Before I bond...does this plumbing look ok?

Steve Maxwell · Dec 30, 2015

I'm in the midst of putting together my 75G and I have the plumbing assembled. I've never plumbed a tank before (my other tank is a stock BioCube) so before I "cement" the PVC together could I get some feedback on if you see any issues with what I've done? I'm going from a 16" synergy reef overflow to an eshopps R-200 (3rd edition) refugium/sump. I have the emergency line draining to the refugium section of the R-200, but might run it to the equipment compartment as it will hold more water.

HiddenUser · Dec 30, 2015

Looks good...Personally I might put unions on either side of the valve as well. Easier to swap in a new valve in the event that valve potentially failed.

Steve Maxwell · Dec 30, 2015

ChukeeR said:
Looks good...Personally I might put unions on either side of the valve as well. Easier to swap in a new valve in the event that valve potentially failed.

oooo...good point! Thanks!

Jlobes · Dec 30, 2015

looks pretty good, my only issue is that you dry fit everything, and it fits. Now when you apply the adhesive and actually seat the pipe properly into the fittings, you might find yourself coming up short.

AllSignsPointToFish · Dec 30, 2015

Jlobes said:
looks pretty good, my only issue is that you dry fit everything, and it fits. Now when you apply the adhesive and actually seat the pipe properly into the fittings, you might find yourself coming up short.

Agreed. Dry fit up will nearly always be longer than when the piping is cemented in and fully seated in the fittings.

trido · Dec 30, 2015

Jlobes said:
looks pretty good, my only issue is that you dry fit everything, and it fits. Now when you apply the adhesive and actually seat the pipe properly into the fittings, you might find yourself coming up short.

Yep. Also make sure to give everything a twist and hold while glueing it together

Steve Maxwell · Dec 31, 2015

Yeah...i just dry fitted to see if the design was ok...some of the PVC I used between the 45 and 90 degree pieces are just barely long enough to keep them together. I still have quite a bit of PVC so I was thinking about: 1) measuring the distance between the end of the valves/bulkheads/angled pieces and the inner "ridge" of the valve/bulkhead/angled piece for each side of the connection 2) then measuring the length of PVC between the connections (if there is any) 3) adding them up 4) cut a new piece of PVC to that measurement and use it.

I did notice when I was messing around with priming/gluing the pieces for inside the back box of the overflow that the PVC gets very pliable and it is easy to fit the PVC pieces together so that they go all the way to the "ridge" of the larger diameter PVC pipe.

Just hope I don't mess it up