Return plumbing questions

motoxmann · 01/14/2011, 12:32 PM

I've figured out the crazy maze that is my overflow plumbing , not its time to turn to the return plumbing. I'm a complete noob in dealing with PVC and any plumbing at all really.

I'm using an eheim 1260 as the return to my tank, and it's going to feed a single return line with a 3/4 inch locline Y at the end. It's also going to be t'd off to feed the fuge chamber of my sump. Question is what is the best way to set this up? I'm thinking run a vinyl tube from the pump to the T, so that I have wiggle room if I need to move the pump. But after that I'm kind of lost. What's the best way to hook into the T? I've read that the barb adapters can be restrictiing. Sould I get a 1 inch barb adapter and plug that into a 1" to 3/4" T and then just cram the 3/4 inch tube coming from the pump over the barb? How did you guys do it? Also pics would be of great help if you've got them. thanks!!

motoxmann · 01/14/2011, 12:45 PM

Also. My bulkheads are slip on the flange side and threaded on the back. What is the best way to coonnect the threaded 90's to the BH? Is a couple layers of tape enough? Or should I use some aquarium silicone i have left over?

bradjc · 01/14/2011, 02:29 PM

You should be ok with just plumbing tape. I have an idea of what you are trying to do but its hard without pictures. What I did on my tank was have the return pump go from the sump directly to the tank (via 3/4" vinyl tubing). I put a splitter on the drain of the tank and ran that to the refugium. Less interference on the part of the pump.

NanoReefWanabe · 01/14/2011, 03:20 PM

feeding your fuge off the drain is bad for many reason and good for none that i can think of...it creates turbulence in your drain, it creates one more place for a clog to potentially happen as things get caught and build up on the fitting, it pollutes your fuge with dirty detritus and protein saturated water, none of which is good for growing anything other then a nitrate sink...let your skimmer clean that crap out of the water first then let the fuge do its job, cleaning up NO3 and PO4, dont worry they will go through your skimmer just fine....

as for the threaded fitting dont use tape unless you are very good at using it...far too many fttings are broken and leak from tape when not used properly, use teflon paste...

try o use two 45's on place of 90's, they ar less restrictive, if possible use spaflex piping it is flexible and fairly easy to work with and you eliminate the need for 90's and 45's...

personally i would run 1" spaflex for most if not all of the plumbing. you can then glue in a "T" fitting with a valve on the "T" side and a valve above the T aswell that way you can control the flow into the fuge and display...there are reducing bushings that will fit into the 90's and "T's" etc if you need to drop from 1" to 3/4" etc...once you get out of the stand you can switch to hard PVC to connect to the 90 on th eback of the tank etc...as for the lockline fittings you should just be able to get a 3/4 slip to 3/4 FNPT fitting and then you can screw your lockline "Y" into that and your done...

motoxmann · 01/14/2011, 03:53 PM

Thanks for the posts guys. Running the drain to the fuge really isn't going to work anyway. I'm using the herbie method and from what I've read in the thread about it, splitting the main drain causes a lot of problems keeping the levels in the overflows consistent.

Where can I get spa flex tubing? Ive already got the hard PVC plumbed for the drain, so I'm going to give that a shot first but I could try it for the return.

BigEarn86 · 01/14/2011, 05:53 PM

They have have spa flex @ lowes. It is going to be on the top shelf in the tubing section and it glues right into schd 40 fittings with primer and glue. make sure you double check the length. West Marine has smaller sizes than 1inch if you want to go that route but lowes has the 1" you need. Good Luck!

01/14/2011, 12:32 PM	#1
motoxmann Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 80	Return plumbing questions I've figured out the crazy maze that is my overflow plumbing , not its time to turn to the return plumbing. I'm a complete noob in dealing with PVC and any plumbing at all really. I'm using an eheim 1260 as the return to my tank, and it's going to feed a single return line with a 3/4 inch locline Y at the end. It's also going to be t'd off to feed the fuge chamber of my sump. Question is what is the best way to set this up? I'm thinking run a vinyl tube from the pump to the T, so that I have wiggle room if I need to move the pump. But after that I'm kind of lost. What's the best way to hook into the T? I've read that the barb adapters can be restrictiing. Sould I get a 1 inch barb adapter and plug that into a 1" to 3/4" T and then just cram the 3/4 inch tube coming from the pump over the barb? How did you guys do it? Also pics would be of great help if you've got them. thanks!!

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01/14/2011, 12:45 PM	#2
motoxmann Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 80	Also. My bulkheads are slip on the flange side and threaded on the back. What is the best way to coonnect the threaded 90's to the BH? Is a couple layers of tape enough? Or should I use some aquarium silicone i have left over?

01/14/2011, 02:29 PM	#3
bradjc Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 68	You should be ok with just plumbing tape. I have an idea of what you are trying to do but its hard without pictures. What I did on my tank was have the return pump go from the sump directly to the tank (via 3/4" vinyl tubing). I put a splitter on the drain of the tank and ran that to the refugium. Less interference on the part of the pump.

01/14/2011, 03:20 PM	#4
NanoReefWanabe Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Posts: 6,639	feeding your fuge off the drain is bad for many reason and good for none that i can think of...it creates turbulence in your drain, it creates one more place for a clog to potentially happen as things get caught and build up on the fitting, it pollutes your fuge with dirty detritus and protein saturated water, none of which is good for growing anything other then a nitrate sink...let your skimmer clean that crap out of the water first then let the fuge do its job, cleaning up NO3 and PO4, dont worry they will go through your skimmer just fine.... as for the threaded fitting dont use tape unless you are very good at using it...far too many fttings are broken and leak from tape when not used properly, use teflon paste... try o use two 45's on place of 90's, they ar less restrictive, if possible use spaflex piping it is flexible and fairly easy to work with and you eliminate the need for 90's and 45's... personally i would run 1" spaflex for most if not all of the plumbing. you can then glue in a "T" fitting with a valve on the "T" side and a valve above the T aswell that way you can control the flow into the fuge and display...there are reducing bushings that will fit into the 90's and "T's" etc if you need to drop from 1" to 3/4" etc...once you get out of the stand you can switch to hard PVC to connect to the 90 on th eback of the tank etc...as for the lockline fittings you should just be able to get a 3/4 slip to 3/4 FNPT fitting and then you can screw your lockline "Y" into that and your done...

01/14/2011, 03:53 PM	#5
motoxmann Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 80	Thanks for the posts guys. Running the drain to the fuge really isn't going to work anyway. I'm using the herbie method and from what I've read in the thread about it, splitting the main drain causes a lot of problems keeping the levels in the overflows consistent. Where can I get spa flex tubing? Ive already got the hard PVC plumbed for the drain, so I'm going to give that a shot first but I could try it for the return.

01/14/2011, 05:53 PM	#6
BigEarn86 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Sneads Ferry, NC Posts: 53	They have have spa flex @ lowes. It is going to be on the top shelf in the tubing section and it glues right into schd 40 fittings with primer and glue. make sure you double check the length. West Marine has smaller sizes than 1inch if you want to go that route but lowes has the 1" you need. Good Luck!