water proofing fishroom

[Edwardw771]

so I flooding the basement for about the 10th time last night. Its always something stupid that I forget to do. And I'm looking to do something as I just in case It happens again.

The goal is to keep any water that might happen to end up on the floor in the 8 by 12 fish room. And not on the new carpet thats coming in 2 weeks.

I asked someone about a rubber pond liner but they said that would work because it will be walked on. Any ideas has anyone ever ran into this problem?

 

[AnDom1]

How do you keep flooding the room? Sump or top off overflowing?

Dom

 

[Edwardw771]

You name it I've done it. I know the right anwser is don't flood it anymore but its going to happen again. It always happens again.

 

[AnDom1]

My experience with flooding is primarily with filling storage tanks. First, I had a shop some years ago and had a huge vat to store water for treatment and addition to both the SW and FW display tanks. On occasion I would forget that the vat was being filled and would go home only to come in the next AM to a massive flood. Recently, in filling my RO/DI holding tank, I forgot that it was "on" and came home to a (thankfully) minor flood. My solution in both cases was to put a hole near the top of both the vat and the RO tank and using a bulkhead run a drain line to the sink. So, if (when) I forget the unit is on, any overflow will drain to the sink and not the floor.

Note..Many RO units come with auto shutoff mechanisms as well.

Dom

 

[Phyl]

French drain around the perimeter of the fish room is the only way I can think of to protect the rest of the basement. Preferably with a sump pump in one of the corners to have an exit path for the water you dump on the floor.

That and a water sensor near the wall to the main room so you're alerted to water on the floor.

 

[PaulM]

you could use fiberglass like they use on custom showers.

 

[reeferwanabe]

This could take some getting used to but try keeping a record hanging up next to your tank writing down what you do and when you do it. look at it before you do any thing and after you have done something. go thru a check list before you leave the room.

 

[mikem]

I think a water sensor wired upstairs might work.

 

[Carlo]

The pond liner will get very slippery so probably not the best idea. Fiberglass might also have the same problem being slippery.

I think I'd take a step back and rework the plumbing and size of VATs you are using. For example increasing the plumbing size on the drain of the Xenia VAT will help keep that from overflowing.

Ideally, you should be able to kill power and not have any floods so that should be tested as well.

Maybe instead of working the whole floor you could concentrate on some overflow pans or similar items. For example put something like a 150 Rubbermaid underneath the small tanks so it will catch any overflow instead of the floor. Maybe you could find a large shower base and use it the same way underneath the smaller tanks that tend to overflow.

Going back to the original idea of using cheap pond liner you could probably fabricate an "overflow pan" using it and some wood directly underneath those tanks but not on the floor itself where you would walk. One of those loud water alarms in combination with some type of overflow drain would help (when you are home to hear it) too.

I think the main thing is just to bite the bullet and see if you can solve the current problems that keeps causing the overflows, then try and put in safe guards the best you can for the unexpected.

The french drain idea is the best overall idea but if not already in place is next to impossible to install after the fact properly. Probably the closest thing you could do to that is to sink a drum in the floor (with sump pump) and pitch the floor a bit to drain into it or use strategic overflow pans to drain into it.

Sorry I couldn't be more help but maybe if you get enough ideas from people something will catch your eye that is doable. These are the best ideas I've got at the moment.

Carlo

 

[MikeNapoli]

I'm with Mike M and go with the water flood sensors... they are supposed to be really good and going off at the first sign of any water on the ground.

That and Phyl's french drains, but I don't know how easy that is to do after the concrete floor was already poured.

 

[Phyl]

In our last house, we got water in the basement all the time. We had a drain system put in the floor. Guys came with jackhammers and dug a trench around the entire basement (of course you'd just need to do the fish room). After that they just poured new concrete. Seems like the worst part would be the concrete dust. You'd have to shut down the basement fish system for the week it took to trench it.

We're lucky in that our floor is sloped into our french drain channel behind the fish system and the water naturally flows into it. The downside is that we could put a lot of water out of the tank and not know it because it stays farly well hidden. That's where those water sensors come in handy.

 

[Brian]

I've said it before and I will say it again, floor drain!!

 

[RichT]

You could use some of that plastic baseboard trim in the fish room along the common wall with the living area. Place a nice thick bead of caulk between the bottom of the trim and the concrete. That should help keep the water from running under the partition so easily. You would also have to consider some way to divert the water away from the door opening. This, in combination with an alarm and possibly a bottom draw sump pump wired to the alarm, set in a depression in the low area of the room may give you the piece of mind your looking for.

A "french drain" or perimeter drain may cause a whole new problem for you. The problem Phyl described is usually caused by ground water coming up from below. Generally, ground water will rise from below the basement slab, follow the bottom of the slab and emerge from any cracks or expansion joints into the basement. Provided the basements walls are properly waterproofed, rain water from the surface will flow downwards along the face of the wall to the ground water elevation below. Obviously, water follows the path of least resistance. Ideally, there is a layer of clean crushed stone or sand under the slab. The perimeter drain, which usually terminates in a sump with a pump, gives the water an easy path to follow under the slab to be pumped out. If you were to install a perimeter drain with openings to the top of the slab, you could effectively provide a way for the ground water to more easily get into your basement. This is how "french drains" are used in my part of the world, but everywhere is different.

Hope that helps,

 

[magic]

I agree with ReefDrumz. A simple drain in the floor. You can use a star chisel to make small holes in the floor. Not much dust.

 

[Edwardw771]

thanks for all the ideas everyone. I got up at 6 this morning and moved 2 of the 4 tanks out the room that is the first step. The floor would be extreamly hard to break out. Mike and I had to use 3 or 4 shot with the hiti to get nails into it. So that will be the last option. I do plan on redoing all the plumbing and basically starting over. If I don't do that I will never stop all the floods. plus i have to plan out the 265 for it doesn't add to the mess.

Some people over on RC gave me some good suggestions
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1282907

 

[paintman27]

When i was having our house built I new exactly where my filtration room was going to be in my basement. So before I poured the floor I roughed in a drain line in the center of the filtration room thinking that when we poured the floor i would just pitch the concrete in that section so that any water would run to the center of the room and go down the drain. well long story short.... When the day came to pour the floor the mason contractor forgot to lower the flange to below grade and by the time he realized it the concrete had set up to much. So now I have a really nice leve floor with a really nice drain in the center of my filtration room that is about an inch to high. And whenever I have a flood the water runs every direction except towards the drain . So I just drilled holes in the top of my sump and storage container and ran a drain line from each hole to the sink. ;D