Any aquarium plumbers in the area?

[jmatt]

Getting ready to plumb my tank, never done it before. Is there anyone for hire in the area? I just don't wanna screw it up.

 

[Breadman03]

Something Fishy in Northampton does maintenance work and installs. I'd give them a ring.

 

[jmatt]

Something Fishy in Northampton does maintenance work and installs. I'd give them a ring.

They're three minutes from me. And I was kinda thinking of asking them if they know anyone, so thanks for the heads up.

 

[shakacuz]

i did my own plumbing when i started my 40B.

what are your questions/concerns?

 

[jmatt]

i did my own plumbing when i started my 40B.

what are your questions/concerns?

Well, I've never done it before so I'm just nervous that I'll screw something up. I'm fairly handy in general and have worked with pvc before... I just don't have a roadmap here. Two pumps, one straight back to the tank, the other will feed a return but also potentially a manifold and definitely the UV sterilizer.

 

[Snoopy 67]

Pump should sit on a silicone pad if it doesn't have rubber feet, soft hose from the pump to the pipe.
This all helps with vibration.
Any connection from a manifold needs a valve to control flow. Don't forget unions for ease of removal of the pumps.
Just remember to account for the pipe going into any fittings when measuring. Tale your time & you will be fine.

 

[shakacuz]

Well, I've never done it before so I'm just nervous that I'll screw something up. I'm fairly handy in general and have worked with pvc before... I just don't have a roadmap here. Two pumps, one straight back to the tank, the other will feed a return but also potentially a manifold and definitely the UV sterilizer.

so basically you’re unsure of what materials are needed? or you’re concerned about how to piece everything together(the design)?

 

[jmatt]

Pump should sit on a silicone pad if it doesn't have rubber feet, soft hose from the pump to the pipe.
This all helps with vibration.
Any connection from a manifold needs a valve to control flow. Don't forget unions for ease of removal of the pumps.
Just remember to account for the pipe going into any fittings when measuring. Tale your time & you will be fine.

Yeah, I ordered a lot of stuff from BRS... unions and a gate valve, balls valves, colored pipe, etc. Should arrive today, actually.

For whatever reason, I'm trying to keep the pipe diameter as wide as possible (1.25") with a bigger is better mentality, but I can't help but feeling like I'm going against the grain for no reason, since the drain has to be reduced to 1" anyway to accommodate the Reefmat 1200.

As far as accounting for fittings and pipe lengths, I suppose I will have to dry-fit everything before assembly to be sure.

I guess I can sum up my apprehension with "I don't know what I don't know". I can imagine me putting this all together and someone asking me "Gee, why'd ya do it like that? You should have blah blah blah."

 

[jmatt]

so basically you’re unsure of what materials are needed? or you’re concerned about how to piece everything together(the design)?

The latter. I've found diagrams online but they're not real specific about union placement etc. What I know I've gleaned mostly from BRS YT videos.

 

[CWalters]

The latter. I've found diagrams online but they're not real specific about union placement etc. What I know I've gleaned mostly from BRS YT videos.

I know a lot of people say "Use as many unions as possible" and it is true... I can share a picture of what the back of mine looks like so you can get an idea.

I wasn't too sure on a lot of things, so I just looked at a bunch of peoples setups and built from there.

 

[shakacuz]

The latter. I've found diagrams online but they're not real specific about union placement etc. What I know I've gleaned mostly from BRS YT videos.

are there any components that are yet to be bought? like skimmer, reactors, return pump, etc.

placing everything where you want it before working on plumbing gives you an idea of design or how to go about setting up the plumbing. once you know where the equipment goes, plumbing will be much easier to plan!

 

[jmatt]

are there any components that are yet to be bought? like skimmer, reactors, return pump, etc.

placing everything where you want it before working on plumbing gives you an idea of design or how to go about setting up the plumbing. once you know where the equipment goes, plumbing will be much easier to plan!

Lessee, I have a Bashsea Pro 48" sump with ATO tank (I am purchasing a Neptune ATKv2).
I have a Pentair 40w UV (it's pretty darn big, 1.5" inlet).
I have a ReefMat 1200.
Neptune COR-20. I will be adding another COR-15 or 20.

These all need to be plumbed (Herbie drain). I have not purchased a skimmer or any reactors yet. And eventually as much of it as possible run off my Apex 3 Pro. I need to find a mounting board for all of the controllers and decide if it's going under the tank or on a wall close by. I have twin GFI outlets for electrical redundancy... does an Apex accommodate dual power source?

And yeah, although the stand is built I haven't laid out any of the gear yet. I don't even have the tank on the stand yet.

So it's all kind of a mental exercise at the moment since, as you point out, I'm not actually looking at any of the hardware in place. Then I gotta figure out the lights.

 

[shakacuz]

Lessee, I have a Bashsea Pro 48" sump with ATO tank (I am purchasing a Neptune ATKv2).
I have a Pentair 40w UV (it's pretty darn big, 1.5" inlet).
I have a ReefMat 1200.
Neptune COR-20. I will be adding another COR-15 or 20.

These all need to be plumbed (Herbie drain). I have not purchased a skimmer or any reactors yet. And eventually as much of it as possible run off my Apex 3 Pro. I need to find a mounting board for all of the controllers and decide if it's going under the tank or on a wall close by. I have twin GFI outlets for electrical redundancy... does an Apex accommodate dual power source?

And yeah, although the stand is built I haven't laid out any of the gear yet. I don't even have the tank on the stand yet.

So it's all kind of a mental exercise at the moment since, as you point out, I'm not actually looking at any of the hardware in place. Then I gotta figure out the lights.

definitely does seem you’re on the right track but just having difficulties imagining/painting a picture in your head.

i’m sure once the tank goes on the stand and the sump underneath you’ll have a better idea of how you want your plumbing to look.

if push comes to shove, i can pitch in and help regarding plumbing or drilling as i’ve done so with my tank.

keep me posted and good luck!

 

[jmatt]

I basically know where everything starts and ends... it's just the pipe width/schedule/ thread-slip stuff that has me a little perplexed. But I just received my plumbing order from BRS and it won't take me long to figure out what I forgot to get.

I appreciate the offer, many thanks. I'm in Northampton, btw. Shoot me a message if you're ever headed up to Something Fishy and perhaps we can meet. That goes for anyone in the group.

 

[shakacuz]

I basically know where everything starts and ends... it's just the pipe width/schedule/ thread-slip stuff that has me a little perplexed. But I just received my plumbing order from BRS and it won't take me long to figure out what I forgot to get.

I appreciate the offer, many thanks. I'm in Northampton, btw. Shoot me a message if you're ever headed up to Something Fishy and perhaps we can meet. That goes for anyone in the group.

threaded items are only really needed for bulkheads. everything else should be slip x slip as you’ll be glueing the pvc down and using unions, ball valves, gate valves, and check valves(which come with their respective threaded internal parts)

the size depends on your overflow. i may have missed it, but, what size is your overflow(or what is it rated for?) i know you mentioned wanting to go 1.25in but that may hinder flow or force you into having a bigger return pump than necessary

for my 40b i used 1inch drains and 3/4 return. i sadly don’t remember why, but that was what was suggested due to the overflow and size of tank.

 

[jmatt]

threaded items are only really needed for bulkheads. everything else should be slip x slip as you’ll be glueing the pvc down and using unions, ball valves, gate valves, and check valves(which come with their respective threaded internal parts)

the size depends on your overflow. i may have missed it, but, what size is your overflow(or what is it rated for?) i know you mentioned wanting to go 1.25in but that may hinder flow or force you into having a bigger return pump than necessary

for my 40b i used 1inch drains and 3/4 return. i sadly don’t remember why, but that was what was suggested due to the overflow and size of tank.

The bulkheads are threaded and that's my first hurdle. Everything else is 1.25" slip.

I dunno, Coast to Coast built the tank and I'm sure they know what they're doing. The holes in the overflow are 2.5" so I figured I'd get the biggest bulkheads I could fit because I feared something too small would leak (I watched videos with people doing just that and cautioning that the undersized bulkhead would have to be placed just so)... and that's how I wound up at 1.25".

Plus the fitting on the COR-20 accommodates 1.25" so it seemed like the thing to do.

Scupper box is 18x4.5x10. I've attached the schematic from CTC (height was upgraded to 17").

 

[jmatt]

I know a lot of people say "Use as many unions as possible" and it is true... I can share a picture of what the back of mine looks like so you can get an idea.

I wasn't too sure on a lot of things, so I just looked at a bunch of peoples setups and built from there.

Thanks for the pic! Looking at pics of what others have done has really helped me.