Hard plumbing
- Thread starter Mandee
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Waters
"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
Your best bet is to just order the two bulkheads you need and buy everything else from the local Home Depot. You can measure and get a general idea of how much straight pipe, 90s, 45s, unions, etc but until you go and put everything together, you will find that you are still missing pieces lol. I must have made 20 trips back and forth to HD before I was finished.
kschweer
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What I normally do when planning plumbing for a tank is to put my sump and other equipment in place and then draw a rough sketch of what I want to do. This will give me a good idea of what valves, 90's and other fittings I will need. I usually pick up s few extra in case plans change during plumbing. At the very least i can say you're going to need 2- 1" bulkheads and 2- 3/4" bulkheads for the holes in the tank. Best of luck and have fun. The plumbing is one of my favorite parts of setting up a new tank.
hybridazn
Acro killer.....
You should buy the drain kit that is specific for your tank. That will take a lot of the work out of the equation for you. Then after that you just nees to figure out what fittings and piping you need to get it to the sump
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Mandee
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Excellent,
Like noted above I would start by mocking up everything, start by placing the sump and Lowe's is your best friend for the next 10 trips...
Here's how to keep mistakes to a minimum.
1. Measure and cut. To ensure that the pipe will be fully seated in its fittings, measure the distance between the shoulders on the fittings at each end of the pipe. ...
2. Prime. ...
3. Dry fit. ... (this is a pain in the rear)
4. Glue. ...
5. Push and twist.
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hybridazn
Acro killer.....
Gotcha, well start by installing those. I wouldn't start to plan any other plumbing until you lay everything out sump wise like already mentioned. After you get that done post some more pics and we will be able to assist more for sure.
kschweer
Moderator
i would take a little time and look around through some build threads on the site and see what you like and don't like to come up with your plan. A few tips would be after you cut your pvc try to clean up any "burs" left from the saw, always use pvc primer, and when you are gluing insert the pipe into the fitting making sure it bottoms out and give it a little bit of a twist to get a good joint. I also always recommend doing a dry fit before permanently gluing.
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Not saying you need all the tools in this video but it gives you a good idea of "how to"...
Z06-Hec
Valuable Member
Didn't read everyone else's posts so apologize if i'm repeating..
All the tubing and connections get from Home Depot, get a lot and whatever you dont use return. Better than thinking of something while your working at 1 am on it and needing to wait till morning for parts.
Ball Valves, Joints, Tubing, more Joints, more valves, PVC cement and Primer
All the tubing and connections get from Home Depot, get a lot and whatever you dont use return. Better than thinking of something while your working at 1 am on it and needing to wait till morning for parts.
Ball Valves, Joints, Tubing, more Joints, more valves, PVC cement and Primer
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hybridazn
Acro killer.....
And invest in one of these. They are all I use for cutting pvc. Nice, clean cut and you dont have to worry aboit cleaning burs off and cutting your hand hahaha
http://m.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-1-12-in-or-1-78-in-PVC-Cutter/4084150
http://m.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-1-12-in-or-1-78-in-PVC-Cutter/4084150
Waters
"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
I second this.....I did my first tank cutting with a saw. My recent tank I purchased one of these.....saved me hours lol.
lueleon
Community Member
Mandee I myself am getting ready to plumb my new 100 gallon reef tank. What I first did was plenty of research and decided to go with a Herbie style drain method to keep water notice down. After that I did a drawing of how my plumbing was going to run under cabinet. Avoid doing hard 90 degree turns and do soft 45s if possible. Figueroa out if you will be doing hard pvc plumbing or the newer flex tubing. Both have their pros and cons. I myself choose the hard pvc plumbing because of the cleaner look. If hard plumbing unions are important, don't forget a check valve, and decide whether you want to use gate or ball valves (spears has good quality valves.) I used bulkreeksupply.com for informative videos and ended up ordering their red SCH 40 pvc tubing. Good luck!
speedmaster426
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make sure when you are dry fitting and before you take apart and glue make a mark with marker on the pieces that meet each other so when you glue them you match them up and everything fits back the way you had it
reefsquared
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When I plumbed my old 220. I used a lot of spa pvc flex pipe. Made it simple
