Budgets for Plumbing

[hangurber]

Hello Everyone!

I was wondering what everyone's experience is with budgets are on plumbing. I am sketching out my plumbing for a 65 gallon and it is easily looking like it will cost $300 or more with all the valves and unions I'd like to use. Is this everyone else's experience or am I over planning?

Thanks all!

 

[laverda]

That sounds very high. I plumbed my 300 for a fraction of that. I did not use fancy colored PVC or schedule 80 fittings. I used Ultra flex PVC to reduce the number of elbows, but mostly for better flow.

 

[hangurber]

That sounds very high. I plumbed my 300 for a fraction of that. I did not use fancy colored PVC or schedule 80 fittings. I used Ultra flex PVC to reduce the number of elbows, but mostly for better flow.

Yeah most of my cost is from the schedule 80 unions. My wife likes the colored pvc, I guess I could try just spray painting some cheaper pvc but I dunno if I want to risk contamination.

 

[Ippyroy]

Yeah most of my cost is from the schedule 80 unions. My wife likes the colored pvc, I guess I could try just spray painting some cheaper pvc but I dunno if I want to risk contamination.

How much of the pipe will you see? Is the DT on top of the sump or is it in another room?

 

[Montiman]

When doing plumbing installs at the LFS I usually found that a simple 1 drain 1 return set up could be done for $70 or less but this was not fancy at all. The more valves, unions, manifolds the more costly.

Ultimately you get what you pay for. However, the many tanks I plumbed with $70 of plumbing parts have lasted many years. What the extra money is buying you is mostly aesthetics.

 

[hangurber]

How much of the pipe will you see? Is the DT on top of the sump or is it in another room?

DT is on top of the sump, running 3 drains from the external overflow, so that is adding to some of the cost as well. Could cut back on some of the unions, just worry about maintenance

 

[Ruskin]

Does it NEED to be schedule 80? People always talk about it being nice for the bulkheads but the majority of people and tanks have got to be running sch 40.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Yeah most of my cost is from the schedule 80 unions. My wife likes the colored pvc, I guess I could try just spray painting some cheaper pvc but I dunno if I want to risk contamination.

I probably have about that much in plumbing with my new build. All colored pvc and sch 80 fittings and lots of valves and unions. I don’t mind spending money to make it look good and you can never have enough unions and valves!

 

[laverda]

No reason to use schedule 80 at all. It is big time over kill. A lot of people like the look of the gray when using colored PVC.

 

[Ippyroy]

DT is on top of the sump, running 3 drains from the external overflow, so that is adding to some of the cost as well. Could cut back on some of the unions, just worry about maintenance

You don't need that many unions. The biggest cost is in valves. I spent under a hundred dollars plumbing my tank and I a lot of stuff left over. Why use colored pipes and unions if you will rarely see them? The DT is the only thing that needs to look nice.

 

[hangurber]

Does it NEED to be schedule 80? People always talk about it being nice for the bulkheads but the majority of people and tanks have got to be running sch 40.

Pipes were schedule 40 but colored. Unions were schedule 80, but it seems like the cost difference is not much? I could be wrong though.

 

[hangurber]

You don't need that many unions. The biggest cost is in valves. I spent under a hundred dollars plumbing my tank and I a lot of stuff left over. Why use colored pipes and unions if you will rarely see them? The DT is the only thing that needs to look nice.

point of pride, I guess. I am the kind of guy with LEDs in his computer if that gives you an idea haha

 

[hangurber]

I probably have about that much in plumbing with my new build. All colored pvc and sch 80 fittings and lots of valves and unions. I don’t mind spending money to make it look good and you can never have enough unions and valves!

Where did you install your valves? I am not likely going to build a manifold or anything fancy. Might just use a gate valve to tune the primary drain.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Where did you install your valves? I am not likely going to build a manifold or anything fancy. Might just use a gate valve to tune the primary drain.

Not plumbed yet, but will have check valves on 2 M1s. A large manifold, a few gates throughout the plumbing.

 

[JoshH]

Hello Everyone!

I was wondering what everyone's experience is with budgets are on plumbing. I am sketching out my plumbing for a 65 gallon and it is easily looking like it will cost $300 or more with all the valves and unions I'd like to use. Is this everyone else's experience or am I over planning?

Thanks all!

Honestly for colored plumbing and fittings, valves etc that's not too bad. The only thing I'd ever recommend Sch80 for is bulkheads in a closed loop setup as they are just that much stronger and more durable than Sch40 for an application that has bulkheads submerged well below the water line.

Other than that, even sch40 is overkill for our plumbing applications.

Schedule 80 fittings might not "Seem" that much more than Sch40 however even if it's just a $1 more per fitting, once you add it all up it can be quite a bit more. Also when it comes to costs and colored pipe as well as fittings, you really need to watch where your shopping. Where are you currently shopping for plumbing??

 

[Ippyroy]

Are you planning a manifold by chance? Those are rather pricey and might explain the high cost.

 

[hangurber]

Honestly for colored plumbing and fittings, valves etc that's not too bad. The only thing I'd ever recommend Sch80 for is bulkheads in a closed loop setup as they are just that much stronger and more durable than Sch40 for an application that has bulkheads submerged well below the water line.

Other than that, even sch40 is overkill for our plumbing applications.

Schedule 80 fittings might not "Seem" that much more than Sch40 however even if it's just a $1 more per fitting, once you add it all up it can be quite a bit more. Also when it comes to costs and colored pipe as well as fittings, you really need to watch where your shopping. Where are you currently shopping for plumbing??

I was on BRS for putting together what I need and the budget but I will be checking hardware stores as well. Do you have recommendations?

 

[hangurber]

Are you planning a manifold by chance? Those are rather pricey and might explain the high cost.

No but I am planning two return lines for redundancy, and had unions almost every time I had an elbow. Mostly for my own sense of safety since I am trash at this stuff haha

 

[JoshH]

I was on BRS for putting together what I need and the budget but I will be checking hardware stores as well. Do you have recommendations?

Colored pipe...
Formufit.com
Homedepot.com

Fittings and valves...
Pvcfittingsonline.com
1pvc.com

 

[JoshH]

I was on BRS for putting together what I need and the budget but I will be checking hardware stores as well. Do you have recommendations?

Just a quick comparison between BRS, Formufit and Home Depot.... as you can see it's definitely worth it to shop around...

One 46" colored piece of 1" PVC is $12.99... or roughly $3.25 linear foot.

For TWO 60" Pieces you pay $17.99 or $8.99 a piece.... or $1.79 per Linear foot....

And before someone mentions it BRS offers "Free" shipping for there pipe. However at those costs, is it really free?

Home Depot on the other hand does have free shipping and even though it's the same Formufit pipe, it's even cheaper than Formufit offers it....

At $1.68 per Linear foot