Help ordering supplies...

[jhawkor]

Alright so I'm just about ready to start ordering plumping and drilling supplies for my breeding setup. I'm a total noob when it comes to PVC and plumbing so I need some help. My system will consist of 5 ten gallon tanks (turned so their sides are facing forward for more room) and one 30 gallon tank on the end. I plan to drill each tank in the upper front corner where I will place an elbow for draining that will lead to one central sump. What size bulkhead should I drill on each tank? Also, the water will be pumped back to the aquariums from one pump and each tank will have it's own ball valve to control flow back from the sump. What size PVC should my return line be? One more thing, can anyone recommend a diamond drill bit to order are the more expensive ones really better?

 

[FishBoy05]

I would think you should keep it simple and do it all with 1 size- for 10 tanks 1 inch seems like a minimum

 

[sus]

I think you should determine how much flow you want through each tank, and that will determine your pipe size. there is a drain/overflow calc on the homepage.
1" ~ 600 GPH

As far as bits go, I ordered the cheap diamond bits on ebay. I have drilled around 10 holes with the 1" and have had no issues. I think i paid like $18 shipped for 3 sizes...

 

[dalilgriffith]

http://www.aquaticeco.com/categories/Plumbing/91/0/

 

[landlord]

Glass holes dot com should be able to take care of the bits and bulkheads all at once. For my 10 gallon tanks they fit the bill with the thread x thread 1 inch bulkheads and the hole saw to match.

 

[dexterd]

Try jehmco.com they have everything for a reasonable price.

Teresa

 

[billsreef]

Savko has good prices on plumbing parts.

As for sizes, I would go with 1" drain lines and 1/2" returns...run the pump return as the full size of the pump outlet and reduce for the return valves on each tank.

 

[jhawkor]

Sounds good thanks for the suggestions guys. Now I need to decide where to drill the holes. I can either drill them all in the lower corner and run a standpipe up or I could drill in the upper corner and just run an elbow. What do you guys think?

 

[Iwishihadgills]

Drilling 10 gallon tanks sometimes takes a try or two meaning broken tanks. Also when the tanks are drilled and the bulkheads are in be careful putting any kind of pressure on them. Especially when you are slipping in the pvc. You can get diamond bit drill bits on ebay for cheap. Make sure when your drilling to be running water over where you are drilling . Are you gonna be using a rubbermaid sump?

 

[GreshamH]

Drilling 10 gallon tanks sometimes takes a try or two meaning broken tanks. Also when the tanks are drilled and the bulkheads are in be careful putting any kind of pressure on them. Especially when you are slipping in the pvc. You can get diamond bit drill bits on ebay for cheap. Make sure when your drilling to be running water over where you are drilling . Are you gonna be using a rubbermaid sump?

+1

I find it best to lay a layer of acrylic down between the bulkhead and the tank (silicone in of course). This helps defuse the pressure on the glass if/when you move the standpipe.

 

[landlord]

IMO - I would, and did, drill my holes about 3 inches from the top of the tank. I did not want to have large pieces of HARD plumbing sticking out there. The chances of bumping into it and putting pressure on the bulkhead is just too great.

You can see from this picture that the only hard plumbing is an elbow on the inside pointing up and on the outside leading to a soft vinyl hose which is simply laid into my drain. No standpipe to accidentally bump when your cleaning the tank.




In retrospect I should, and will be, changing out my elbow for ones that are not as reduced. These actually reduce down to 5/8 inch vinyl tubing. My local Home Depot did not have a large selection of 1 inch PVC fittings which would have been my first choice. My flow has to be dialed waaaay back becuase the samll drain line out cannot empty quick enough.

Also do not be super scared of the drilling, I was nervous but with my inexpensive bit from glass holes I was able to drill out 8 tanks in about 2 hours. I used a drill press with a piece of wood between the drill press table and the glass to spread the load, made a circular damn using plumbers putty around my drill site, filled it with water and went really slow. Out of my eight tanks I only chipped the one in the picture. You can see I simply added a piece of gasket (gray colored thing in the pic) to prevent any sort of leak. Since the hole was at the top there was also less pressure on the chipped area.

Have fun!

Kurt

 

[jhawkor]

Drilling 10 gallon tanks sometimes takes a try or two meaning broken tanks. Also when the tanks are drilled and the bulkheads are in be careful putting any kind of pressure on them. Especially when you are slipping in the pvc. You can get diamond bit drill bits on ebay for cheap. Make sure when your drilling to be running water over where you are drilling . Are you gonna be using a rubbermaid sump?

Yeah, I'm trying to keep things as simple and cheap as possible so a rubbermaid sump will do.

IMO - I would, and did, drill my holes about 3 inches from the top of the tank. I did not want to have large pieces of HARD plumbing sticking out there. The chances of bumping into it and putting pressure on the bulkhead is just too great.

You can see from this picture that the only hard plumbing is an elbow on the inside pointing up and on the outside leading to a soft vinyl hose which is simply laid into my drain. No standpipe to accidentally bump when your cleaning the tank.

View attachment 99453


In retrospect I should, and will be, changing out my elbow for ones that are not as reduced. These actually reduce down to 5/8 inch vinyl tubing. My local Home Depot did not have a large selection of 1 inch PVC fittings which would have been my first choice. My flow has to be dialed waaaay back becuase the samll drain line out cannot empty quick enough.

Also do not be super scared of the drilling, I was nervous but with my inexpensive bit from glass holes I was able to drill out 8 tanks in about 2 hours. I used a drill press with a piece of wood between the drill press table and the glass to spread the load, made a circular damn using plumbers putty around my drill site, filled it with water and went really slow. Out of my eight tanks I only chipped the one in the picture. You can see I simply added a piece of gasket (gray colored thing in the pic) to prevent any sort of leak. Since the hole was at the top there was also less pressure on the chipped area.

Have fun!

Kurt

So you wouldn't recommend using flexible tubing to transfer the water to the drain pipe, or would it just need to be larger diameter like an inch or so?

 

[Iwishihadgills]

You could have effluent from the tanks, say "1 pipe all come done to a main pipe to T fittings. The main pipe would need to be big though, bigger =better so it can keep up with the effluent from all the tanks into your sump. You could also run a single pump for the return(needs to be powerful). Then you could control the amount of water to each tank down the line with ball vales. Hope that wasn't to confusing lol

 

[Iwishihadgills]

I would use two inch pipes for the over flows in your breeding tanks but with the silent overflow method so that you can collect the eggs of the surface.

 

[landlord]

Yeah, I'm trying to keep things as simple and cheap as possible so a rubbermaid sump will do.

So you wouldn't recommend using flexible tubing to transfer the water to the drain pipe, or would it just need to be larger diameter like an inch or so?

larger diameter, and DEFINITELY flexible. I have very little flow because of this. I could add small RIO 50's to each tank but the fish do not really seem to mind and I am used to vacuuming crud of the bottom by this point.

Kurt