Plumbing help needed.

[Ding2daDong]

Well tomorrow is the day I plan on plumbing my aquarium to a new system in my garage. I have been drawing and planning and after almost a month I am still confused on what to do and need some help from you FMAS members.

Here is the rack in the garage and with painters tape, the aquarium that is behind it that will be plumbed together.



Problem number 1;

What to use for plumbing the aquarium? hard pvc? or clear tubing? I know I will need clear tubing for the drain and return of the 75g aquarium because the area where I can drill through the wall is off by about a foot if you look in the picture.

Problem number 2;

What pump to use for my return? I currently use a mag 3 for my 75g return. My new setup will have 2-30g breeders on the second shelf and my plans are for the return to be teed off to all three tanks. My plan was a mag 12 which I already have for the return on the 2-30g breeders and 75g through the wall. My main flow will not come from the return, but from powerheads so I only need about 300gph for each tank. Do you think it will be enough with 1.25" or 1.5" hard pvc or clear tubing as the return?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to set this all up and have someone suggest a much better way I could have done the plumbing.

Thanks

-Matthew

[racermike27]

Why not use flex PVC to get through the wall. I believe it comes in sizes larger than 1". It will be stringer than the nylon tubing and more durable in the long run. I would do it this way. Plus you can add union and valves to separate whatever section you need without hose barbs and clamps.

Also I have a MAG12 for my return and it loses head pressure pretty quickly. I have 1.25 coming right out of it. About half way up I start reducing it to 1" and finally 3/4" where it returns to the tank. SO I think the mag12 would be fine to run all three tanks.

I would run probably only run the flex section where I would have the hole in the wall. But I am a neat freak and I hate having lose PVC plumbing lines LOL. I prefer neat hard lines, I know it cuts flow but I just run a bigger pump LOL.

HTH

-Mike-

[45commando]

Matt,I think it more a case of what you feel more comfortable with using.Looking at the diagram,I don't see why you can't use PVC if you want to.You may just have to throw in a few extra 45's or 90's to get the angles you need.Both have their pros & cons.The PVC is more permanent & will have a cleaner look.Vinyl is quick & forgiving to work with.It can also be taken apart for adjustments/upgrades.When I located the chiller through the wall I went with vinyl,because I wanted to keep bends to minimum & possibly re-configure at some point.HTH

[Ding2daDong]

Thanks for the input. I plan on doing 1.25" plumbing for the return and reducing all the outputs to 3/4" for back pressure. All the 90degrees will be long 90's so as not to kill the pump.

I am the guy who thinks the plumbing is perfect and after glueing all the plumbing peices together someone notices a major mistake and I have to redue the plumbing, so any input is helpful. lol

Thanks again

-Matthew

[ReefWreak]

Originally posted by Ding2daDong
I am the guy who thinks the plumbing is perfect and after glueing all the plumbing peices together someone notices a major mistake and I have to redue the plumbing, so any input is helpful.

In that case, maybe you should just stick all the plumbing parts together outside the wall (not glued obviously), then glue them in place and see how it looks, how it will fit. Then finally glue it all together.

[coralfragger101]

Only problem with that is that when you "dry run" pvc you tend not to push it in all the way because it is VERY hard to get it apart even without glue on it.

Once you add the cleaner/glue the parts seat all the way and you end up short.

This has been my experience anyway.

Next time I do a major replumb I will probably use some silicon lub (Dow 111) on the pvc for a dry run. Hopefully that would make it easier to seat all the way and take apart again. The silicon would be cleaned off obviously prior to glueing

[Ding2daDong]

Thanks for all the replies.

Here is a very basic idea of the return pump minus the unions.



-Matthew

[coralfragger101]

Should work.

IMO - I would opt for a larger pump than a Mag 12 though. You are going to lose a lot of flow with the piping. Better to have a larger pump and have to choke it back a bit than to not have a big enough pump in the first place.

I would look at something comparable to a Reeflo Dart for this purpose.

[Rogger Castells]

Matt, I am pack with work right now, ut if you can hold off until Sunday I could give you a hand plumbing everything, call me and let me know

[ReefWreak]

I'm a rush to PM you Matt, but here:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1270416

Deltec
GL with the plumbing.
I'm running out the door, call me if you wanna talk about it.

[invertigator]

I'll probably have some free time tomorrow, call me if you want me to come by.

[nyvp]

1st go with 1 1/2 not 1 1/4. second get a dart you will be much happier. less wattage,less heat and more flow . add true union ball valves before ,after the pump and anywhere you can, it will make it soooo much easier later. go to lowes I like theirs the best. just to give you an example I changed my return ito the tank yest and it took me 15 mins to do because I just turned off the valve used the union to take it off and just replumed it. it would have taken over and hr and a lot of cutting and gluing if I had just hard piped it in. also I second used all spaflex if you can. its better for flow and you use less coupling that way. BTW use the blue glue called "wet n shine" if you use spaflex they sell it in HD and lowes.

[Ding2daDong]

Thanks for all the help everyone. Okay, after talking with a few people I think I might go with the sequence snapper. It consumes less watts than the mag 12, and has twice the output. I am also going to hold off on plumbing until later this weekend or early next week.

The only problem with the pump is the price. $209 if anyone has a good pump similar to it used please let me know. It would really help me out and my wallet.



Thanks

-Matthew

[nyvp]

you can get a used snapper/dart for $150

[Ding2daDong]

The dart is sweet but 3600gph is wayyy to much. I guess if I find a used one for $150 I will just have to throttle it back alot.

Thanks again for everyones help. I now searching for a sequence snapper or dart.

Thanks

-Matthew

[ReefWreak]

it's 3600gph, but it'll be reduced a lot by the plumbing of the 3 tanks, and any choke that you put on it too. It'll be rockin though Time for some eductors too!

[Husky_1]

Another thing to consider is using a couple rubber couplers especially around the tank. These are great because they help reduce the vibration, and allow a little bit of wiggle room if you measurements are off.