75 gallon reef build
- Thread starter Nonameben
- Start date
hey nonameben. i dont htink thats what bellis was saying. PVC pipes are tapered so that it forces them together when you put them together. Without the glue you run into too much friction and are never able to completely get the pipes together. So lets say that you are connecting a 1 foot piece to two elbows. The pipe should go in lets say an 1" into each elbow. However when dry fitting it, it only goes in 3/4". So when you measure it you cut it to be 1' and 1 1/2" (3/4"*2 for the elbow loss + the 1' pipe in the middle). However when you apply glue to glue them they are going to go in the rest of the 1/4" and your measurement is going to be off by 1/2". So you need to account for this in your cuts. So in reality your cut should have been 1' 2". Does that make sense? Also you do want the pipes to squeeze together. The glue works by softening the PVC and allowing it to adhere to each other. I hope this helps, any question just ask
Nonameben
New member
Thanks waddle, that makes sense now. I'll be getting the glue tonight and finish up most of the plumbing. If you're on tonight I'll be posting pictures and will probably need some help! Glad you got my back on this one, thanks everyone for the helping hand. Learning many new things everyday because of y'all, greatly appreciated!
bellis31
New member
Yes this exactly... thank you for clarifying...
Nonameben
New member
Well sadly the plumbing isn't happening until this weekend.. but I got to go to the LFS today, and I'm glad it was today of all days. When I got there they were acclimating their new WHITE TANG, and I got to watch him be introduced to the tank.
Here's some photos from today:
as promised, here are some pictures of my LFS
Marine Designs 7 month old tank
sorry for the not-so-high-quality pictures, iphone camera is all I've got for the time being.
Here's some photos from today:
as promised, here are some pictures of my LFS
Marine Designs 7 month old tank
sorry for the not-so-high-quality pictures, iphone camera is all I've got for the time being.
Floowid
New member
Not sure if anybody had mentioned this, but you will want to drill those holes in the underlying plywood MUCH larger than the hole in the glass above it. If you ever have an issue with the bulkhead, you have access to unscrew it and remove the bulkhead without draining the whole tank and moving it off the stand. Helps if you need to troubleshoot a leak too.
jlylec
New member
+1
I was going to point this out too. That plywood isn't actually supporting anything directly below the bulkheads. I would actually cut a rectangle out so you have a much bigger space. I did this on mine (rectangle) and didn't even make it big enough. Messing with my bulkheads now is a HUGE PITA. I have a feeling you would be completely screwed with it the way it is. Just a heads up!
The message on the plumbing is a really good one too. I kinda learned by doing on that which wasn't much fun and a huge waste of some PVC parts! Everything is shorter with glue than when dry fitted. Measuring to the inside rim of the pieces is great advice.
That white tang is awesome. I've never even heard of one of those before. I wish I could get my hands on one. That LFS looks great. I wish I had a resource like that near me!
palmer373
New member
Uuuhhh you realize your stand is upside down? I have the same stand.... I confirmed it is upside down when you said "I still need to put a plywood bottom on the stand." Flip the stand so the plywood "top" is facing bottom. The tank is supposed to fit on the rim on the open top of the stand.
Nonameben
New member
you're kidding... wowwwwww, I knew something was weird when the tank didn't fit inside that lip. Hahaha thank you so much
Nonameben
New member
I was originally planning on cutting a rectangle (you can still see the outline I had) But went against it. However, now that I've been told my stand has been upside down for the past month...this doesn't apply anymore because the top is open. I'm hesitant to glue my pvc parts together, I don't wanna mess anything up.
Yea, the owners were telling me how they had to bid on it to get it. Apparently for every 100,000 yellow tangs there is only one white tang. Some ratio like that, it's a beautiful fish. I'd love to get one too, however I'm sure they are super expensive
iwishtofish
Active member
Well, that probably solves a few problems! 
You are so lucky to have a good LFS nearby. I live a bit in the middle of nowhere, at least where fish stores are concerned. Then, miraculously, one opened right nearby. I've picked up several really nice corals already!
About the pipe...I put a union in my pvc pipe just below my bulkhead, so that I could separate the pipe and spin the bulkhead if necessary. I made sure the hole in my stand was aligned perfectly, and that it was large enough to drop the lower half of the drain pipe (and its half of the union) all the way through. You can see pictures of the plumbing in the early part of my build thread. A lot of thought goes into plumbing, as you already know.
Btw, if you use unions - be sure to slide the loose collar onto its respective pipe before gluing that half of the union. If you don't, it's a redo. Also, I wish I had used the circular gate valves instead of ball valves. They have better precision, and I think they stress the pipe less than the ball valve handles, should they seize a bit.
You are so lucky to have a good LFS nearby. I live a bit in the middle of nowhere, at least where fish stores are concerned. Then, miraculously, one opened right nearby. I've picked up several really nice corals already!
About the pipe...I put a union in my pvc pipe just below my bulkhead, so that I could separate the pipe and spin the bulkhead if necessary. I made sure the hole in my stand was aligned perfectly, and that it was large enough to drop the lower half of the drain pipe (and its half of the union) all the way through. You can see pictures of the plumbing in the early part of my build thread. A lot of thought goes into plumbing, as you already know.
Btw, if you use unions - be sure to slide the loose collar onto its respective pipe before gluing that half of the union. If you don't, it's a redo. Also, I wish I had used the circular gate valves instead of ball valves. They have better precision, and I think they stress the pipe less than the ball valve handles, should they seize a bit.
iwishtofish
Active member
I think that big curve is going to cause some impedance of water flow, and possibly trap air (making it noisy and hiccupy). Could be a particular problem if anything even partially blocks the drain pipe - anywhere. Just my guess. I'd get pvc, personally. You might be able to fit two 45-degree couplings in there, to jog it over. I used a large diameter bulkhead and pipe, in case of big snails, etc. Are you using an overflow box? What's the screen for?
Nonameben
New member
That's what I'm thinking, the flex tubing is just too big plus I've been told they cause problems down the road. Looks like I'll be at home depot tomorrow. Also, what should I use to connect my return pump to the 3/4 bulkhead that is connected to my return pvc? picture below
Nonameben
New member
Oh and that isn't a screen it's my filter sock, I just now took it out of its packaging
If your using the sicce 4.0 I believe it's a female threaded 1" outlet. I don't know if it does better with a size up, like my mag18 has a 1" threaded out but they recommend I use 1.5" piping. Ill do both for you.
1" pipe: 1" mpt, 1" true union ball valve, 1" piping to bulkhead, 1" to 3/4" bushing. And then what ever piece you need to connect to your bulkhead cause I cane tell what it is in the pic.
1.5" pipe: 1" mpt, 1" to 1.5" bushing, 1.5" true union ball valve, 1.5" piping, 1.5" to 3/4" bushing, connect to bulkhead
Hope that helps
Nonameben
New member
Replacing the flex tubing for the drain, there is a small amount of water leaking from it. Really small but I just don't trust it. Plus it's way too loud.
