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  Oct. 31, 2011 1:04 p.m. JThw8 SuperDork

  Ok, so the majority of my house is over a basement, but we have a rear section that is on slab, about 40x14.

  Part of that (10x14) is sectioned off into a smaller room.

  The wife has talked me into getting back into aquariums and we are building a 210 gallon tank into the wall between the spaces with the smaller 10x14 room being the "fish room" with all of the filters, quarantine tanks, and equipment.

  The slab everything sits on sits 6"-10" above ground level on the outside of the house. What I'd really like to do is get a concrete saw and cut a channel from the center of the 10x14 out to the edge and embed a drain pipe (1" pvc) in the concrete with a drain in the center of the room so in the event of a catastrophe (tank break, overflow, etc) the damage would be minimized.

  So questions to those in the know.

  1) Does this idea sound ok? What flaws, or caveats do I need to be aware of?

  2) I'd like to put some kind of spring loaded flapper on the end of the pipe that goes outside to keep out rodents and to prevent air infiltration. Does such an item exist for said purpose or am I going to have to get creative with something made for other uses?

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  Oct. 31, 2011 1:20 p.m. Ian F SuperDork

  Is the 10x14 room heated?

  Is the slab sloped in any way?

  I'm less of a plumbing guy, but a 1" drain in a slab sounds small....

  Another idea that would involve less damage and much less potential code issues is to dike around the aquarium area and install a simple basement style sump pump. Then you could just run the line out a wall with a spring-loaded cap or a back-flow prevention valve (I installed one of these on my g/f's dishwasher drain as the sink drain was so slow that water would back up into the dishwasher - nasty).

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  Oct. 31, 2011 1:35 p.m. JThw8 SuperDork

  Ian F wrote:

  Is the 10x14 room heated?

  Is the slab sloped in any way?

  I'm less of a plumbing guy, but a 1" drain in a slab sounds small....

  Another idea that would involve less damage and much less potential code issues is to dike around the aquarium area and install a simple basement style sump pump. Then you could just run the line out a wall with a spring-loaded cap or a back-flow prevention valve (I installed one of these on my g/f's dishwasher drain as the sink drain was so slow that water would back up into the dishwasher - nasty).

  The slab is not really sloped that I can tell, I had planned to slope the channel cut for the drain pipe though.
  

  I could go larger than 1", actually, engaging my brain, 1" is definitely too small.

  Not sure how the 2nd solution would be any easier or more failsafe than a floor drain. The time that overflows are most likely to happen is during a power outage so pumps which require electricity are not much preferred over a good old drain :)

  Im not terribly concerned with code violations other than to make sure I do it safely. The whole idea of doing a built in 210 gallon tank means Im not going anywhere for a long time. If/when I do move I will pull the drain out and patch the floor back up.

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  Oct. 31, 2011 4:23 p.m. TRoglodyte HalfDork

  May be to expensive but what about a false floor? Lay out treated 2X4's on slab for floor joists Run 3" drain pipe under plywood and tile over top? Sawing concrete is not one of my most favorite things. You probably won't enjoy it either.

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  Oct. 31, 2011 5:22 p.m. Rad_Capz Reader

  What about elaborating on the theme and creating an indoor pond under the tanks which would have sufficient capacity to hold all the water from the largest tank above the normal level kept in the pond? You could keep Koi or something that doesn't require heat in the pond. If somehow the largest tank burst you'd contain the water and probably save the fish.

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  Oct. 31, 2011 5:54 p.m. JThw8 SuperDork

  TRoglodyte wrote:

  May be to expensive but what about a false floor? Lay out treated 2X4's on slab for floor joists Run 3" drain pipe under plywood and tile over top? Sawing concrete is not one of my most favorite things. You probably won't enjoy it either.

  I had considered it but the floor would need to be pretty darn beefy for the weight, and the whole joy of putting it in this area is less concern about the "wood and water don't mix" issues. Also since it would be raised in the small room but not the large one the water would have more of a tendency to run out into the main room in a flood which is exactly what I'm trying to avoid.

  Rad_Capz wrote:

  What about elaborating on the theme and creating an indoor pond under the tanks which would have sufficient capacity to hold all the water from the largest tank above the normal level kept in the pond? You could keep Koi or something that doesn't require heat in the pond. If somehow the largest tank burst you'd contain the water and probably save the fish.

  Because the rest of the room is also going to be my office :) I do plan on tiling and waterproofing the room about 12 inches up the wall so the room can be one big "catch basin" but I need someplace for the water to go once its caught. The door to the room will have a rubber seal at the bottom but I dont think it would contain water long and I'd have to open it to get in there to drain things so eventually the water is getting out :)

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  Oct. 31, 2011 6:31 p.m. mistanfo SuperDork

  In reply to Rad_Capz:

  Or he could find out if his other fish enjoyed koi.

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  Oct. 31, 2011 6:31 p.m. fasted58 SuperDork

  Being the slab sits above ground level can you bore under the slab from the outside to the center of the room for the drain pipe, then just jackhammer for the center floor drain. Contractor used an air drill and bored for water and gas lines under my sidewalks, prolly 5' wide.

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  Oct. 31, 2011 7:27 p.m. TRoglodyte HalfDork

  Masonry from the floor for the fish tanks, false floor for walking area. Treated lumber is supposed to be good for ground contact for 40 years? Heat the slab and raise it with lightweight concrete for a heatsink? I am not an architect or engineer but I have plenty of bad ideas

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  Oct. 31, 2011 7:40 p.m. JThw8 SuperDork

  TRoglodyte wrote:

  Masonry from the floor for the fish tanks, false floor for walking area. Treated lumber is supposed to be good for ground contact for 40 years? Heat the slab and raise it with lightweight concrete for a heatsink? I am not an architect or engineer but I have plenty of bad ideas

  But if I do that then the tank is sitting down in a well which just means the overflow/leak will go under the false floor :(

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