Replace old plumbing?

[yakfishin]

I have a 15 year old aquarium that I am going to be changing out my sump. My aquarium stand is built into the back of a wet bar, and I never had room for one large sump, so I used two plastic totes linked together with bulkheads. I am going to replace them with some more substantial polyethylene tanks. My original thought was to replace all my return and drain line pvc pipe plumbing, which would also make it necessary to replace the bulkheads coming from the drain overflows.

Now I am starting to second guess myself. My current pipes have a bit of slime build up, but nothing too much that it reduces the flow. Nothing is leaking, so I am wondering if I am chancing causing a potential problem when nothing is really broke? I guess my fear is that if I redo my plumbing and either the new bulkheads don't seal properly or another problem rears it's head, I will have created a problem where none previously existed. My drain overflows have deposits and stuff where different worms created small calcified tubes. I would clean it out the best I can, but the tank is 30" deep and I guess I am worried about grit getting caught in the new gasket should I replace it.... or something like that.

I will need to at least cut the old PVC return lines near the end of where they dump into the sump to make them fit the new sump, so I guess at first I thought I might as well just replace it all. So what do you think? Is there an advantage to redoing the plumbing that outweighs the chance that something goes wrong in the rebuild? What do you think? Do others replace there lines over time just because they are getting old? Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[ohashimz]

I have a 15 year old aquarium that I am going to be changing out my sump. My aquarium stand is built into the back of a wet bar, and I never had room for one large sump, so I used two plastic totes linked together with bulkheads. I am going to replace them with some more substantial polyethylene tanks. My original thought was to replace all my return and drain line pvc pipe plumbing, which would also make it necessary to replace the bulkheads coming from the drain overflows.



Now I am starting to second guess myself. My current pipes have a bit of slime build up, but nothing too much that it reduces the flow. Nothing is leaking, so I am wondering if I am chancing causing a potential problem when nothing is really broke? I guess my fear is that if I redo my plumbing and either the new bulkheads don't seal properly or another problem rears it's head, I will have created a problem where none previously existed. My drain overflows have deposits and stuff where different worms created small calcified tubes. I would clean it out the best I can, but the tank is 30" deep and I guess I am worried about grit getting caught in the new gasket should I replace it.... or something like that.



I will need to at least cut the old PVC return lines near the end of where they dump into the sump to make them fit the new sump, so I guess at first I thought I might as well just replace it all. So what do you think? Is there an advantage to redoing the plumbing that outweighs the chance that something goes wrong in the rebuild? What do you think? Do others replace there lines over time just because they are getting old? Thanks for any suggestions.

I would use the oppurtunity and redo the plumbing.
Use one of these fast healing pvc cement, it should heal withen 30min.
Also try to plan in advance, prepare the parts before you drain the tank so you shorten the time system is actually offline.

 

[mfinn]

I've always thought, that if it ain't broke don't fix it.

As long as there is nothing to gain by changing out the plumbing, why do it?

If you are going to make a big improvement, then maybe so. But it's got to be big.

 

[yakfishin]

I've always thought, that if it ain't broke don't fix it.

As long as there is nothing to gain by changing out the plumbing, why do it?

If you are going to make a big improvement, then maybe so. But it's got to be big.

I am that way as well. I guess my fear is that perhaps in another couple of years one of the bulkhead seals might start to leak. The easiest time for me to replace them would be when I am changing out my sump and have nothing under the stand in my way.

Perhaps a better question I should ask is if the rubber gaskets on bulkheads degrade with time? If they don't, then I don't see any need to change them. But if the salt makes them brittle with time or something, then perhaps I should go ahead and change them vs risking a harder time changing them out in the future. Any other thoughts on this?

 

[mfinn]

I am that way as well. I guess my fear is that perhaps in another couple of years one of the bulkhead seals might start to leak. The easiest time for me to replace them would be when I am changing out my sump and have nothing under the stand in my way.

Perhaps a better question I should ask is if the rubber gaskets on bulkheads degrade with time? If they don't, then I don't see any need to change them. But if the salt makes them brittle with time or something, then perhaps I should go ahead and change them vs risking a harder time changing them out in the future. Any other thoughts on this?

I can see how you might be a little nervous with everything 15 years old.

The rubber will degrade over time, but as long as you don't disturb the pipes too much, there really shouldn't be a issue.
On the other hand it might just be a good opportunity to change the bulkheads out.
If you do decide to, look for doing something that will improve the design.
That always makes it easy to justify spending the money and doing the work.
Maybe if it can be seen by others, go with colored pvc?
You can really add some flash by using colored pipe and even colored fittings.

 

[Sinn Sage]

If you don't want to 'clear and grub' the whole system, you may just sit back and see what can be improved.

Take out that 90 elbow and replace with two 45 ells for better water flow?

Up-size the return line so your 900 GPM pump can actually pump up to 900 GPM?

See if a pipe union here or there may help in the future.

Plan your work, work your plan and if all else fails, throw your credit card at it.