PVC or Flex Line for plumbing???

DB9181

DB9181

New member
About to plumb my 75gal DT and 29gal sump - Doing a 1.5" drain in the middle and 2 .75" returns at both ends of the tank.

I will be using a Mag 7 as my return pump and will have valves and both lines so that I can adjust the drain/return lines appropriately.

Originally was going to plumb it in all PVC but been reading that it can be very noisy and to use flex lines instead - opinions? Other options?

I also did find this method, having 2 overflow/drain lines...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pv3u0Sa1tk
Would have to obviously add a second hole - would a ball valve still be ok for this, or do i need a true gate valve?
 
If you do use hard PVC (I have had great luck with it). You might consider a length of soft pipe on the return line to reduce noise from the pump's vibration.
 
Mag 7 s are not that noisy however id say flex tube for sure to drown out any vibrations . jmo tho i did both with much larger pumps snd hard line was way louder also even tho they do fail sometimes get two of those clear check valves (i think they are called ) to avoid water dumping back to sump when power turns off i loved having it altho it was impossible to flood my sump on last tank. once again jmo good luck
 
placement of the soft section? From pump to hard PVC? (Thats would make sense in my mind for vibration) or placement somewhere in the middle? Returns will be coming off a split "T" ... soft lines running from the "T" to the returns?

What about noise from the drain as water will basically be dropping 4ft straight down in a 1.5" pipe - i was going to use a couple 45degree elbows to guide it to the sump, then have the drain just under the water line.
 
lunacris said:
Mag 7 s are not that noisy however id say flex tube for sure to drown out any vibrations . jmo tho i did both with much larger pumps snd hard line was way louder also even tho they do fail sometimes get two of those clear check valves (i think they are called ) to avoid water dumping back to sump when power turns off i loved having it altho it was impossible to flood my sump on last tank. once again jmo good luck
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I was going calculate it and make sure my drain / return bulkheads were high enough in the tank that even in power failure it would be impossible to flood the sump - A flood (of any amount is not something i can risk)
 
If you use flex tube on your drains you will def muffle the trickle sound that your gonna get up until your ball valves for drain control id use flex all the way up. bulkhead with hard pvc elbow and small piece of hard line to fitting with flex tube is what id do.
 
Herbie said:
I think you could probably get away with soft pipe up to the t and then hard pipe from there to the returns. My mag 9.5 is very quiet on my set up like that. I only have about 12 inches of flexible pipe and it barely hums. I'm using a Check valves http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalog/product/view/id/1747/ so that I can fully maximize water volume and not worry about soggy socks.
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I think I may decide to use mainly flex line instead of PVC (also nice that i can SEE into the line if their is a clog, etc. It would be great to put check valves on the drain / return but that pricey $45 for a .75" and $90 for 1.5" :(
 
I bought a clear inch and a half from ace it was like 18 bucks worked great make sure you get clear one not the black rubber one
 
lunacris said:
I bought a clear inch and a half from ace it was like 18 bucks worked great make sure you get clear one not the black rubber one
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Chris be careful with clear. Over time u will get algae buildup.. Best to use black. Learned the hard way myself .
 
yogoshio said:
Trust me, a check valve is an awesome investment. And come on, since when is this hobby cheap?
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Haha oh i know its not cheap - but thats $135 - Alternatively, if i just sit down and do afew calculations I can pre-plan by return / drain bulkhead height vs. the volume available in my sump to make it impossible for it to overflow. Can't overflow if even after the DT drains to the lowest bulkhead theres still room in the sump and that just costs me a little of my time. Plus my sump/fuge is going to have very little equipment in it as I will be running an External ETSS 800 (in stand) skimmer that will be drilled into the sump.

I will be using a 29gal tank as the sump/fuge. Toss that the skimmer pump in, Mag 7 return, heater, and a ton of LR (over due what i plan on putting in) and see how much volume I'm left to work with. Say, w/ all the equipment, etc I am able to fill the sump/fuge half way, so I have roughly 15 gals of capacity to work with...

75gal is 48.5 x 18.5 x 21.375
So 1 inch of tank water = 1,112.75 cubic inches
1gal = 231 cubic inches

So 1in of water in my DT = roughly 4.82 gal
15 gals of available room in sump = roughly 3in of water from DT

That means that the lowest point, bottom of my drain, can be 3 inches below the suface of the water and makes it impossible to flood the sump.

Correct? If i plan it correctly, that covers the need for $135 for 2 check-valves (which I can always add in later if it turns out I really need them) Am I crazy in my thoughts, or does this seem like a reasonable solution to the flooding during power failure issue?
 
Clear was best choice for me and for 20 bucks also nice to be able to see when to clean it i also will add it never got light cause my fuge was seperate
 
yeah I saw a PVC one at Mendards and got all excited because it was $6 but when I look at it I realized it was a metal spring with a metal plate that blocked tthe water, nope. BRS has less expensive ones that are just flappers, but I like the idea of being able to clean out the valve without taking it all apart.
 
For my return, i use flex from my return pump to the bulkheads. PVC from bulkheads to the display tank.

For my drains, I use flex from bulkheads to sump. PVC from bulkheads to the top of the overflow box.

I learned alot from using pvc in my first tank. There is no flexibility if you need to change stuff around in your sump. If you got PVC in the way, you either tear down your pvc or find another way to get around it.

With my flex tubing setup, I can easily take off the tubing if I need to for whatever maintenance reason. As someone already mentioned, you have a better chance at reducing vibrations/hard splashes with flex tubing than with PVC. As for algae building up inside the flex tubing, again there are easyily replaceable every 6 months or so.
 
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