Good to glue my Plumbing?

[STsONpERs]

So this is the first time I have plumbed with PVC, with traveling or apartment living I have always used HOB or flex tubing but now my home office is the perfect place for my 40 breeder.


The tank is setup with 2x1" Drains and 2x 3/4" Returns for the Herbie method.

Here is what I came up with, I have everything pushed together but nothing glued yet, hoping that I am good to go.

Please advise if there are any changes that you would make.




Thanks,
Chris

 

[D-Nak]

1. Save yourself some money and get rid of a couple unions on the return. You really only need one union, above your return pump, which will allow you to remove it to service it.

2. Swap out the ball valve on the drain with a gate valve. You'll get much better control over the height of the water in the overflow. Plus, you don't need a union valve at that point anyway.

3. What is your intent of the ball valve on the return line? If you turn it, you're just restricting flow which can cause stress to the pump. A better design to have a "blow-off" which allows extra water to return back to the sump. Better yet, since I see a couple of media reactors, have you considered using the main pump to provide flow to them? You can tee off the main line and use the valves to regulate the flow.

 

[Av8bluewater]

1. Save yourself some money and get rid of a couple unions on the return. You really only need one union, above your return pump, which will allow you to remove it to service it.

2. Swap out the ball valve on the drain with a gate valve.<----Do this for sure. You'll get much better control over the height of the water in the overflow. Plus, you don't need a union valve at that point anyway.

3. What is your intent of the ball valve on the return line? If you turn it, you're just restricting flow which can cause stress to the pump. A better design to have a "blow-off" which allows extra water to return back to the sump. Better yet, since I see a couple of media reactors, have you considered using the main pump to provide flow to them? You can tee off the main line and use the valves to regulate the flow.

I'm no expert but I thought that part was standard procedure. Most pumps are designed to be able to handle the restriction. However I remember with the Reeflo Dart you had to have a certain distance from the pump before you put the valve or any restriction like 1.5" down to 1".

 

[D-Nak]

I'm no expert but I thought that part was standard procedure. Most pumps are designed to be able to handle the restriction. However I remember with the Reeflo Dart you had to have a certain distance from the pump before you put the valve or any restriction like 1.5" down to 1".

I'm sure it's fine, but if there's no reason for the valve, then it doesn't need to be there. If the OP gets the gate valve, he can move that unused ball valve over to the return side and use that as the "blow-off" and not have to worry about any restriction.

 

[Physiofish]

Yes, you must glue the joints. Ideally you should, light sand, primer, and then glue. If you do not you will eventually have joints come loose.

 

[slief]

You definitely should glue your plumbing. If you don't, you are asking for a problem. As mentioned, use a primer if you can. I've never sanded my joints and never had a PVC glue joint leak in 25 years. I apply the primer and glue liberally to both the male and female surfaces.

As noted, you may have gotten carried away with union ball valves but having unions will make it easier to work on your sump should you ever need to pull it out for any reason. As noted, gate valves make for easier adjustment if you need to adjust the flow in or out. That said, I only use gate valves on my reactor manifold but I also don't have adjust my flow in or out of my tank.

 

[STsONpERs]

I appreciate the info guys.

I am certainly gluing my plumbing just wanted to make sure I have everything right.

I will order a gate valve and replace the ball valve on the drain and look into using my return to feed my reactors, pretty sure I got carried away with the unions but like I said its my first time working with pvc.

Again I appreciate the info and will go back to the drawing board

 

[Morbeus]

Remember too that once you glue the pieces you will have some shrinkage of up to about 1/4 inch or so per joint at worst. This is because when you dry fit you typically do not push the pieces all the way in. Just factor it in so it doesn't throw your measurements off too bad. You can typically swap out one piece, depending on your design, to make up for this shrinkage before you finish the entire plumb.

I use a gate valve on the return line and the main drain line on my setup and it works great. The fine tuning capability is amazing. As long as you do not restrict the water going in to the return pump (never do this it will burn out the motor and can cause a fire or system failure) - you can restrict the flow on the exit side of the return pump, after it all the pump is used to it and designed for it on the exit end.

Follow protocol the others listed, sanding, liberal primer and liberal glue on both male and female components and do a 1/4 turn on the pieces when fitting them and you will be golden.

 

[zachfishman]

Unless it's obscured in the pic, add a ball valve to one of the returns after the split (or swap that union for a true union). After a split, your flow may not be even, and you may wish to control how much flow goes to one return vs. another.

I've never found sanding PVC to be necessary. It won't hurt if you wanted to do it though.