How does everyone test out their plumbing?

[m0nkie]

silly question.. but what's the most efficient way to test for plumbing leak? Do you guys actually fill up the whole tank, check for plumbing leak, drain all the water out, then glue the PVC together?

I was thinking of grabbing the garden hoes and pump water into the overflow only.. then drain out the water..

the tank is sitting in the middle of the living room surrounded by wood floor.. it would suck to fill 100 gallons just to drain it out again..

 

[Speaker73]

I roughed out the plumbing, glued it all together and filled my tank using a garden hose to check for leaks. Granted it was only 50 gallons but it's the only way that I know of to check my plumbing

 

[maddmaxx]

i fill the tank, turn the pump on and inspect. go from there...

 

[m0nkie]

and drain the water out later to do aquascaping? Or do you guys put in the rock/sand too?

seems like there's no easy way then..

maybe I can re-use the RODI water after I test the plumbing.. fill it back into the tank after I put in the aquascape and sand..

 

[Squire_347]

When I set my tank up I filled it up, stocked it then filled it some more until the overflows filled and started working, if I had any issues I could drop the water level and re-do plumbing if needed... and yes I had to re do some plumbing due to leaks! no issues here

 

[JoelA7]

In process myself. I built up the entire life support system without the tank. Sump, bulkhead 1 to return pump back to sump. Bulkhead 2 to T fitting to 2 separate reactors to sump. Power head to CO2 reactor to it's dedicated re circulation pump and effluent back to sump. Every piece and connection is there except the tank drains and return. Found two leaks. Fixed both.

Disconnected sufficiently to move the pieces. Tank and stand arrived today. I'll reassemble Nd connect to tank. The rest can be tested using the overflow box without filling the rest of the tank if you want. But I trust the tank so I'll just fill it. If I have to drain something it would only be the overflow.

 

[m0nkie]

where does most leaks happen at? maybe I can pay special attentions to those area.

I don't see how a glue'd together PVC pipe can leak??

 

[Every1jockzjay]

Very small leaks seem to fix themself with salt buildup, not ideal but wateva. As long as the bulkhead isnt leakin u should b fine. Use a fair amount of pvc glue, i made the mistake of using glue sparingly and had a few small leaks, next setup made sure to glue both sides and use enouph and magically had no leaks loll

 

[Mrramsey]

I filled mine with tap water from the hose and ran it for a week.no leaks, drained, aquascaped, filled with saltwater. Ran for 1 week again to tune the ato and flow then started the cycle.

 

[snorvich]

Also, don't forget to do a power failure test. You will be very happy you did!

 

[sponger0]

Also, don't forget to do a power failure test. You will be very happy you did!

Agreed. Whenever I build a system, I design the sump to hold a power failure.

Water on the floor is not good, whether its carpet or hardwood

 

[toothybugs]

I filled mine with tap water and enough Morton to get it up to 1.020 or so - way cheaper than sea salt and still shows salt creep

In theory, you could run your return directly to your overflow if your build will allow it. You'd get away with just filling the sump in that case.

 

[formsix]

We just did this with ~100 gallons of tap water (75 tank, 40 sump filled 2/3). It was a pretty big pain, not gonna lie. But I think it was worth it. We had roughed out the plumbing and glued it up before the test. Our design was relatively simple (herbie down and one return line teed off to the refugium going up), so we cared more about testing for leaks than whether things would simply work. We did have two tiny leaks between the bulkhead fitting underneath the tank and the first pipe connection. They're threaded connections and we knew they were loose when we fit them together with tape, so we went back and added silicone.

In hindsight, if we had an extra garbage can to store it and had thought about it, this would have been an EXCELLENT use of RODI waste water. Another benefit of testing with water you're going to discard is that it cleans any missed gunk off the pipes and hopefully if anything is going to keep leaching bad stuff (silicone or PVC cement) it will do that into the tap water and be done. We did cure and soak everything we glued before even putting it in the tank, but the test added extra piece of mind on that front.

 

[leveldrummer]

Do you guys actually fill up the whole tank, check for plumbing leak, drain all the water out, then glue the PVC together?

:eek2::eek2::eek2:

DO NOT fill your tank up before you glue your plumbing together!!!

Cut all your plumbing, dry fit it together, THEN GLUE IT AND LET IT DRY,

Then fill with water and run it and check for leaks.

You can fill it with RO/DI, and check for leaks, and if everything is good, then just mix the salt directly into the tank.

Or you can fill with tap water. check for leaks, then drain, add sand and rock, then fill with salt water and go for it. either way.


BUT DO NOT FILL YOUR TANK IF YOUR PLUMBING ISNT GLUED.

 

[ecksreef]

With two 90 degree elbows I made my return fill the overflow box and not the tank. So full sump would fill the overflow box and back through the herbie drain set up into the sump. Never had to fill the tank.

 

[Sk8r]

Invite a friend for pizza and do your tank test so you have someone watching what you can't with your head under the stand. Also if you have no plumbing experience, ask the hardware guy (one with grey hair) how to connect pipe with plumber's tape. I don't advise gluing pipe: you never know what you may have to replace someday.

 

[m0nkie]

thanks for the advice!

I guess I misunderstood when people said to "fully test out your plumbing before securing"

I thought I had to test, THEN glue..

I will have a plumber friend come help with the setup! Testing out with the Overflow is a great idea! I'm currently building a C2C OF and Bean animal drain. It should work with OF and Sump only

 

[Cymonous]

I would still fill the tank. You want to test that too if you haven't already. What if the tank leaks and you don't find out till after you get it in your house?

 

[m0nkie]

I would still fill the tank. You want to test that too if you haven't already. What if the tank leaks and you don't find out till after you get it in your house?

it's already in my room :hmm2: :debi:

but I will fill up the tank a little bit to test for leaks too.. I'm just worried about a few spots.. I messed with the original silicone to try fit an up-right overflow box.. then resealed it myself when i switched to a C2C overflow

I would be one of those people that jumped the gun on this whole saltwater tank setup.. the LFS was good at convincing me.. then I did the research and slowed down my pace

 

[Cymonous]

At least you slowed down before starting your cycle. Most people don't slow down till after failure.

If you have one or maybe get a tarp to put under the stand before you leak test just in-case. If you have a fear of the seals towards the top of the tank, you probably should fill it all the way when testing.