Hard plumbing V soft

[MnFish1]

Depending on your drain setup you may not want any valves. If you run a Herbie or bean animal they are necessary for siphon adjustment but undesirable on a durso drain.

Correction - I have a valve on my Red Sea reefer - but - I never have to adjust it.

 

[Waters]

My feeling - if you can see through the tubing - you know there is no flow problem Anyone with a hard PVC connection meh.... There are lots of reports of leaks with hard PVC - part of that - of course - might be poor installation. That said - if I dont tighten the clamps on my clear tubing enough - I can tighten it - I dont want to completely tear down / dry my PVC to re-seal it in case it wasn't dont properly in the first place. Both are good ways - if done correctly on installation.

That is why they have flow meters ......plus if you do use clear tubing, you then run into problems with stuff growing in them (although that happens in total darkness with PVC anyways....you just can't see how bad it looks lol). I agree though, if PVC isn't installed correctly it is harder to fix than soft tubing. I use unions everywhere so sections can be removed easily if needed. The plumbing design/layout makes 100% of the difference in something that is easy to maintain and one that can be very difficult. As stated, either way will work just fine......PVC is just my personal preference.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

This thread is about positives or negatives of each.. can you share some of the benefits you achieve with hard plumbing?

A course @Retro Reefer - when we all start out in this crazy hobby I think 95% of people use tubing on there very first tank, at least I did! I started out running soft tubing for the first 8 years in my 120mixed reef, as you can see below: The only problem after a while, you will start to grow Algae inside of the soft tubing which means its time for you to replace or it becomes an eyesore in my opinion. I always wanted to have my tank hard plumbed and when I got my new custom sump from a company down South, that's exactly what I did and I highly recommend it.
AETECH 25 gallon sump

AETECH 25 gallon sump

Removing my old sump and installing my new one

Illusions 35x15x15 custom sump / Looks a lot Cleaner and a lot more silent.

 

[427HISS]

I've use both, but will never use the clear vinyl as it's very hard to get positioned where you need it and, you'll see the gross algae and crap inside.
I do use silicone tubing coming out of every pump and out of the sump, so there's no noise & vibration's. It's expensive, but I only use around 6" or so.

The hot tub white soft tubing is great and it looks real nice, but not very flexible. So, most of mine is hard, but I sand the ugly white and remove the printing. For my latest build I will fork over the money for colored hard pvc or paint it myself. It's just for myself as it's a in-wall, so everything is in the fish room where you can't see anything. I like anything & everything...nice looking. (That's why I married my blonde.... wife)

 

[ca1ore]

Depends on what people mean by soft plumbing. I use all sorts for different applications. The silicone tubing works well, but collapses/kinks much too easily so caveat emptor. I don't use vinyl at all anymore - the necessary barb fittings are just too restrictive. Hard PVC has its uses, but I have mostly switched over the flex PVC. To me, its soft enough .

 

[fish farmer]

If you've seen tie videos of people with worms that have totally taken over their 'pvc plumbing' you may rethink this question.

I pulled a piece of PVC return that I had in service for maybe 18 years.....packed with vermadid snails. I don't notice any growth at all in the clear tubing of the same era.

 

[AkataF]

I pulled a piece of PVC return that I had in service for maybe 18 years.....packed with vermadid snails. I don't notice any growth at all in the clear tubing of the same era.

Old and proven methods, as they say.

 

[AkataF]

Typically, I use soft pipes to create household water distribution systems. Soft copper pipes have thin walls and are easily deformed. They are cheaper and easier to handle, but they are inferior to competitors in terms of strength characteristics. Durable pipes are useful when assembling central water supply channels, as well as in the case when it is planned to transport the carrier under high pressure in the pipe. They have thicker walls and a higher strength class. These are the aspects and secrets of our craft in becoming a plumber. Wish you luck!

 

[italquam]

I know this thread is old but , I have a question or two...

Ok so I have a used 180 gallon Eurobraced tank, it has an external Bean Animal overflow built into the tank , two returns on rear sides of tank.

My question is that I need to install the tank close as I can to a wall in a living room and I am hesitant that plumbing it will be a pain and maybe next to impossible. Has anyone encountered such an issue and have you had any success with it?

I have attached some photos, looks like previously used flex tubing (vinyl hose ) for plumbing it, I was going to use PVC with unions and hard plumb it but debating on using the vinyl hose and adding a gate valve to adjust flow under the tank in cabinet. I found someone to build me a wood cabinet for it .

The tank has been empty for over three years in temp control storage. I am a bit concerned using it after sitting so long dry

 

[italquam]

You seem very pro soft plumbing lol. I do not have any links...just referencing my personal experience. I just feel safer with a glued PVC joint that cannot move. Regarding the cracks on hoses, it obviously depends on the material used. I have not had the soft tubing crack........just the stuff that is included with wet/dry filters (like your first picture on the right). I just don't see any positives to using soft over hard other than if it is needed based on location, where hard plumbing is not feasible. There has to be a reason you cannot use soft tubing to plumb a house right? Actually I have no idea if that is even true....just sounded good to support my argument

You actually can use PEX on houses now , which is a more flexible plumbing pipe than PVC ..... Lol