Morgman, sounds more like you are trying to save me from being a pain in my own butt (no comments)
Sounds like I need to break out the silicone.
Ed, I have only cut plumbing for 4 tanks so far (only bought one shelf until I see if it's going to work out, it's NOT). I can return most of the other stuff and get threaded ball valves and ends.
I'm now thinking I'm going to cycle the sump/refugium with this setup, and then redo a second setup (probably on a custom built shelving unit) with all of the corrections made. All in all, it wasn't THAT expensive of a learning experience. I also learned more what I want from my custom shelving, and a freind offered to let me use his well equipped wood shop. This thread will be about 57 pages by the time I get it right!
Thanks a lot everyone! I almost feel like I am ready to start another one properly.....almost. I'm going to try to talk one of the CAD guys here into making a 3D drawing of my shelf ideas. They can even print me out a materials list. Not to mention that you guys can look at my shelf design and offer suggestions to it as well.