Critique My Plumbing

theMerchant

theMerchant

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Started to plumb my 75g and going with Herbie.
I wanted to keep pipes as straight as possible with 45 elbows.
The emergency drain is straight down to the sump 2nd chamber (refugium).
I was thinking of NOT glueing the stand pipes in the overflow so I can pull off and clean when needed. good idea?
Will be adding a couple of Cepex ball valves on the return line along with a shut off valve. *in red

Let me know how I can improve this design, currently just dry fit.

 
Smite

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Looks pretty good. I'd have both emergency and main drain go to the same chamber. If your main drain gets clogged, your refugium is going to go nuts and blow crap everywhere. You'll know when its taking up the slack, it'll get really loud and annoying gulping air, so you don't need to visibly see it.

It's costly but I'd place unions on both sides of all gate valves and ball valves for maintenance and replacement incase of failure.

I didn't glue my drains in the overflow down and it worked fine for me. No leakage at all but just incase, be sure your sump can handle all the water from your overflow box incase there is a tiny gap/leak where the conduit meets the bulkhead.
 
theMerchant

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805reef said:
2 ball valves and a shutoff valve on the same line, why?
Click to expand...
will add 2 Tee and 2 Ball valves for reactors, etc.

shutoff valve on pump line so I can isolate the pump from the tank.

I bought a Spears True Union Check Valve, but probably wont use since the returns on top are just below water level.
 
theMerchant

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Smite said:
Looks pretty good. I'd have both emergency and main drain go to the same chamber. If your main drain gets clogged, your refugium is going to go nuts and blow crap everywhere. You'll know when its taking up the slack, it'll get really loud and annoying gulping air, so you don't need to visibly see it.

It's costly but I'd place unions on both sides of all gate valves and ball valves for maintenance and replacement incase of failure.

I didn't glue my drains in the overflow down and it worked fine for me. No leakage at all but just incase, be sure your sump can handle all the water from your overflow box incase there is a tiny gap/leak where the conduit meets the bulkhead.
Click to expand...
Noted on 2 unions I was only using the top one since it would be cheaper to just redo the valve and below piping.
I was thinking about the air leaking at the bulkhead since it wont be glued. I definitely think my sump can handle the overflow volume. will test

How about sending the emergency to the pump chamber?
 
Last edited:
joseserrano

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It looks good. As long as the fitting where the unglued pipe is, is over the sump, if there is any leaks it will drip in there, and over time stop with salt creep
 
theMerchant

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joseserrano said:
It looks good. As long as the fitting where the unglued pipe is, is over the sump, if there is any leaks it will drip in there, and over time stop with salt creep
Click to expand...
the unglued pipe will be inside the tank, all pipe in sump area will be glued.
 
805reef

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theMerchant said:
will add 2 Tee and 2 Ball valves for reactors, etc.

shutoff valve on pump line so I can isolate the pump from the tank.

I bought a Spears True Union Check Valve, but probably wont use since the returns on top are just below water level.
Click to expand...
Oh, ok, thank makes sense. I thought you were just putting them all in a line as backups or something.

As for unions, I used them on my first build and don't use them anymore. they aren't bad at all, but for me I just see them as pointless. How many times did I take a part my first setup for cleaning/maintenance of the pipes? Zero. They just costs more money and are bulky and make everything heavy. I like clean and simple now. Just my preference
 
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newtothis

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I don't run a stand pipe on my main. For return, I would use a gate valve instead of a ball. Make your life easier when you are tuning the herbie, and make sure to put it after your manifold.
 
theMerchant

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newtothis said:
I don't run a stand pipe on my main. For return, I would use a gate valve instead of a ball. Make your life easier when you are tuning the herbie, and make sure to put it after your manifold.
Click to expand...
I am using a SCH80 gate valve on the drain. Didnt know you need it to tune for the return.

I m going to use the valve on the return for isolation purpose. I can always adjust my Sicce 4.0 for lower flow.
 
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newtothis

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Having a gate valve on both the return n drain helps with regulating how your herbie operate. You can adjust the flow on the sicce, but by doing so you are slowing down the flow to your manifold as well. Which would hurt your reactors if it need a certain amount of flow.
 
theMerchant

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here is the final I ended up with, I move the sump to the other side of the stand.




Im going to start a tank journal
but here a final pic for this post... tank is wet... no leaks
 
theMerchant

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do you guys put metal clamps on the pump hose? I know its SS, but I am hesitant. Maybe will use a heavy duty zip tie
 
theMerchant

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I know there is a lots of load on the center bulkhead. I will make a support for it and attached to center of frame, but you can see I have a temp PVC holding up the manifold
 
805reef

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Looks fine... can you get a picture a little further back so we can see the whole sump/plumbing.

What size are those ball valves for the manifold? I went down to 1/2" pvc/ball valves for my manifold.

Is that a spears gate valve? I love them.
 
theMerchant

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yes Spears gate, the manifold ball valves are still 1 inch. I was planning on a reducer as needed.

Ill get a shot from farther back tonight.
 
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mike82caddy

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Looks good man where can I find info on plumbing like that planning on doing plumbing for my 60 gal cube it will be my first time

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
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