Return Plumbing

Ppatel908 · Apr 1, 2020

Newbie here.. Don't mind me if this is a stupid question
Ok so the vinyl tubing i'm using for the return is loose when I put it through the bulkhead for my drilled return. Would I be able to just silicone it into the slip bulkhead to secure it & would that be alright?

Peace River · Apr 1, 2020

Ppatel908 said:
Newbie here.. Don't mind me if this a stupid question
Ok so the vinyl tubing i'm using for the return is loose when I put it through the bulkhead for my drilled return. Would I be able to just silicone it into the slip bulkhead to secure it & would that be alright?

No, the pressure will be too much for the joint. It sounds like you need an adapter to go from the bulk head to a barb fitting for the tubing.

lapin · Apr 1, 2020

Will water cover the drilled return at any time? If so you need to use fittings to adapt the hose to the bulkhead. The bulkhead prevents water from seeping thru and silicone will not stop the water for very long.

Peace River · Apr 1, 2020

...and no, its not a dumb question. Learning from experience is great and sometimes it is better to learn from someone else experience than from having to cleanup all the water yourself!

Nhltc99 · Apr 1, 2020

If I'm interpreting your description correctly, you don't want the vinyl tubing to go through the bulkhead. You want it to end, and connect to the bulkhead (likely with a barbed fitting attaching to the bulkhead). Then, from the other side of the bulkhead you would want additional fittings and eventually your return nozzle/RFG/locline/etc. If this doesnt make sense, can you add pictures of your set up?

Ppatel908 · Apr 1, 2020

lapin said:
Will water cover the drilled return at any time? If so you need to use fittings to adapt the hose to the bulkhead. The bulkhead prevents water from seeping thru and silicone will not stop the water for very long.

Yeah, I want it to be underwater. If I were to just use thicker vinyl that's super tight through the bulkhead would that be fine? I could just go exchange the tubing for a different size

Ppatel908 · Apr 1, 2020

Nhltc99 said:
If I'm interpreting your description correctly, you don't want the vinyl tubing to go through the bulkhead. You want it to end, and connect to the bulkhead (likely with a barbed fitting attaching to the bulkhead). Then, from the other side of the bulkhead you would want additional fittings and eventually your return nozzle/RFG/locline/etc. If this doesnt make sense, can you add pictures of your set up?

I want the return to be underwater. I want the vinyl tubing to go through the bulkhead a little bit into the tank and then i want to put a return nozzle on the end

W1ngz · Apr 1, 2020

This is a disaster waiting to happen. Bulkheads are not meant to have vinyl tubing pushed through them.
You need a barb elbow. You glue the elbow into the bulkhead with PVC glue and then connect the vinyl tubing using plastic hose clamps or zip ties to ensure it will remain attached.

NowGlazeIT · Apr 1, 2020

Correct, you need to attach vinyl to barb fittings.

Ppatel908 · Apr 1, 2020

W1ngz said:
This is a disaster waiting to happen. Bulkheads are not meant to have vinyl tubing pushed through them.
You need a barb elbow. You glue the elbow into the bulkhead with PVC glue and then connect the vinyl tubing using plastic hose clamps or zip ties to ensure it will remain attached.

Don't worry, the tank isn't running atm, still in the process of being put together. I was just brainstorming, figuring out how I would handle the return situation. This is what I was looking for though, thank you

W1ngz · Apr 1, 2020

Be careful using vinyl tubing as well. The cheap clear hardware stuff hardens with saltwater. Clear also means light, and light means algae. The thick walled dark green or black stuff is what you want.

Vinyl tubing also transmits vibration, so expect this to produce a slight hum from the return pump. Hard plumbing may seems a bit more intimidating if you've never done it, but you'll get a quieter system if you can hard plumb it and use a short piece of silicone (not vinyl) tubing to connect the pump to the pipe.

NowGlazeIT · Apr 1, 2020

You only get algae in the clear vinyl when the tube is being exposed to light. The vinyl does dry out over time but the bigger the diameter the thicker the walls, the longer it will last.

here is an example of what wingz brought up. Using only a bit of vinyl to attach to barb fittings that are then connected to pvc.

Nhltc99 · Apr 1, 2020

Ppatel908 said:
I want the return to be underwater. I want the vinyl tubing to go through the bulkhead a little bit into the tank and then i want to put a return nozzle on the end

Sorry, what I meant is you can't put the vinyl tubing through the bulkhead. That's not what they're designed for, this will result in leaks. The correct way is to run the vinyl tubing TO the bulkhead on the outside of the tank, attach via barbed fitting and any other necessary fittings. Then connect your nozzle to the bulkhead on the inside of the tank with any necessary fittings.