Help with fishing tubing from basement to first floor

[Beazy]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on R2R! I've been a chronic lurker but I have been working on my current build this month that should be my "final" one for a real long time. I was hoping to fish 3 lines through the walls from the basement to hopefully have a line to fill my ATO, and then 2 other lines for a DOS auto water change. I have a good understanding of what I need to do and I've done a fair bit of research, I just don't understand how everyone is moving all this plumbing around their homes.

The image below is a shot from my basement. The hole I circled is to an outlet that my tank uses. Everything in this picture is directly under my tank

Unrelated, I feel like its a cardinal sin if I don't include a picture of my tank on my first post lol. Reefer 750 G2 (The AP9X on the left is broken and is currently going through Kessil's replacement process)

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on R2R! I've been a chronic lurker but I have been working on my current build this month that should be my "final" one for a real long time. I was hoping to fish 3 lines through the walls from the basement to hopefully have a line to fill my ATO, and then 2 other lines for a DOS auto water change. I have a good understanding of what I need to do and I've done a fair bit of research, I just don't understand how everyone is moving all this plumbing around their homes.

The image below is a shot from my basement. The hole I circled is to an outlet that my tank uses. Everything in this picture is directly under my tank

Unrelated, I feel like its a cardinal sin if I don't include a picture of my tank on my first post lol. Reefer 750 G2 (The AP9X on the left is broken and is currently going through Kessil's replacement process)

I literally just went through the floor I looked in the basement and made sure there was nothing in the path of where I was going to drill that I went upstairs and I chose the spot that I wanted the hoses to run which was the closest wood plank of my hardwood floors to the wall and I drilled three holes through that plank straight down about a half an inch each and ran my hoses through that. I chose to do it this way feeling that if I used the last board only closest to the wall if I ever wanted it fixed it would be easy to pull the trim off the wall and replace that one wood plank

 

[fish farmer]

I take measurements upstairs and downstairs. You know where the outlet is so you can get some estimate where it would be safe to drill. I assume since the tank is running you are drilling behind the sump?

 

[Beazy]

I literally just went through the floor I looked in the basement and made sure there was nothing in the path of where I was going to drill that I went upstairs and I chose the spot that I wanted the hoses to run which was the closest wood plank of my hardwood floors to the wall and I drilled three holes through that plank straight down about a half an inch each and ran my hoses through that. I chose to do it this way feeling that if I used the last board only closest to the wall if I ever wanted it fixed it would be easy to pull the trim off the wall and replace that one wood plank

I was considering going through the floor but I have some pretty hard tile on the first floor that I would have to go through. That’s where the idea of using preexisting runs came from

 

[Beazy]

I take measurements upstairs and downstairs. You know where the outlet is so you can get some estimate where it would be safe to drill. I assume since the tank is running you are drilling behind the sump?

Yeah, I left some space to the left of the tank where I’d want to make the run from the wall go through. I just haven’t been able to visualize how I would get 3 1/4 lines to go through

 

[JoshH]

I would measure off from the plug in the wall to roughly where you want it to be. Drill up from underneath into the wall cavity. Now cut a hole in the wall exactly where you want the lines to come out. Once you have done that fish a coat hanger (Ideally a fishing tape but not worth it if you are only using it once) up the hole into the insulation. Try to get it as straight as you can. Then go upstairs and dig around in the insulation a bit until you find it. Once found pull it out of the hole in the wall and bend it so it can't fall out again. Head back down stairs. Use electrical tape to tape an RODI line to the coat hanger. Then tape 2 other RODI lines to that line. Go up and pull the coat hanger out. The RODI lines should follow. Then grab one of these

Carlon 1-Gang 14 cu. in. PVC Old Work Electrical Switch and Outlet Box B114RB - The Home Depot

The 14 cu. in. PVC Old Work Electrical Outlet Box is designed to work with non-metallic sheathed cable in accordance with Article 314 of the NEC. This item is great for light commercial and residential

www.homedepot.com

Drill a hole large enough to fit all three tubes through the bottom of it, fish the tubes through and then install the box. Once that's done, install an outlet plate similar to this

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-1-Gang-Brush-Plate-White-5038-WH/207161871

Or this..

Commercial Electric White 1-Gang 1-Decorator/Rocker/1-Duplex Wall Plate (1-Pack) 5037-WH - The Home Depot

Commercial Electric's patented 1-Gang Split Wall Plate is used to install low voltage cables behind your HDTV, amplifier or other audio/video devices. With the split design, this cable plate can be installed

www.homedepot.com

Or even grab a solid plate and drill for RODI bulkheads.

If you wish to do this, Just shoot me a PM and I'll be happy to talk you through a more detailed guide.

 

[benmed]

Another tip is to use a very small diameter drill first to go through the floor but is long enough to see on the other side. You can adjust the position of your real drill based on that.

 

[Abarge16]

Klein Tools 3/8 in. x 72 in. Flex Auger Bit 53717 - The Home Depot

www.homedepot.com

SKU# 203871767

Huuuge help you can tie off to the bit after you have drilled your hole and pull it through!

 

[Beazy]

This is incredible! Thanks guys, I’ll grab one I need this week and share how it went. Expecting it to be smooth, it’s a short distance through the wall

 

[Beazy]

Update

I’m so close to finishing. My puppy has been taking up a lot of my time this week and I haven’t been able to dedicate a good amount of time.

Auto water change is good! Was able to get a long Aquabus cable and fished one through the wall. Feels good to have a setup in the basement

ATO is almost setup. It works good but I’m pretty sure there is a leak somewhere. I was filling up the built in ATO container that comes with Red Sea reefers and a few weeks ago I didn’t notice but I had a small leak under my stand. Same thing happened last week when I filled it up. At first I didn’t think it was the ATO but I’m pretty sure it is now. I don’t know where the leak is though. There is no water in the back of the tank and it truly looks like the water is coming from the directly in the center of the sump. Will investigate further this week

once I get the leak fixed this will be awesome! I also took the time to clean up my cables. Super happy with how it all turned out and I appreciate the help guys. This was super simple and I had such a hard time wrapping my head around how to fish the cables until I got the steps above

EDIT: added pics