PVC plumbing

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pat8you

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Apr 30, 2007
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I'm plumbing a tank now and i was wondering is the purple PVC primer bad for the fish? The glue says its good for pottable water but i didn't see anything like that on the primer. I'm sure they would put on the bottle a giant warning if the primer could effect your water so people didn't poisin them selves but i just wanna double check
 
oops just realized i posted in the wrong section on accident. Can a mod move this thread to the DIY section?
 
The purple primer is fine to use. Same with the glue. It's all safe once it's dried.
 
I have a question: I just completed a new build. I made a 90 gallon acrylic tank, 30 gallon acrylic sump, the stand and the canopy. I am now in the process of doing my plumbing and I am totally lost. The output of my tank uses a 1inch bulk head and the input uses a 3/4 bulkhead. Can anyone give me any ideas as to how to connect PVC pipes to this and my pumps.

Also, I am considering using a pump (quite 1 2200) to draw the water out of my main tank and a pump (rio 2500) to push the water back into the main tank. Does anyone have any problems or concerns about doing this. Looking for opinions.
 
I have a question: I just completed a new build. I made a 90 gallon acrylic tank, 30 gallon acrylic sump, the stand and the canopy. I am now in the process of doing my plumbing and I am totally lost. The output of my tank uses a 1inch bulk head and the input uses a 3/4 bulkhead. Can anyone give me any ideas as to how to connect PVC pipes to this and my pumps.

Also, I am considering using a pump (quite 1 2200) to draw the water out of my main tank and a pump (rio 2500) to push the water back into the main tank. Does anyone have any problems or concerns about doing this. Looking for opinions.
Usually a new thread should be started with a seperate question not related to the original post but since the original question has been answered in this thread Ill take a stabb at this one.

Now I am assuming you are reffering to pre-drilled bulkheads on the main display and not the bulkhead fittings on the sump

The 1" output on the tank is the drain line I would assume and the 3/4" is the return line. You only need one pump that is to pump water from your sump back into your tank (3/4") the 1" drain line will be gravity fed so no pump is needed. The plumbing for the drain line is pretty simple just go to the hardware store and get some 1" PVC elbows and piping and just map it out cut the pipe to the size you want it and use the elbows to direct the direction of the pipe. After its built use basic PVC glue to hold it together (its not toxic if you let it dry to a solid state before use)

The return line is a bit more tricky. I don't know your exact setup but you want no retrictions on this line (Hard PVC elbows restrict flow) I use vinyl tubing. Just need a couple adapters to connect your pump to 3/4" vinyl tubing and then connect it to your 3/4" bulkhead to flow into your tank. Do you have locline plumbing for the flow directors already?
 
Also, I am considering using a pump (quite 1 2200) to draw the water out of my main tank and a pump (rio 2500) to push the water back into the main tank. Does anyone have any problems or concerns about doing this. Looking for opinions.
You do not need a pump to draw water out of the tank. The return pump will force the water in the tank to flow back into the sump via the 1" drain line.
 
well, I would like to thank you all for your replies. I am new to this forum community. So, I am un-aware of where I should be posting...

Now, I know I don't need a pump on the drain side, but I was considering placing one there because I wanted to make sure that my flow rate was fast and I can turn over a lot of water. Are there any downsides to placing a pump on the drain side?

Another question: what is "Do you have locline plumbing for the flow directors already?" locline plumbing?

Also, I am confused on the size tubing I need for my lines. My drain line is 1" and my return line is 3/4". So, what size tubing would I need?

Also, I planned on placing ball valves on my lines? What is the benefit or downside to doing so?
 
The drain line will drain what is pumped into the tank(to an extent) the drain has to match up with the return pump. if you add a pump on the drain you can't really manage it the odds of it overpumping from your main display are great and you could possibly get a siphon that could drain the entire tank causing disaster.

Locline plumbing is the stuff a lot of people use to direct the flow into the tank here is a photo of mine. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f11/increased-flow-causing-overflow-issue-102704.html its not available locally for me so I ordered online from glass holes.com for $35 they shipped me the return line already setup with the locline plumbing on it a bit spendy but I didn't want to deal with it at the time.

The drain line should be larger than your return line so 1" drain and 3/4" return should be fine depending on how large of a pump you have a 1" drain line will handle about 600gph more than that and you need a bigger drain line

Ball valves are good to have incase you want to stop the flow right away. I have never used the ball-valve on my drain line the ball-valve on the return line I used at first to slow the flow a bit but now its all the way open and I don't use it at all.
 
Welcome to AA....I just noticed you weren't the OP on this thread.

DO NOT use a pump to draw water into your sump. It won't work and even trying it can and most likely will lead to a disaster.

Let's step back a bit.
I made a 90 gallon acrylic tank,....
Did you actually make this yourself or did you buy it? Is this a Reef Ready tank? Where is the drain line and return line drilled?

The plumbing to and from the sump is pretty simple. Your return line is 3/4", so use 3/4" ID pvc or clear tubing and go from the pump to the bulkhead. Use whatever adapters you may need to match up the pump outlet with the 3/4" line...if necessary.
The drain line is 1", so use 1" ID pvc or 1" flexible drain line from HD or Lowes and just go directly from the bulkhead into the sump.

You can use ball valves if you want. I have them, but never use them. You can take a look at my build thread (link is below) and see how I did my plumbing.
 
thanks for all of your help everyone. I think I am going to keep it simple from this point on. I will use only 1 pump on the return line and I will use hoses instead of PVC at this point.

cccapt: To answer your question. Yes, I built the 90gal. aquarium from acrylic. I drilled the holes into the bottom using circle bits for my drill. I made the stand primarily using 2X4's and MDF. So, the tank is reef ready. I think I did a great job on it with the exception of this plumbing issue.

I took the bulkhead fittings with me to lowes to purchase tubing and the 3/4ID tubing worked fine for the 3/4 bulkhead. However, the 1" bulkhead required 1-1/4"ID tubing. Go figure that.

The Ball Valves were going to be used to control the flow, but I think I will leave it wide open and see where I am. I have a 2 pumps.....(quiet 1 2200 and rio 2500) which would be better to run my return line?
 
I drilled the holes into the bottom using circle bits for my drill.
So you just have the bulkhead thru the bottom? You tank is drilled, but not Reef Ready. Reef Ready are pre-drilled and have overflow towers built into them.
Is there an overflow or are you planning on building a Durso?
I have a 2 pumps.....(quiet 1 2200 and rio 2500) which would be better to run my return line?
I have both a QO and RIO and I like the QO better. The QO runs almost silent and the RIO I have is pretty loud, but it's the needlewheel version of the 2500 (not sure if that would make any diff tho).
 
cccapt: the tank is certainly reef ready. the overflow tower is in place. the drain holes are behind the overflow tower and in the bottom of the tank. I am a novice but I'm not that new. LOL

I am almost complete with the tank setup. When I'm done, I will try to post some pics. It has been a long process (especially working with the acrylic) but it is almost at an end.

thanks for your help concerning the pumps. I will return the Rio Pump tomorrow and keep the QO......
 
Sounds good. I didn't know you can buy the overflow towers seperate.

Looking forward to some pics. :)
 
Thanks....it looks good. I just hope it works as well as it looks....

by the way: I didn't by the overflow tower. they were also made from acrylic. everything about the main tank was done by my own hands. the tank is clear 1" thick acrylic and the overflow tower was made from 1/2" black acrylic. put together by weld-on#3....
 
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