110 sump system crawlspace build

Just finished it. 55 gallon sump for bio filtration and 55 gallon rdsb fuge. Pics to come but for now... sleep.... shower... then sleep...

 

Here's a teaser while acrylic cools down....

 

And we have a finished product!!
That's 55 gallons supply tank with bio filtration skimming and socks. And a 55 gallon fuge with a vsdb of bout 10 inches. Macro algae and pod condos. And a hell of a lot of work. Two days in about 4 ft of space. And I am not a small guy... buh. My knees and back are dead!

 

I went with Tru unions in the crawlspace, and normal threaded unions under each tank. That way I can re plumb as needed throughout the house.

 

I keep my water at 80-82. The sump is wrapped in 3\4 Styrofoam with a piece that covers the front too. The barrel has a blanket of aluminum covered bubble wrap. Nominal drop on just the tub is about a degree on a very cold day. End goal is to have three under sized heaters. On in each tank and one in the sump. This way if one does fail it won't cook the fish.
With that in mind the crawl space has a bypass from the first floor. And a basement bypass. So in winter with the garage heated it only gets about 50 down the in the dead of winter. So not terrible. The tank itself seems pretty well insulated with the foam but it's a test for time at this point.

 

Isn't that so wierd...? I showed my wife and joked about it too. Must have been a problem on the back end. Server hosts either two numbers or image was transposed. Pretty neat thought

 

Here's the final product! To answer the insulation question. The area is about 6 by 5 or so. And is now partitioned with plastic tapping and a woolen sheeting tarp. The warmth from the tank and equipment should keep the space just about right in the Winter.

From the outside of the crawl space.

Added a quick access panel for the dual skimmers as well so I do t have to go trudging to empty them.

Equipment upgrades include two skimmer. A recirculating skimmer and an urchin with a jet system. The return pump is 4800 gph that runs both tanks. Bypass for the sump flow. The fuge and the mr 20 Mr 30 and skimmers. Added about 50 extra gallons of volume to the tanks.