Garage sump/refug.. Good or bad idea??

I currently have a 125 dt tank and 40g sump. Total water volume is 130 after live rock and etc. I have a fairly high bioload and to keep parameters within decent limits I am dosing 4.5oz of alk and calcium from BRS daily. According to Brandon at BRS this is a very high amount for my system size.

So I was considering going with a calcium reactor but then had a bright idea of relocating my sump to the garage. It is aprox 45' from the DT but would be ~2-3' lower. From what I read as long as it is lower the overflow should gravity feed no matter what the distance is......??!??!??

By relocating I could go to a Rubbermaid container (say 150 gal)

Pros that I know:
1) increase my total volume by 50-75 percent
2) skimmer out of house and not crammed in so tightly
3) less room noise at the display tank
4) easier water changes
5) ability to add much larger fug
6) ability to add more live rock.
7) decrease expense for dosing
8) more water = more stability

Cons that I know:
1) temp flucuations (north alabama so low 20's for winter and high 90's in summer)
2) dust
3) figuring out return pump size and pipe size to plumb
4) increased expense for water changes
5) setting it all up

Thoughts??? Bad idea or good???

 

It's always a good idea to add water volume. However, with that distance, your costs to cylce the water is going to increase (new pump/higher wattage). Also, you will pay through the roof for heaters to keep that sump a constant temp in the winter, and will most likely need a chiller in the summer...unless your garage is well insulated, and climate controlled. I have my RO/DI and mixing containers in my garage, and, in the winter, usually have to wait until it warms up (later in the day) to do water changes. In the summer, I have (2) 2L bottles filled with frozen RO that I put into my change water before to bring the temp down. The water volume of my change water is 30+ gallons. Having personally run a Rubbermaid container as a sump, it is nice. You can add much more LR in the sump, for added swimming room in the DT. The downside is baffles...very difficult to scribe into the shape, and hard to secure. You could go without baffles, but run the risk of micro-bubbles getting back into the DT. I never had a problem with dust in my Rubbermaid system, but household cleaners are always a concern. Anything you do (work-wise) in your garage is going to be dangerous to your tank.

 

Just to add :

My garage is not climate controlled.. I have a 30x50' detached work shop and a separate barn so working in the area isnt a huge concern.. I had figured no baffles but would have to see..

With my current setup I keep a 30 gallon RODI (garbage can) full of RO water in garage and 55 gallon barrel full of salt water... I have a circulation pump that runs 24/7 on the fresh salt water.. The 55 gal has a relatively small footprint compared to its height and I felt it somewhat "wicks" its temp from the concrete it sets on helping it maintain a little of its temp (that probably makes no sense and sounds ridiculous but was my simple way of thinking).

Anyway the 55 gal barrel has been setup for about a year and last summer its temps would reach as high as mid 80's when I did a water change.. I was kinda hoping a container with a larger footprint (more surface area on the concrete) would help control the temps even better (again probably ridiculous thought). The temps this winter didnt get as low as they have been in the past but I do heat that water with a small heater and keep it consistently at 78 degrees with ease..

With all that said that water is not being pumped to and from a DT 50' away many times hourly under the house through pvc pipe so I am not sure if that would help or hurt the temp control... As for the power consumption, I had not taken that into consideration and yes I agree with that

 

Those two cons..bad idea.

 

Another Pro would be fresh air. I really wish I could run my sump outside.The room I have my tank in has no windows and the two doors are tight enough to allow the room to be submerged in 10 feet of water with no leaks.lol Atmospheric conditions are VERY important. We run our air for up to 10 months here so I think the only issues to overcome F.O.D. has covered.

 

+1 However, dust can be overcome, to some extent. My old garage sump was housed in an wardrobe type closet. Not only did it protect my sump from the garage environment, Mr. Tumnus could handle my top-offs.

 

My first thought was the temp swings in the sump enviroment, thus, IMHO, not a good idea.

 

If your that worried about the temp swings get some 2" insulation foam from Lowes or Home Depot and build a giant box around the entire refuge area. Including foam on the base to stop the concrete from sucking heat out. The tank will act as a heat sink and be like a sauna in that little room. You can make it so the whole front comes off to work on everything. Here is a link on how to build "hexayurts" www.http://hexayurt.com/ where I got the idea from. I built one of these at Burning Man a few years ago with one inch foam. It stayed cool in the day time and warm at night inside my yurt, while the outside temps were anywhere from 40 deg at night to 110 deg in the day. An added bonus is dust and contamination would be eliminated. They are really easy to build and cheap plus you could use duct tape in your situation because it wont be exposed to sun like they are at burning man. Oh yea and insulate the pipes as well that lead to and from your DT.

 

My sump and fuge about 1 year in garage, I like it, easy access, no noise in room. It about 6' away from DT. In winter I use heater for little while and chiller in summer.