wall unit, the best place to put it is under the window. That changes things a bit. I set the tank up in that spot, on 24" stools, with some stand-in speakers. I'll have to move the speaker to access the closet, but that was going to be the case anyway. (Sound quality will suffer now with that giant thing in between the speakers, though). The problem is that the bottom of the window casing is 64.5" and the sill itself is 68" from the ground. Even bumping up to 72" height, that means the tank will need to be pretty low. No big deal, though, as even 24" above the ground it's close to eye level when seated on the couch. The problem is the screen. If it's a 45" high viewing area (plus the extra space around it) plus 6" for the unit that it rolls in and out of, that leaves me with a screen whose bottom is about 20" from the floor. That's pretty damn low.

This all likely means that I'll have to dump my Runco projector, which has too long a throw, and pick up a cheap Epson 8100. That thing will mount close to the ceiling and still throw a giant picture onto a low screen, which is kind of amazing. It'll cost me a lot more to do this, though.

Anyway, does anyone have any photos of wall unit tanks or anything like that? I'm going to start designing the stand furniture. The carpet work won't happen Tuesday after all so I've got lots of time to plan before I can start doing anything. Maybe I'll end up deciding to just block the window... though that'll end up meaning I'll have to break the unit down when it comes time to sell.

On the plus side, if I do set it up on this side, I can run a drain pipe to the utility room very easily, provided there's a way to tap into whatever is under the grey hole cover.

Here are some pictures. So far Cooper does not approve. He'd rather have the room completely empty like before so he can have more space to play.

 

[DaveB]

Here's a preliminary sketch of the furniture I want to build for it. The top trim area will conceal a 6x4x90" motorized screen unit that can come down. I'll end up blocking most (or all) of the window, depending on how high off the ground I feel like putting the bottom of the screen. In this case, the tank bottom is at 32" and all 6 doors will be the same size.

We'll see how it actually turns out. I have no woodworking experience. And a unit like that will need to be in pieces in order to get in/out the door.

 

[Pharaoh]

Bobby - now, are you suggesting I just poke a hole in the grey cover there and let the water drip freely into that? Or would I need to splice into a pipe that is already on its way in there?

I don't get the impression that there's just a pit of standing water underneath there... more like it's a closed tank.

I guess there's no way to know without opening it up.

I am suggesting exactly that. I wouldn't recommend going anywhere near the septic side. The ground water sump pit will work exactly as you need it to. Mine already had a hole in the cover, so I just ran the PVC over to that hole. I don't recommend splicing into another line as you could create problems with draining and servicing in the future.

If I have to do any reducing or re-sizing of pipe between hole and filter, I run the risk of possibly having some trickling water noises, right? So I want to make damn sure I get the right size holes cut the first time?

(speaking of which, I've drilled holes in the top of acrylic before and it's easy enough, but I assume I need to be extra extra careful when it's inside, so it's 100% clean on each side and perfectly straight... I'll have to read the hole drilling thread for the expert tips.)

As long as the intakes are underwater, you should have any gurgling regardless of the size of the pipe. If there is no air to get in the pipe, then it won't gurgle.

That sounds like a much better option for a variety of reasons (the house drain). I have no idea where that is, of course.

Our groundwater sump is shared between all three units. Which is great, because we get to hear it whenever someone upstairs showers/flushes/etc.

Your ground water should be completely separate of the septic pit. The one you want to use is there to catch any water that may try to find its way into your basement. I'll try and snap a pic of mine when i get home. I think it will put you a little more at ease with what you are shooting for.

 

[DaveB]

I am suggesting exactly that. I wouldn't recommend going anywhere near the septic side. The ground water sump pit will work exactly as you need it to. Mine already had a hole in the cover, so I just ran the PVC over to that hole. I don't recommend splicing into another line as you could create problems with draining and servicing in the future.

So you're saying if I take that grey circle up I'll see standing water down below? That doesn't seem right. I'd think I would've heard water in there before.

I'm also wondering if an assumption is wrong somewhere. The one pipe coming up and out of the black septic one joins the big fat one that also accepts the stuff from the grey one.

As long as the intakes are underwater, you should have any gurgling regardless of the size of the pipe. If there is no air to get in the pipe, then it won't gurgle.

Oh, right. Duh.

Your ground water should be completely separate of the septic pit. The one you want to use is there to catch any water that may try to find its way into your basement. I'll try and snap a pic of mine when i get home. I think it will put you a little more at ease with what you are shooting for.

Thanks. The easy thing for me to do is to just go yank the grey one up. But I'm not in the mood to wiggle back there and relocate stuff just yet. Once I throw out the shelf in there it'll be an easier task.

And really, I can probably do that now, since I just built myself a new little shelf. This was my "get to know the tools and wood" experiment.

I'm going to add to it to give it a bit more support (it'll hold plenty of weight but I want it to be immune to sagging from spills) and build a hamper into it. Possibly a nice big two section one on drawer rails. That garbage can as hamper thing is kind of unbecoming.

(I put an AC110 on that tank, though, which is a problem. Somehow the little baby yellow labs have no issue with it, but a larger satanoperca got stuck to the intake already. I freed him, but now I'm concerned.)

This should also serve as evidence of the fact that I have NO woodworking experience, which will make it all the more impressive if/when I end up building something that actually looks like furniture.