Degener8
Active Member
Plumbing Your Aquarium
Plumbing can be the easiest thing or the most mind boggling thing when setting up an aquarium.
The most important thing to remember when plumbing is that gravity is your friend. The straighter the run of pipe the more flow you are going to get through the system. This reason alone is enough to put some serious thought into how you are going to get the water from the display to the sump and back again.
Types of pipe that are normally used when plumbing an aquarium are:
PVC: This pipe comes in commonly used schedule 40 and schedule 80 classifications. The difference between these classifications is the inner dimension of the pipe. Sch40 has a thinner wall but the same outer dimension as sch80 thus making the inner dimension larger. Sch80you is perfect for use in high pressure situations and sch40 is great for lower pressure situations. When plumbing our tanks either is acceptable and depending on the pump used for your return you may choose to use sch80 as the pressure could exceed the sch40 rating for pressure.
PVC Pipes - Pressure Ratings
This site may help you decide which pipe you will need to use it has the pressure ratings for both pvc types.
Here is a few more differences in the pipe as well.
Flexible tubing: The two types of clear tubing I have commons used and seen used are Clear vinyl and Polyester braid reinforced clear vinyl
It’s referred to as vinyl tubing but it’s made from non toxic PVC compounds. This type of tubing is generally use in low volume low pressure applications. It is commonly used for both drain attachments and return plumbing in our aquariums. This tubing is commonly available in 1/8†to 2†diameters. Be aware of what you are buying as with many different manufacturers and no clear guideline for pressure rating make sure you read the tubing for that manufacturers ratings.
This tubing is commonly attached to barbed fittings and plumbed into either sch40 or sch80 fittings where it’s plumbed to or from our aquariums.
I personally prefer the reinforced tubing it’s a bit more difficult to work with but it holds its shape better over time. The non reinforced tubing has a tendency to collapse and pinch in areas where it bends. It’s best to use this in small applications and attach to rigid pipe for your longer runs of plumbing.
Flexible pipe: This is the flexible but rigid tubing that is used on our RO water systems. This is great for low flow situations where the one pipe is connecting to our system for like top off or dosing etc. The thing that makes this not so great for general plumbing on our systems is that the larger diameter pipe requires fittings made of copper or brass and they use pressure rings to secure the connections together. The pressure rings require a special crimping tool to make the crimp on the ring and that alone would be enough to detour me from this option. If copper and brass connectors and special tools were not enough, the larger diameter pipe does not make bends easily and often will crimp at the edges is bent to tightly and with space at a premium we can’t have these long bends all over behind and under our tanks.
Now that you have the information about the pipes used in connecting our display to our sump and back again take some time and think through the process. Don’t rush through the plumbing it’s what keeps your floors dry, and wrong planning and cuts will keep your cash in your wallet which is where we want it until we get to go buy corals!
Plumbing can be the easiest thing or the most mind boggling thing when setting up an aquarium.
The most important thing to remember when plumbing is that gravity is your friend. The straighter the run of pipe the more flow you are going to get through the system. This reason alone is enough to put some serious thought into how you are going to get the water from the display to the sump and back again.
Types of pipe that are normally used when plumbing an aquarium are:
PVC: This pipe comes in commonly used schedule 40 and schedule 80 classifications. The difference between these classifications is the inner dimension of the pipe. Sch40 has a thinner wall but the same outer dimension as sch80 thus making the inner dimension larger. Sch80you is perfect for use in high pressure situations and sch40 is great for lower pressure situations. When plumbing our tanks either is acceptable and depending on the pump used for your return you may choose to use sch80 as the pressure could exceed the sch40 rating for pressure.
PVC Pipes - Pressure Ratings
This site may help you decide which pipe you will need to use it has the pressure ratings for both pvc types.
Here is a few more differences in the pipe as well.
- Cost: The cost of sch80 is greater than sch40 due to the amount of material used to make the pipe.
- Color: While sch40 is very common in white sch80 is more common in the smoked grey color. Sch80 is also available in white but not as common as the grey.
Flexible tubing: The two types of clear tubing I have commons used and seen used are Clear vinyl and Polyester braid reinforced clear vinyl
It’s referred to as vinyl tubing but it’s made from non toxic PVC compounds. This type of tubing is generally use in low volume low pressure applications. It is commonly used for both drain attachments and return plumbing in our aquariums. This tubing is commonly available in 1/8†to 2†diameters. Be aware of what you are buying as with many different manufacturers and no clear guideline for pressure rating make sure you read the tubing for that manufacturers ratings.
This tubing is commonly attached to barbed fittings and plumbed into either sch40 or sch80 fittings where it’s plumbed to or from our aquariums.
I personally prefer the reinforced tubing it’s a bit more difficult to work with but it holds its shape better over time. The non reinforced tubing has a tendency to collapse and pinch in areas where it bends. It’s best to use this in small applications and attach to rigid pipe for your longer runs of plumbing.
Flexible pipe: This is the flexible but rigid tubing that is used on our RO water systems. This is great for low flow situations where the one pipe is connecting to our system for like top off or dosing etc. The thing that makes this not so great for general plumbing on our systems is that the larger diameter pipe requires fittings made of copper or brass and they use pressure rings to secure the connections together. The pressure rings require a special crimping tool to make the crimp on the ring and that alone would be enough to detour me from this option. If copper and brass connectors and special tools were not enough, the larger diameter pipe does not make bends easily and often will crimp at the edges is bent to tightly and with space at a premium we can’t have these long bends all over behind and under our tanks.
Now that you have the information about the pipes used in connecting our display to our sump and back again take some time and think through the process. Don’t rush through the plumbing it’s what keeps your floors dry, and wrong planning and cuts will keep your cash in your wallet which is where we want it until we get to go buy corals!
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