I just wanted to ask fellow reefers how they handle plumbing maintenance.
I didn't give this much thought (unfortunately) when I was constructing my fish room/tank build back in mid 2011 but now that the tank has been running for around 8 years I'm starting to discover issues.
It all started when I was in my fish room 1 day recently and by luck noticed that my frag tank was about to overflow. I'll cut to the chase and say I had to take the drain plumbing apart and clean it...it was totally blocked by coralline growth (not sure what to call it....brown rock that was totally blocking the flow/circulation). Like clogged arteries. After cleaning that I felt like that was the end of my issues but NOT REALLY.
I use my return pump (Dart) to feed my protein skimmer and also to feed my frag tank, (the frag tank overflow feeds my refugium and the refugium in turn overflows back into my sump by gravity...see the attached pictures). Well recently I have been having issues with little to no flow into my frag tank. I checked the plumbing from the sump to the return pump (took everything apart) and found a substantial block there. Cleaned everything, including the pump and put it back on line.....I thought that would solve the problem. Unfortunately there was Not much of a difference in flow output. So....next I cleaned after the pump but returning to the tank....AGAIN....a lot of rock/growth was found...(not totally blocked)....AGAIN I thought this would do it.....NOT REALLY.
I cleaned the line feeding the frag tank...AGAIN found junk in it but not solving my issue. Bear in mind that I had my Dart pump recently (within a year) sent back to Reeflo for service so I don't think that it should be too far off specs. I guess all the other parts of my plumbing, especially 90 degree elbows have blockages as well but I can't take those apart because I didn't install enough union valves, (I didn't think ahead). I do have several union ball valves (before and after the return pump and before the feed for the returns for each tank tower) but obviously not enough to service ALL of my plumbing.
When I have the time I'm going to cut the 1.5" pvc line/plumbing above my sump (see the 2nd pic) and replace it while at the same time I now plan to install a bunch of unions so that in the future I can service the plumbing at different points/intervals instead of dealing with this.
I was just wondering how others deal with this issue. I read yesterday about a 2007 tank of the month and the recipient stated in the maintenance section that he REPLACES the plumbing every year....I think that may be a bit overkill BUT it definitely needs to be addressed on a time table.
I didn't give this much thought (unfortunately) when I was constructing my fish room/tank build back in mid 2011 but now that the tank has been running for around 8 years I'm starting to discover issues.
It all started when I was in my fish room 1 day recently and by luck noticed that my frag tank was about to overflow. I'll cut to the chase and say I had to take the drain plumbing apart and clean it...it was totally blocked by coralline growth (not sure what to call it....brown rock that was totally blocking the flow/circulation). Like clogged arteries. After cleaning that I felt like that was the end of my issues but NOT REALLY.
I use my return pump (Dart) to feed my protein skimmer and also to feed my frag tank, (the frag tank overflow feeds my refugium and the refugium in turn overflows back into my sump by gravity...see the attached pictures). Well recently I have been having issues with little to no flow into my frag tank. I checked the plumbing from the sump to the return pump (took everything apart) and found a substantial block there. Cleaned everything, including the pump and put it back on line.....I thought that would solve the problem. Unfortunately there was Not much of a difference in flow output. So....next I cleaned after the pump but returning to the tank....AGAIN....a lot of rock/growth was found...(not totally blocked)....AGAIN I thought this would do it.....NOT REALLY.
I cleaned the line feeding the frag tank...AGAIN found junk in it but not solving my issue. Bear in mind that I had my Dart pump recently (within a year) sent back to Reeflo for service so I don't think that it should be too far off specs. I guess all the other parts of my plumbing, especially 90 degree elbows have blockages as well but I can't take those apart because I didn't install enough union valves, (I didn't think ahead). I do have several union ball valves (before and after the return pump and before the feed for the returns for each tank tower) but obviously not enough to service ALL of my plumbing.
When I have the time I'm going to cut the 1.5" pvc line/plumbing above my sump (see the 2nd pic) and replace it while at the same time I now plan to install a bunch of unions so that in the future I can service the plumbing at different points/intervals instead of dealing with this.
I was just wondering how others deal with this issue. I read yesterday about a 2007 tank of the month and the recipient stated in the maintenance section that he REPLACES the plumbing every year....I think that may be a bit overkill BUT it definitely needs to be addressed on a time table.
