melev

Wow Marc, nice plans! You should definetely have a frag tank. Yeah, somehow incorporate the angle tank in the fish room as a fun tank. And, looped into the 400g tank so you don't have any extra maintenance on it. ;-)

i will miss the angled tank

I always enjoyed it when i was over. Where will all the carpets go?!

Nice Marc! Too bad that you have to move the water heater again.

frag tank!!!

I'd say take down the angled tank and leave it down. It might make a nice secondary system like you said, but what a pain it is to maintain two separate systems.

What exactly is a french drain?

It looks real good Marc. The addition of the french drain will be a great benefit to your fishroom. Just make sure to pick a porcelin tile that isn't slippery. When is the finish date you are hoping for?

Great looking plans, love the French drain, a frag tank would be a nice addition as well. Can't wait to see all this done.

Looks good, will be a lot of work moving all the stuff around and all. I would personally have the new door swing into the hall rather than into the fish room, it may not seem like a lot but you will end up setting something down and hate yourself because you have to move it or walk around when trying to open the door. The hall will always be generally clear because you will be going in and out your front door. If you are going to pour new concrete in the room just make sure it is ultra smooth and you should be able to seal it and be just as good if not better than tile, plus would be less work than putting in a tile floor. And if any cracking should appear you would be aware of it rather than the tile covering the cracks until they are larger. Also if you are going to pour more concrete you might run a empty conduit under the concrete for future upgrades. Large enough for say a couple 1/2 inch flexible tubes to run through. You could do this to keep a small tank in your entryway. The water would still be able to flow to your sump and be pumped back. Even if the line runs lower than your sump at some point if your entryway tank is higher than the sump the water will still flow. You could also use this to run to your frag tank or put a line in to fill your quarantine with tank water when new livestock comes in. You could also run some in the walls as well for electrical changes in the future. Run all your new electrical lines inside a conduit and if you need to pull something heavier pull the old line out and a new one in. That way when you upgrade to the new latest and greatest pump that runs better on 220 you can just change out the line to your sub panel.

You were talking about redoing the angled tank at one point in time. Nothing says it has to be in the same spot. Maybe put it in the kitchen/dining area on a counter you already have. Maybe even change the shape/size/design to something else. A 2 foot long 15 inch tall 8 inch deep narrow tank along the back of a counter would be kinda interesting. A couple t-5 bulbs and plumb in and you are set. You can still put things on the counter and mount the light underneath your cabinets. Shoot build it so that it looks like an extension of your cabinets. You can cut the backsplash in the area where the tank would be gain an extra two or three inches behind. It could plumb directly in to your new system pretty easy with the new 400 in the same position.

I've always hated how that closet door swung into the hallway, and since I know I have to enter the fishroom, the door swinging into the room isn't an issue at all. I can leave it wide open and walk in and out as needed. If something is in the way, having the door swinging out is the least of my problems. hehe

I don't think a drain will work if it runs under the slab and then back up into the sump. I'd expect burping in the line at the very least. I'll talk to Pete about it, since he's good about fluid dynamics; maybe he'll calm my concerns. If I can hide the pipe and run the angled tank, that'd be great but I really don't think that is plausible.

Well unless copious amounts of air enter the line there shouldn't be much of a problem as far as I can see. Water will always seek it's own level if it's not interfered with. So basically you figure the top of the sump will be 18 inches off of the floor. Your angled tank will be about 36 to 40 inches off of the floor. Water going into a drain even if going below the floor level will still flow out of the other end, flow may be a bit more limited than before but still feasible.

The only thing I am thinking about the door is that should you say. . . add a small table/ladder/fragtank etc. near the end of your tank where your door will swing you may have some difficulties. Kinda like how your previous sump was into the fish room a bit. If the door into the dining area swung in to the room that sump would never have worked. But maybe a bi-fold door would be in order it would not come into the room or hallway much at all.

I'd really prefer a forcefield if I had that option! Just zoosh! zoosh! and I'm in or out. But since we aren't as advanced as Star Trek quite yet, I'm going to have to go with a real door. The area directly to the right of the door will be the external overflow and the two Dart pumps, so I don't imagine I'll be doing anything in that particular spot too often.

The new sump will fit underneath the tank within the stand. How quaint, right?

marc, what about a pocket door, it looks like you could fit it in. i think a frag tank would be great, now that your in the planning stage you could put it anywhere, but the closer to your sump might save some extra plumbing. i like the idea of the french drain, and a tile floor that could be great additions to the room. keep us updated, i like it.

I've considered pocket doors repeatedly, but there simply isn't enough wall to pull it off.

The french drain idea is really taking shape, I'm happy to report. I was a little concerned about a sink draining into it, but since it isn't going to the actual sewer system, my concerns were unwarranted.