plumbing hard PVC piping

[jmaneyapanda]

I am in the stages of designing some new plumbing for my tank. In the past, I have always used flexible tubing, but I hate the messy looks and function. I am thinking of hard plumbing with rigid PVC this time, but was curious as to how you all support the runs of rigid line? I assume you do not want it supported by the bulkheads.

[Packdog]

Good question. Hopefully you get some help as I am in the same situation.

I have a open metal stand with concrete wall behind....really nowhere to mount brackets or such to support the pvc. I only need runs for : overfow to sump, return to display, and return to fuge(Tee from return to display).


Do most use pvc??? Is vinyl risky ??


Is pvc epoxy marine safe ??

[MrZ]

I like Clic Clamps for holding PVC - both rigid as well as spa-flex pvc.

Clic Clamps from Savko (http://www.savko.com/portal/click-clamp.asp)

Incidently, when you said you have used flexible tubing - did you mean vinyl tubing or flexible PVC? Personally I like running plumbing for closed loops and sumps with a combination of spa-flex (flexible pvc) as well as hard plumbing. You add much less head pressure with the easy wide turns of spa-flex versus rigid pvc fittings.

[jmaneyapanda]

I have used both vinyl and spa-flex. Vinyl is cheap, but kinks, stretches, and is clear, so algae will grow in it, while the spa-flex is great, but doesn't have the maneuverability of the vinyl.

For my new set-up, I was planning to use all spa-flex, but my predicament is that I will need to plumb the overflow to the sump, and the sump has no fitting to recieve the line, so it will need to be self supporting.

[MrZ]

I used a small bolt and nut to fix a clic clamp for each of the lines to the back of my stand so that the spa flex was supported halfway up and not hanging off the bulkheads.

I drilled small holes in the back edge of my metal stand to accomodate the bolts.