Shawn, are those little hose sections or something special. do you have any issues with leaking with the hose barbs etc. I would think that quiets things down a bit too am I right about that??
thanks as always to both you and Peter:
p.s. Peter, I hope that the family health issues are going well and my best wishes go out to you and your family
Silicone hose is the best you can get. It never gets brittle with UV, chemicals or corrosives (salt). The wall thickness on this stuff is thick enough that it doesn't collapse, and it doesn't pinch when it curves.
In a rough industrial environment, I still prefer nylon coated, braided PVC hose as the surface is resistant to cuts and abrasion. You also have to use wider pipe clamps with silicone hose to assure that it doesn't get cut by the edge of the clamp. We use Banjo brand all stainless clamps, and they are well worth the extra cost.
http://press.kscdirect.com/?p=4444
Always position the nuts on the top of the hose barb where it doesn't get dripped on and is easy to access. Silicone hose is extremely flexible so pump vibration is minimized/absorbed and if you ever step on the plumbing or pipes, the hose absorbs the shock and saves you from breaking brittle pump connections and sumps. When I took over the install of Peter's tank, his large sump was already broken due to the lack of pressure relief hose connections. It also makes it a heck of a lot easier to line up plumbing connections when you have hose connectors for wiggle room.
We use true union ball valves so pump removal is quick and easy. We keep a spare pump and use the same model pump for the return and all 4 close loops. This kind of uniformity, including valve location, makes it simple to use a spare pump or trade one of the closed loops out to fix a failed return pump. In many cases, one can use the same base pump for their protein skimmer as well for additional flexibility. If you are sharing a common pump model throughout your system. you quickly learn how it is disassembled and can at least have a few spare parts on hand. A leaking external closed loop pump can be switched with a well sealed submerged return or skimmer pump to get you out of a pinch. It's hard to deal with five different pump models on one system. Eben with a line like the Abyzz, I would use all 400 or 200 models rather than mix and match and come up short for spares. They are variable speed, so the flow curve efficiency is the same. In other words, you can run a bigger pump at half speed to get the same results... of course the capital cost is greater.
Hose in general, is great because it curves from point A to point B without restricting flow. You lose 10% of your flow with every 90˚ elbow. Elbows also cause cavitation (air bubbles) and can be noisy with vented drains. Hard plumbing looks nice and orderly, but you end up with microbubbles in the sump and a noisy drain system.
Transparent hose is a mixed blessing, you can see the water level and sometimes even velocity, but it can attract nuisance algae in lit areas. I use Tigerflex/spaflex for most applications, as it can be glued (Weldon 795 flexible PVC glue) to hard plumbing fittings. I use braided pvc (Kuri Tech) hose for simple return lines on smaller systems that only require 1/2"-1" hose. It's a little more flexible than spaflex and easier to use with hose barbs. You can soften up spaflex hose with a heat gun to lose some of its memory (bend) but it's always going to be stiff.
ou can see in the picture, the pump connection is marginally smaller in diameter than the hose barb, as illustrated by the amount that the clamps are closed/open.
(same goes for Americans, even those "incredibly rude New Yorkers" I was told about...they are really quite nice actually.)
