Plumbing Analysis/Opinion

[The Gas Man]

Seeking opinions. I have had a few smaller marine tanks before, but I’ve never plumbed one. So I’m a noob. This is just a dry fit; nothing is cemented. Do you see anything terribly wrong? There will be an AI Blade for the fuge so I don’t need any more room near the manifold for the light as the light is very thin. Thank you.

Display: 75 Gallon
Sump: 40 Gallon Breeder.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

@UncommonSense ? im probably going to need you in my build thread too! lol

 

[mmorrison55]

Gate valves on your return lines are not needed. If you intend to use those for manifolds, ball valves would work just as well and cost a 1/3 of the price, but since you already have them, it certainly won’t hurt and you can fine tune your flow to be exact over a ball valve. if you need a specific flow per minute rate for a uv or something, the gate valve might make it easier to fine tune. But again, overkill and not really needed imo.

Same goes for the ball valves up near the top of the return where it goes into the tank. Im not sure what that one is for. If you were going to use it to prevent back flow if you ever shut your pumps off, you would need one on each side or the display would still drain out from the one that didn’t have a shutoff valve, so I would say to add one on each side or don’t have one at all.

Good use of the unions. You can’t have enough in my opinion. I would have one near every elbow, T, etc to make it easy for mods down the road and lining up things.

Good luck. Looking good.

 

[UncommonSense]

@UncommonSense ? im probably going to need you in my build thread too! lol

Happy to help! Feel free to send a PM or tag me over there! — this applies to anyone!

(Note; delayed responses may be the norm, not the exception! — I’m up to my ears in system design work in my day-to-day and am a bit short on free time!)

Seeking opinions. I have had a few smaller marine tanks before, but I’ve never plumbed one. So I’m a noob. This is just a dry fit; nothing is cemented. Do you see anything terribly wrong? There will be an AI Blade for the fuge so I don’t need any more room near the manifold for the light as the light is very thin. Thank you.

Display: 75 Gallon
Sump: 40 Gallon Breeder.

You’re definitely on the right track here!

There’s a few things I see that could be adjusted; I’ll have more time to get into minutia tonight!

— skimmer appears to be in drain chamber; this will work if the skimmer is on a stand, but the skimmer normally goes in a chamber where it can sit at a fixed water height (usually 8ish inches, but depends on specific skimmer)

— primary drain pipe (with gate valve) should have it’s outlet submerged an inch or so below the operating water line; this prevents siphon from starting/stopping

— The trueunion ball valve and two additional unions on the one side of return plumbing is a bit redundant, and an extremely expensive assembly! (You only need one union really, and that valve will just make the second return line flow more; you want no return valves, or both return valves!)

— grab a few adjustable stem pipe clamps, and some regular pipe straps to fix all plumbing to the stand securely in at least one spot, preventing the bulkheads from bearing the pipe’s weight during operation!

— I second ball valves instead of gate valves for manifold; especially if you can still return the spare gate valves!

It’s looking great overall though! The simple answer is that you’ll be saving some money with any changes you make; it’s effectively overbuilt!

 

[mmorrison55]

Also, when it comes time to glue, don’t use the purple primer. I bought and used the Oatey Fusion single step and it worked great. Not really more expensive when you consider you just need one can instead of two for primer and glue.. and it goes on and dries clear

 

[The Gas Man]

@UncommonSense ? im probably going to need you in my build thread too! lol

I’m not the guy you want consulting you on the plumbing or even sumps; this is my first. My others were all in one and the first one had a hang in filter.

 

[The Gas Man]

@UncommonSense ? im probably going to need you in my build thread too! lol

Happy to help! Feel free to send a PM or tag me over there! — this applies to anyone!

(Note; delayed responses may be the norm, not the exception! — I’m up to my ears in system design work in my day-to-day and am a bit short on free time!)

Seeking opinions. I have had a few smaller marine tanks before, but I’ve never plumbed one. So I’m a noob. This is just a dry fit; nothing is cemented. Do you see anything terribly wrong? There will be an AI Blade for the fuge so I don’t need any more room near the manifold for the light as the light is very thin. Thank you.

Display: 75 Gallon
Sump: 40 Gallon Breeder.

You’re definitely on the right track here!

There’s a few things I see that could be adjusted; I’ll have more time to get into minutia tonight!

— skimmer appears to be in drain chamber; this will work if the skimmer is on a stand, but the skimmer normally goes in a chamber where it can sit at a fixed water height (usually 8ish inches, but depends on specific skimmer)

— primary drain pipe (with gate valve) should have it’s outlet submerged an inch or so below the operating water line; this prevents siphon from starting/stopping

— The trueunion ball valve and two additional unions on the one side of return plumbing is a bit redundant, and an extremely expensive assembly! (You only need one union really, and that valve will just make the second return line flow more; you want no return valves, or both return valves!)

— grab a few adjustable stem pipe clamps, and some regular pipe straps to fix all plumbing to the stand securely in at least one spot, preventing the bulkheads from bearing the pipe’s weight during operation!

— I second ball valves instead of gate valves for manifold; especially if you can still return the spare gate valves!

It’s looking great overall though! The simple answer is that you’ll be saving some money with any changes you make; it’s effectively overbuilt!

The skimmer shares the same chamber as the reefmat. I will raise the skimmer but it’s not raised yet.

So the reefmat will connect below the water line to the primary drain?

So the reasoning behind the valve on the right side (not the left) is to be able to equal out the flow. The right side is a straight shot up to the tank and the left side has to go across the tank and support the manifold. My goal is to have the flow from the return lines meet in the middle of the tank behind the aquascape.

Yes. I tend to overbuild stuff. It’s a sickness. I chose the gate valves for the manifold because they’re less likely to freeze up than ball valves. That’s the only reason.

 

[The Gas Man]

Also, when it comes time to glue, don’t use the purple primer. I bought and used the Oatey Fusion single step and it worked great. Not really more expensive when you consider you just need one can instead of two for primer and glue.. and it goes on and dries clear

This is what I chose for my cement. The ABS to PVC is only for the connection between the bulkheads and the PVC.

 

[UncommonSense]

So the reefmat will connect below the water line to the primary drain?

In theory, yes! I’m actually not familiar with this particular roller though; defer to the user’s manual for specific plumbing instructions!

So the reasoning behind the valve on the right side (not the left) is to be able to equal out the flow. The right side is a straight shot up to the tank and the left side has to go across the tank and support the manifold. My goal is to have the flow from the return lines meet in the middle of the tank behind the aquascape.

Understandable! Though water is very lazy, and will take the path of least resistance!

I assume you’re planning to use RFGs as your return nozzles? If so, they will be the point of greatest restriction, and effectively equalize both return pipes on their own!

If not, just a simple quality ball valve on each return lets you control every port of your manifold while pressurizing the manifold itself via the pump!

— what is your target total return flow rate? And what size is the pipe? It looks like 1”, so you shouldn’t really be getting much flow restriction from the plumbing itself until roughly 1,000GPH!

Yes. I tend to overbuild stuff. It’s a sickness. I chose the gate valves for the manifold because they’re less likely to freeze up than ball valves. That’s the only reason.

Well, there are good quality ball valves out there, (reference Banjo, Hayward as two examples!)

Though I do understand your sentiment! — the big box hardware store valves are terrible!

— Oh! After a second glance; you can also probably make some of the drain plumbing a bit more compact/tight to the top-interior of the stand, even using 45 elbows for the last length of drain between stand and sump!

(For a visual example; Try taking just the horizontal length of drain plumbing and holding it up closer to the top of the stand, possibly spinning the gate valve 90-180 degrees; getting pipes more out of your way! — you just need enough space to loosen union(s)!)

 

[The Gas Man]

So the reefmat will connect below the water line to the primary drain?

In theory, yes! I’m actually not familiar with this particular roller though; defer to the user’s manual for specific plumbing instructions!

So the reasoning behind the valve on the right side (not the left) is to be able to equal out the flow. The right side is a straight shot up to the tank and the left side has to go across the tank and support the manifold. My goal is to have the flow from the return lines meet in the middle of the tank behind the aquascape.

Understandable! Though water is very lazy, and will take the path of least resistance!

I assume you’re planning to use RFGs as your return nozzles? If so, they will be the point of greatest restriction, and effectively equalize both return pipes on their own!

If not, just a simple quality ball valve on each return lets you control every port of your manifold while pressurizing the manifold itself via the pump!

— what is your target total return flow rate? And what size is the pipe? It looks like 1”, so you shouldn’t really be getting much flow restriction from the plumbing itself until roughly 1,000GPH!

Yes. I tend to overbuild stuff. It’s a sickness. I chose the gate valves for the manifold because they’re less likely to freeze up than ball valves. That’s the only reason.

Well, there are good quality ball valves out there, (reference Banjo, Hayward as two examples!)

Though I do understand your sentiment! — the big box hardware store valves are terrible!

— Oh! After a second glance; you can also probably make some of the drain plumbing a bit more compact/tight to the top-interior of the stand, even using 45 elbows for the last length of drain between stand and sump!

(For a visual example; Try taking just the horizontal length of drain plumbing and holding it up closer to the top of the stand, possibly spinning the gate valve 90-180 degrees; getting pipes more out of your way! — you just need enough space to loosen union(s)!)

These are my returns.

As for the flow you, I hadn’t picked a particular number. I bought a Syncra SDC 6.0 so I have a range to work with. The drains are 1”; the returns are 3/4”.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[UncommonSense]

These are my returns.

As for the flow you, I hadn’t picked a particular number. I bought a Syncra SDC 6.0 so I have a range to work with. The drains are 1”; the returns are 3/4”.

Thanks for all the input.

Here’s a good reference chart for flow rates; you might want to make the return 1” until the tee, then 3/4” after the tee! (Use reducing bushings! — the tee then splits 1x 1” pipe to 2x 3/4” pipes)

 

[Schulks]

The reef mat uses a flexible hose to attach the drain plumbing and run the water inside of the unit. The hose can attach above or below the water line.

 

[JayM]

I completely agree with uncommonsense, but I would offer an extra tidbit. I like to use street elbows where the returns enter the tank so I can keep all the plumbing as tight to the back of the tank as possible, even though that may mean that the unions will end up inside the stand.