Redoing Sump Plumbing

[Treefer32]

I'm looking at redoing some of the pvc plumbing to my 4 year old mixed reef display. I've heard of horror stories of cutting up pvc and redoing things then regluing, waiting 24 hours and the bacteria and crap lining the pipes die and cause a massive ammonia cycle within a few days of redoing the plumbing. I've never had this happen, but I'll be redoing about 20-30 feet of PVC because well, I overplumbed my sump when I did it 4 years ago and I rushed some of it, so not all the plumbing is straight or looking good. It still won't look great but want to fix it so it's easier to maintain, clean pumps, and get to equipment in the future.

Is there any risk to starting a cycle from reused PVC plumbing as long as time is given for the PVC glue to dry? Or am I better off buying all new PVC? The tank is 340 gallon display with 160 pounds of sand and lots of well established rock, fish, and etc.

Will the display become fouled with the sump down for 24 hours? (I'll move the heaters to the display). But the skimmer, dosers, ATS, vodka dosing, auto roller mat will all be down while the glue dries. I could try to have everything dry within 12 hours if that's safe run water through glued pvc at that point.

Any previous experience redoing pvc plumbing and ensuring nothing bad happens in the display for the 12 - 24 hours?

 

[MnFish1]

I'm looking at redoing some of the pvc plumbing to my 4 year old mixed reef display. I've heard of horror stories of cutting up pvc and redoing things then regluing, waiting 24 hours and the bacteria and crap lining the pipes die and cause a massive ammonia cycle within a few days of redoing the plumbing. I've never had this happen, but I'll be redoing about 20-30 feet of PVC because well, I overplumbed my sump when I did it 4 years ago and I rushed some of it, so not all the plumbing is straight or looking good. It still won't look great but want to fix it so it's easier to maintain, clean pumps, and get to equipment in the future.

Is there any risk to starting a cycle from reused PVC plumbing as long as time is given for the PVC glue to dry? Or am I better off buying all new PVC? The tank is 340 gallon display with 160 pounds of sand and lots of well established rock, fish, and etc.

Will the display become fouled with the sump down for 24 hours? (I'll move the heaters to the display). But the skimmer, dosers, ATS, vodka dosing, auto roller mat will all be down while the glue dries. I could try to have everything dry within 12 hours if that's safe run water through glued pvc at that point.

Any previous experience redoing pvc plumbing and ensuring nothing bad happens in the display for the 12 - 24 hours?

If you look at some of the YouTube videos - with pictures of 'stuff' growing in plumbing, I would consider just being 'new'. Not sure why giving the PVC plumbing would restart a cycle depending on the glue drying - but rather stuff thats alive in the plumbing - that will die when its dry.

Having said that - the chances that enough stuff would die to cause a problem in that big a tank seems quite small.

One advantage of buying new - is that your tank will be 'taken apart' for a much shorter time (i.e. it can be running while you set up your new plumbing)

 

[Lojenn]

I'm looking at redoing some of the pvc plumbing to my 4 year old mixed reef display. I've heard of horror stories of cutting up pvc and redoing things then regluing, waiting 24 hours and the bacteria and crap lining the pipes die and cause a massive ammonia cycle within a few days of redoing the plumbing. I've never had this happen, but I'll be redoing about 20-30 feet of PVC because well, I overplumbed my sump when I did it 4 years ago and I rushed some of it, so not all the plumbing is straight or looking good. It still won't look great but want to fix it so it's easier to maintain, clean pumps, and get to equipment in the future.

Is there any risk to starting a cycle from reused PVC plumbing as long as time is given for the PVC glue to dry? Or am I better off buying all new PVC? The tank is 340 gallon display with 160 pounds of sand and lots of well established rock, fish, and etc.

Will the display become fouled with the sump down for 24 hours? (I'll move the heaters to the display). But the skimmer, dosers, ATS, vodka dosing, auto roller mat will all be down while the glue dries. I could try to have everything dry within 12 hours if that's safe run water through glued pvc at that point.

Any previous experience redoing pvc plumbing and ensuring nothing bad happens in the display for the 12 - 24 hours?

If it's regular ol' schedule 40 (white) pvc, personally i'd just replace it all with new. Schedule 40 is very affordable. A 10 foot stick may complete your entire plumbing job. Fittings, cheap. As for glue, take a look at"clear" primer, where you can apply as sloppy as you want, and you'll not notice it,unlike purple primer. Good luck

 

[Jay B]

I'm looking at redoing some of the pvc plumbing to my 4 year old mixed reef display. I've heard of horror stories of cutting up pvc and redoing things then regluing, waiting 24 hours and the bacteria and crap lining the pipes die and cause a massive ammonia cycle within a few days of redoing the plumbing. I've never had this happen, but I'll be redoing about 20-30 feet of PVC because well, I overplumbed my sump when I did it 4 years ago and I rushed some of it, so not all the plumbing is straight or looking good. It still won't look great but want to fix it so it's easier to maintain, clean pumps, and get to equipment in the future.

Is there any risk to starting a cycle from reused PVC plumbing as long as time is given for the PVC glue to dry? Or am I better off buying all new PVC? The tank is 340 gallon display with 160 pounds of sand and lots of well established rock, fish, and etc.

Will the display become fouled with the sump down for 24 hours? (I'll move the heaters to the display). But the skimmer, dosers, ATS, vodka dosing, auto roller mat will all be down while the glue dries. I could try to have everything dry within 12 hours if that's safe run water through glued pvc at that point.

Any previous experience redoing pvc plumbing and ensuring nothing bad happens in the display for the 12 - 24 hours?

I've done it both ways. New PVC is easier to cut with shears than old, its fairly inexpensive and in general its easier to work with. Older PVC gets kind of brittle when shearing, but certainly usable. Also you could possibly build some of the sections you need in advance and then do the swap with a reduced amount of joints to glue while you are making the swap, thus reducing the time needed. Clear primer is also nice if you can get it. I've never given more than 3 hours for cure time on any PVC project including swimming pool equipment. Also I haven't seen any issues with livestock in an aquarium or even the skimmer. The initial set happens in a few seconds and most extra glue is skimmed over in a few minutes. Complete chemical cure takes hours but I think not required for what we are doing with aquariums. Good luck to you. Let us know what you decide.